2021 In The Can

 So D2 and Jonathan were off on a boat ride in Biscayne Bay, and Wifey and I had a relaxing NYE day. Old friends Sheryl and Mark came over, in town from Boston, and we sat to catch up for awhile -- I poured Mark a Glenlivet and I had an Absolut, and we toasted the coming new year.

Wifey and I got dressed and headed to M'Italia, a place in South Miami across the street from the hospital where the Ds were born. We had a lovely table outside, and probably only 20% of the tables were filled -- Omicron seemed to keep most people inside this year. But our fellow negative Covid testmates arrived -- Joelle, Kenny, their boy Adam, and old friend Diane, who lives across Tigertail in the Grove.

We ate well and toasted, and then caravanned back home around 10:30. We popped a few bottles of 'pagne, as my friend Stu calls it, and ate desserts. Just before midnight, we retired to the family room and put on Miley Cyrus and her strange boyfriend Pete Davidson's show from Miami Beach, and some of us enjoyed the scantily clad dancers. And then the year changed, and we toasted for the last time in '21.

The guests left, we went to sleep, and I awoke to a text -- D2 and Jonathan were sleeping over, also in the Grove, at their friend Michael's new apartment. We'd see them NY Day.

We spent the first day of the year in complete sloth mode -- watching football and movies -- I never got off the property. D2 and Jonathan brought salads and wraps from Carrot Express. In honor of the holiday, I even eschewed my constitutional.

I have zero predictions for 2022. I was convinced, in my simple English Professor way, that 2020 would be the year of perfect vision. I guess it was -- it was only that what was seen was very ugly.

Things were looking up plague wise in early '21, with vaccines on the horizon. And then, January 15, Wifey had a major health scare whose recovery dominated our lives for the first half of the year. Thankfully she's recovered wonderfully.

And then the plague looked to be on the run -- I even attended several Canes tailgates and games -- and then Omicron, contrary to Pitbull's advice, indeed stopped the party.

So who knows? I guess the lesson is to just appreciate each day, and, like the Stranger in "Big Lebowski," "Take 'er easy, Dude."

Today I was back to walking, and complaining about the heat. I look forward to cooler temps in January, and so far -- "feels like" 86. Maybe some cooling will come Tuesday.

The Millennials are chilling today as well, too. I have the Dolphins on, with little hope they beat the Titans to keep their slim playoff hopes alive. Then again, watching the freezing rain in Nashville, I rescind my complaint about our weather.

The plague experts expect a quick drop in cases. Wifey hopes they're right -- she has tickets to ATL 1/9 and hopes to go.

Meanwhile, my writing was interrupted by crazy dog barking -- strange rescue and enormous puppy. Sure enough -- a 4 foot iguana was trapped in our pool area, and the dogs wanted a NY Day snack. I tried to shoo him out with water, but the big guy couldn't scale the wall -- must have dropped in via tree. He ran a bit and then, apparently, died. I prodded him with the pool net, and he woke up, but I was able to wrangle him into the net, and deposited him in the front yard. He waddled away -- sort of like the Dolphins season is doing on TV.

I'm hoping for a pretty, pretty, pretty good year.