Dear 2011...

I would like to start by telling you how much I've been looking forward to you. In fact, I've probably been looking forward to you since early 2010. Why, you ask? Well, once I realized 2010 was not going to be the year of great things for me...I started counting down the days until your arrival so I could start over again.

It seems silly, I know. Why wait for a new year on the calendar? Why not just start over today...because every day is the first day of the rest of your life! Haha...fuck that. And fuck those optimistic people who see the silver lining in every dark cloud. My 2010 was a thundercloud that sat over top of me never allowing more than a sliver of light to show through...and even when, by chance, one did...it never lasted very long.

But 2010 ended with a bang...as most years do. I suppose I had fun because there are about 200 pictures from that night to back that up. I hear we had a countdown...but I have no memory of actually counting down until you showed up in my life. I remember grabbing two glasses of champagne from the bartender--one for me, and one for my new friend/midnight make out partner. Then I vaguely remember grabbing him by the shirt collar and pulling him down to my face. I certainly hope that kiss wasn't as sloppy as I looked in every picture that took place after that glass of champagne...

Even though I spent my first day with you with an alcohol induced migraine headache...I am still optimistic that you will be everything I hope you will be. My college football team ate it big time at the Rose Bowl...but the next day my Packers played like shit and still beat Da Bears proving the Bears still suck! Speaking of that game...I'm not so sure I appreciated your little surprise for me 2011. I was all ready to enjoy a good game with my girl and you brought this blast from pussy past in to the same damn bar. I mean, of all the sports bars in all of Madison, that was the one you sent him to?

I tried my best to remain poised and in control...but to be honest, 2011, it was hella awkward. And yes...I do know you are 2011 and not 2001, but I'm still using "hella." Even though we left things on "good" terms...we still have had absolutely no contact with each other in probably 8 months. That's a tough thing to do with the invention of the internet, but lucky for me he seems adverse to all types of social networks. Of course he was cordial, as I believe he always will be...but it's weird in this day and age to be completely cut off from someone. As we were talking there was a familiarity--which made it even more weird. Yeah, I figured your jacket was a mom choice since she was always so good at picking out clothes for you... I wasn't ready 2011. You caught me completely off guard.

The worst part was...the second a ghost from pussy past shows up I start thinking about all the good times. Considering we "knew each other" for 3 years...there were a lot of good times flashing through my memory. I couldn't help it. And you know what, 2011? I was real sad for a minute that it had ended, but I thank you for bringing him back after almost a year and plopping him down at the bar table next to me. It was good to be friendly and to know that there are bridges out there I haven't completely burned to shit.

I think, 2011, that we're going to have some tough times at work still. As much as I'd like to think that since you showed up we're all going to act at least 1 year older than we did in 2010...well...I was proved wrong today. My first day with you at work was busy as hell. I decided that if we're going to be working together that I will try to keep my nose out of things and remain above it all. No use in allowing myself to get dragged down to their level like I did with 2009. I think 2009 just enjoyed my misery and and is still clinging to some people. Unlike them, I have fully embraced you 2011 and I think together we can fix this situation. I don't know how we're going to do it...but I'm hoping we figure it out so we can get on with our professional lives.

This will be a year for a love affair 2011...I feel it! I'm ready and open to have a relationship with the most important person in my life. I'm going to spend more time loving them and less time worrying about where it's going in the future. I'm going to try and be less judgmental of them and hope that maybe I can stop judging them altogether and just accept them for who they are as a person. I'm going to love them despite their flaws. I'm going to respect them for the accomplishments they've made so far and encourage them to continue to grow and learn and prosper. I'm going to help them make the tough decisions they need to become a better person, but I will not push them to change just to meet some sort of standard that someone else has decided on. I promise I'm going to always take the time to listen to what they have to say and to sympathize with their feelings and to always be there when they need me. Yes, 2011...I'm starting a new relationship today and it's going to be fantastic! I just hope I can be the person to myself that I should have been all these years. And then maybe, 2011, I'll find someone else to love me as well...

So there you have it, 2011. I'm very excited you and I have finally made it here and I look forward to all the good things we will do together! I just hope you're as excited to meet me as I have been to meet you. I think this is the start of something wonderful...

Sincerely,

Me