Christmas Day was great here.<\/p>\n
I did get back to sleep, Jesse let me back into the bed with a minimum of grumbling. An hour or so later, Jesse was laying on his back with his head on my shoulder. What woke me up was that my shoulder and arm were asleep<\/p>\n
When I finally got up I started the day with The Jethro Tull Christmas Album<\/em> playing throughout the house. Apple Music had a pretty nice medley of classic Christmas Tunes so I fired that one up. It\u2019s nice to not have to worry about music.<\/p>\n It was Die Hard<\/em> day!!!!\u00a0<\/p>\n I feel at peace for the first time in a year. Yes, there\u2019s stuff that I need to get done but I\u2019m not freaking out about it and it\u2019s all going to be fine!<\/p>\n I found the infamous Frog Star the day before Christmas Eve. In a strange turn of events I also found my large Tumi briefcase.<\/p>\n Honestly, I thought I\u2019d lost it in the fire. I\u2019m sure that Jerry told me he\u2019d found it, but I was focused on looking forward and not interested in picking through the ruins at the time. It\u2019s also possible I thought he was talking about another briefcase that I hadn\u2019t used in years. Either way, I wasn\u2019t paying attention because there was so much going on at the time I couldn\u2019t be concerned with \u201cLittle Stuff\u201d.<\/p>\n The briefcase was in really good shape. It looks like Jerry had wiped it down, and put it in a box, no doubt thinking he\u2019d remind me about it later. Then he and I both moved on to the 10,000 other priorities in front of us, forgetting about a lot of \u201cLittle Stuff\u201d.<\/p>\n So there I was, standing in the basement, holding a briefcase that I loved and had forgotten about. I opened another box and right on top of all the ornaments was the Frog Star.\u00a0<\/p>\n I brought both items upstairs. The Frog Star was installed on top of the Christmas tree. The Tumi case I took to the counter and really inspected.<\/p>\n It was mostly undamaged. There were some scuffs but nothing bad, I started checking the zippers and as they opened I found receipts from 2007, I found a hardcopy of an email from my (then) new job, and a set of nice wired earbuds. Without thinking too much I got a leather conditioner and started working on the bag.\u00a0<\/p>\n When I was finished, the case looked great. There are some character marks but the briefcase is completely usable. It\u2019s like I got a Christmas present from Jerry.\u00a0<\/p>\n Oh I\u2019m sure I\u2019d have found the case going through the basement, but the timing and reason I found the case seem intertwined at least circumstantially.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve got a neat, smaller Tumi briefcase that I picked up 3-4 years ago and have been using.<\/p>\n Now, I have another briefcase should I ever un-retire and return to work where I need a larger size. I like the \u201ccharacter\u201d the case has. It reminds me of one of my Stetson hats. That one survived the fire too. I was amazed when I pulled it out of its box. The box was burned and charred but the hat inside was just dirty. I cleaned it up and have been wearing it since. There are a couple of character marks but you have to really look hard to find them.<\/p>\n I appreciate the \u201csurvivor\u201d items from the fire. Most of the Christmas ornaments are in that category. I could have set up the largest of the trees we have, then all the ornaments would have been out on display. But this year the smaller tree just felt \u201cRight\u201d.<\/p>\n Next year, I\u2019m thinking I\u2019ll do a big tree. Hopefully I\u2019ll be wherever I\u2019m going to be\u2026 Perhaps I\u2019ll host the family get together.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve got to get busy craving out that future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Christmas Day was great here. I did get back to sleep, Jesse let me back into the bed with a minimum of grumbling. An hour or so later, Jesse was laying on his back with his head on my shoulder. What woke me up was that my shoulder and arm were asleep When I finally … <\/p>\n