If Christmas 1992 was when my life hit rock bottom (grammatical errors and all with the link), then the following year defined what one unit from “zero” equalled. Turns out that my deep-seated problems of living in Central Illinois weren’t “cured” by scoring a new full-time job back in May. After the Silder wedding, I really wanted to return to Milwaukee. Then in November I had Austin on the brain, which practically morphed into an obsession. The colder-than-usual Winter wasn’t helping since I’d check the temperatures on the Weather Channel to see how much warmer Texas was and fantasize how things would improve once I got there. I was probably gambling too much on it happening because I had no Plan B.
As for holiday cheer? Everybody in my family made separate plans again. The parents stayed in Raleigh-Durham, Brian in Chicago (I think) and the grandparents in Illinois looking for pity and sympathy amongst their friends instead of going East. I know I expressed no interest in being with any of them due to my funk. The time off I did receive from DG was reserved for the annual New Year’s Eve party at Chez Silders.
Alone, I carried on my recent tradition of going to the movies. This year I sat through a double feature: Grumpy Old Men and Tombstone. Both remain watchable to this day but I think the latter flick has aged better despite its obvious historical errors regarding the Earps and Doc Holliday.
The following week had me racing up to Chicago to see Paul, Helen, Phil and others. I didn’t get to enjoy the time as much as I hoped because I had to return to Bloomington by dinner on New Year’s Day; I had a new part-time job. Whenever I have a brief amount of time to relax, I tend to get none in the process anyway. Still, I thanked everyone for their company; they raised my spirits a tad.
The Break ended quickly and on such a bitter note. I remember not wanting it to end since the next 10 weeks of Winter were going to be brutally depressing. Thankfully, Doc came through with the offer I was hoping for three weeks later. A tardy present but as the cliche goes, better late than never.