Another year is behind us, or will be in just a few days. On a foggy and wet day like today the sanest thing a man can do is to stay at home dry, warm and content. Maggie outdid herself again with vanilla cookies and cabbage rolls--both are old Croatian recipes which she brought to perfection. They are usually served during the holiday season and it brings the sense of home. We sat after a hearty lunch of cabbage rolls with a glass of red wine each and reminisced the events of the year. I mean everybody else does it at this time of the year--all the TV channels and radio stations, even the podcasts we download, reviewed 2008--so why not us?
The highlight of the year was our vacation in Barcelona, for many reasons. First and foremost, it was the v-a-c-a-t-i-o-n! It was relaxing, we've seen a lot, enjoyed a lot, and had some grievances too. We didn't like Barcelona's pickpockets and its hurried, unfriendly people. I loved the town of Tarragona with its Roman past and ruins. Maggie's face lights with smile when she thinks of Bar Celta in downtown Barcelona, where we went for our dose of tapas, good red wine and friendly service.
The Barcelona vacation was also important on a very different level: it tought us to appreciate what we have at home. Upon return, the tiring restlessness was gone and with it the perpetual search for another place to live, another country to settle in. Barcelona made something click inside us--Bar Celta's red wine untied our tongues and we talked about everything; we compared our lives with the lives of people around, people we knew and the ones we didn't; we re-evaluated what we've accomplished and set some goals and targets. Coming back felt like waking up from a long and restless dream. We came home, looked around the house and the neighborhood and decided that's where we want to stay. So what if it snows 6 months a year?
No one can talk about 2008 without talking about economy. The catastrophe may have started in the States with the sub-prime mortgages--the term the whole world learned quickly, as the debt spread globe-wise like cancer and bank after bank collapsed--but financial uncertainty also hit us personally. People are getting laid off around us, friends and colleagues we knew for years, and we are worried about our jobs. True, both have been re-assured at work that we have nothing to fear (at least for now), but who's to know when will the guy who's deciding who gets fired make a deeper cut? Job uncertainty is driving us crazy.
In 2008 I ran the longest official race of my life--a half-marathon. Hopes and plans for 2009 are to finish one, possibly two full marathons. Physically, I haven't felt this good in many years. Maggie's energy was focused down different alley. She honed her culinary skills. I always knew we complement each other nicely: I run to spend calories so I can enjoy her cooking without remorse.
We both share the same favorite book for 2008: "The Time Traveler's Wife" by Audrey Niffenegger.
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