Next year will be a longer year, at least by 24 hours.
That’s right, because on February 29th we’ll get to do more.
This is probably a big deal for union labor since that’s an extra day that
they have to work.
Salaried employees get to give 7-24 more hours of work to their employers for
free.
However, the truth be known we’re so blessed to have the jobs, clothes and
niceties we have in the USA.
After all today the former dictator (AKA
Richard Potato) was found in a dirt hole hiding.
Of course once we found him we gave him a nice warm shower, a medical
check-up, a nice shave (I don’t know if they gave him a razor or an
electric shaver – sharp objects may not be good for him) and a news
conference announcing his capture.
They don’t do that for me at work when I come out of hiding on the
weekends.

But this is America.
And Today in America we opened the Christmas presents we got for each other
before we hit the road (figuratively, we’re flying).
That way we could have a week of playing with toys, things and such before
going somewhere else and playing with more toys and things.
This also allowed us to have a little bit of private, intimate, family time.
Of course family time with Abigail consists of reading short books over and
over and then deciphering some of her hand gestures to figure out if she’s
saying she wants a banana or that there’s a hand grenade in the piccolo –
her sign language is a wee rough.
Anyway, back to the present(s).
Jessica got Indiana Jones and the Temple of DVD’s, some gloves for kneading
bread, Pirates of the Carob Bean, a cutting board, a spatula, and a Creme
Brulee kit (without butane[!?]).
Abby got so much stuff that we had to have an addition added to our second
story apartment, so now our apartment building looks like something out of
an M.C. Escher picture, but at least we can fit all of her toys in her
room.
I got socks, underwear (Sponge Bob Boxers!), a calendar, magnets (words for
the fridge), Cranium, and a Dave Barry book (Boogers are my Beat).
There could have been other things, but frankly I can’t recall, it all
happened so quickly and I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night.
Abigail helped unwrap the gifts, in fact if she wasn’t helping unwrap she was
pretty upset.
I think that the next 5-6 years of our lives will be filled with this as our
child(ren) grow(s) up.

So, as I think of overthrown dictators in small holes with $750,000
USD on them, I think of
all of the other Iraqis who are stuck living in their smallish villages,
waiting to see if they’ll be able to turn in another person who’s face
showed up on a list of most wanted men via playing cards.
I am sad for them, not because playing cards encourage gambling and they may
not have the money to lose at the tables, but because I know that they are
right there with their families this Christmas, and when they see a
United States soldier dressed in a red suit they’ll be confused.

Resting in Him,

Randy “Overly Affluent American” Peterman