12.22.2004 / 1:28 p.m.

Nine days and counting to 2005 - a year that I suspect will blow out into something big.

Good or bad?

Time, literally, will tell.

In the meantime, we hang on- by the skin of our teeth - to the holiday spirit and I mark another year of my life off on the calendar.

Wishing for: more icy days. Snow maybe? A good night of sleep. No fights. No self-loathing. Feeling like a kid again: hopeful and pretty and excited about everything.

then ... now