Thoughts of a Common Man

Social media is filled with people saying ' Adios!'... ...to what has been a trying year. Why do we all collectively agree that 2016 has kind of sucked ? I have a few theories. 1). The Election The entire thing was exhausting, divisive, aggravating, and irritating. We all hated it. Even the people who got the result that they think they wanted. There were daily fights on Twitter, Facebook, the daily shows, the nightly shows. I don't think the calendar flipping to 2017 is going to solve the problems that were started because of this, but hopefully we will try. 2). Celebrity Deaths Bowie, Prince, Michael, Ali, Thicke, Henderson, Fisher, Reynolds... ...I can't even think of all of them! One after another!! People we actually grew up watching, listening to... ...celebrities are weird creatures. We all think we know them a little, right? I was shaken by a couple of the deaths, and I don't know why. I still shake my head every time I see Gandolfin...

My buddy Jeffy is happy! The Bills fired their coach. Rex Ryan is gone from our lives. He came in beating on his chest, talking about the D being good, but not good enough. He'd take it from Number 4 in the league to Number 1. It was time to build a bully! Playoffs? "Get ready! We're going." Back when we were kids if you shot off your mouth and did well someone would say: "It's not bragging if you can back it up." Well, it is bragging if you don't. Rex got fired. His bigger brother got fired with him. Evidently he left town with nothing more to say. But, don't worry about him. He got three years paid. He'll show off shooting his mouth off again in a town near you. You know, I don't even feel a little sorry for him, of course. I thought he arrived just pedaling hope. I didn't think much of him before he coached his first game for Buffalo. When he punted on 4th and 2 in a must-win game it was a fittin...

I certainly could've and probably should've taken a couple of days off during the Christmas rush. But I didn't. "You know me," I said to my beautiful wife. "The troubles start when I think I haven't done enough." So, I shortened a few days to regular days, but I also cleaned a couple of rooms that needed it... ...and 2016 continued to remind me why I don't like to waste moments. Carrie Fisher was only 60. These celebrity deaths seem to remind us: The Big D comes for all of us. Prince, Ali, Bowie, Michael, Henderson, Thicke... ...and many more.. Met the Big D this year. All pretty young too. All icons in the 80's. And it pains us to be reminded that all we are actually promised is the moment we're in. I do a pretty good job of reaching out to old friends. I make absolutely certain that if my family needs me I try and listen... ...and I'm really a little too intense about making the day count, in one way ...

George Michael was only fifty-three. Heart failure? Once more, a pop star from my years of waiting for new music. His group WHAM! Was all over the radio and video when I was listening to those things. None of us actually claimed to like George Michael. We all thought he was a little weird and the music certainly wasn't rock and roll! If you even got caught listening to it... ...well, there'd be hell to pay. But we all somehow heard it a bunch of times anyway, didn't we? I'm not sure about the WHAM! songs, but he certainly wrote a bunch of good music in the years following his break with the boy band. He could sing, dance and the girls liked him. Michael ran into some problems later on. He fell asleep behind the wheel a couple of times. He came out as gay after he was busted doing something in a Hollywood bathroom. Then he said something that made a lot of people think a little: 'This is who I am. Take it or leave it.' Was the essentia...

So, this was the deal . Sam & Jake got season tickets with the one condition being that should they not qualify for the playoffs this year... ...there would be no talking about how good they will be next year. Oddly enough we watched the Miami game together. Sam had enough of freezing his ass off at the stadium and gave up his ticket to Jake's buddy. Jake and his buddy went to the game, but called me to get them before it was over. "Too damn cold." There we sat. The Bills actually looked like they were gonna' lose, then it looked like they'd pull it out. Win. Lose. Win. Lose. It was a roller coaster of emotions for the boys. Me? "They're gonna' lose," I said. It's sort of played out the same way for 17 full years now. I'm the Debbie Downer of the Bills season. They lost. Eliminated. Again. I decided to try out my winnings. "How of you think they stack up next year?" I asked Sam. ...

I swear that if it weren't for the garbage truck heading down the road I might've slept until 8:00 for the first time in 30 years. GARBAGE TRUCK!!! I jumped into a pair of sweatpants and put on my coat. If the tote didn't make it to the road we'd be buried in garbage for a week! But the boys surprised me!! One of them (probably Sam) had delivered street-side. I surveyed the wreckage back in the house... ...some stray bottles and cans... ...a few tables out of place. Not bad! 'Course me and my beautiful wife had cleaned a lot of it after the last guest left. I thought about the kids who had been running around. One kid copped a screwdriver from somewhere (I don't even know where we keep the screwdrivers). I gave a couple of them dollar bills and (with all their gifts their parents had purchased) they were thrilled with them. (I kept finding the crumpled ones on the floor...and had to give it back to them a few times). The food was well...

The expectations of the day are almost too much . Yet there is a moment when it all clicks, you know. "Merry Christmas!" "Happy New Year!!" "Happy Holidays!!!" People actually mean it. And then we get ready for the couple of days where we spread a little bit of cheer, hopefully, within our own families. Yet Christmas seems to change through the years, doesn't it? We all recall the excitement of being children and waiting on Santa. Then there are the teen years where we feel a little guilty...about the presents we receive. Then we are Santa! Then we stop caring about presents at all and think of food and drink and a few days off! I was a little down on Friday... ...out of nowhere, actually, but certainly because it was Dad's birthday. The "down" moment was just a moment though. I wouldn't let it take hold. Because I started thinking about the true meaning of Christmas and I got a little assist from my li...