I have now seen five Years of the Dragon. Forty-eight years. And I've been in the fandom for twenty-nine of those years. And married for over half my life. Goodness gracious.

My daughter is starting sixth grade. She is trying to draw more furry stuff in addition to the anime stuff she likes to draw. She loves running around with those real raccoon tails clipped to her belt loop. She's doing cheerleading, drama club, cross-country, and even will get the chance to learn the flute this year in school. She is one of our parish's best altar servers. I'm so proud of her and so blessed to have her in my life. Yes, she's also starting to think her father is embarassing when around her friends, but I know she still loves me and wants me in her life as I want to be her father. Teenage angst has not yet come and for that I'm also grateful.

My wife started a new job last month that she actually enjoys even if she's not happy with working full-time. But for now we kind of need it. I'm just glad it doesn't exhaust her physically and emotionally the way her old job could. So that's definitely a plus.

We had a wonderful family vacation this Summer. We spent two full weeks visiting Maine and New Hampshire. I hadn't been in Maine in fourteen years but it felt so familiar. My wife and I both agree that we wish we could afford a Summer home up near Bar Harbor. The White Mountains of New Hampshire have a different kind of beauty than the rocky Atlantic coasts, but both are dear to my heart and I wish we could have spent more time in both. But the best part is, we were together as a family for two weeks and all of us loved it and needed it. I'm hoping we can go to the Rocky Mountains next Summer. We shall see.

For me, beyond the vacation, I did manage some good stuff this last year. I wrote perhaps a hundred pages on various stories, including finishing three new Metamor Keep stories. I made some progress on a fourth that had been stalled for a couple of years before stalling out again, but I was able to start a fifth that I'm making decent progress on. And then there's the Paradise story I started which clocks in around 50 pages all by itself, and it's not done yet. It felt good to write again.

I have hugged the cactus at work this last year and things are starting to really improve. My prospects are quite hopeful, though it may be another year before they bear fruit. I shall remain hopeful.

I need to be more grateful for things in life, and to avoid retreating from the world whenever I get hurt. There's a lot of wonderful things in this world, and not all of them bite. God teaches us through the sign of Simon of Cyrene that we never bear a cross alone.

My previous hatch/birthday journals are here.

37: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/5036489/
38: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/6092268/
39: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/7018568/
40: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/7796928/
41: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/8402940/
42: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/8867733/
43: https://www.furaffinity.net/journal/9257568/
44: https://www.furaffinity.net/journal/9608508/
45: https://www.furaffinity.net/journal/9980730/
46: https://www.furaffinity.net/journal/10322726/
47: https://www.furaffinity.net/journal/10681077/

Dominus vobiscum