In the last week or so it seems I've misdialed three or four people while attempting to reach them on their cell phones. Within mere minutes I've received panicked responses from the owners of those wrong numbers: "I see I missed a call from this number!!!!!!!" or "Who is this???!!!" If I didn't leave a message it's probably a good indication that one, I don't know you and two, I don't need you to call me back. What ever did one do without this apparent life sustaining device?????? How did it come to be that having our phone on our person at all times is absolutely necessary? Just look around when you exit an airplane. How long does it take before 99% of the passengers are turning their phones back on and desperately checking messages?
Yes, this particular invention has made life easier and sometimes safer on many levels. But its level of importance has reached an all time high. Could it be that we are seeking relationship and connection without knowing it? I recently read a funny quote about our relationships with cell phone providers in the book The Gospel According To Starbucks by Leonard Sweet. " Cell phone companies aren't selling cell phones. They're selling relationships. If you don't think your cell phone provider is selling relationhips, try and get out of your contracted "relationship." You almost have to hire a divorce lawyer. We now have phone relationships that last far longer than many marriages." And a lot less is required of you.

So we bid 2007 goodbye and not a moment too soon. Although I know many lessons are learned in the valley I must admit that I have grown tired of spending more time there than on the mountaintop. A respite would be nice for a short while.
The new year began with a midnight dip in the lake. Not an experience I wish to repeat. I thought it might feel invograting or even refreshing. It was neither.
In a superstitious kind of fashion I thought the romp in the water might wash away all things negative. In the late afternoon of New Year's Day a blood curdling scream came through the garage door in the form of my freaking out 9 year old. "I can't feel my hand!!" was all he could say. After 3 hours in the E.R. (without health insurance) we found the wrist was not showing a fracture unless it existed in the growth plate--which couldn't be seen due to the immense amount of swelling.
Day two of 2008 I took my car in to Toyota due to chronic overheating. It was only a thermostat and I know it could have been much worse but aren't car repairs the absolute last subject you want to pour money into??
I don't write this to be full of gloom and doom but to say I am taking the perspective of: we are getting it all out of our system early on in order to enjoy a great year ahead. Here's to 2008!