Cast me gently,
Into morning,
For the night has been unkind.......

Yeah, so my super boss gave me a copy of the new Sarah McLaughlin CD, wow. Good music. It sounds exactly like her last cd, only better and with different beats and words. These lyrics are particularly comforting after the night I had last night. I went to my first official social outing with the office last night: the office Christmas Party. Now, I should probably give you some background on last year's party so you will understand where I am coming from. Last year I was working as a counselor for substance abuse, domestic violence and anger management (yes, I taught anger management. I don't know which is funnier the Adam Sandler movie or the fact that I learned more about how to manage my anger than anyone else in the class. I have a tendency to be on the angry side of things as an individual.) And the little place that I worked was a very tight nit group of people of about 6 of us. When you included signifigant others as well, there were nine. So my boss took us all to Fogo de Chao, which is a high dollar restaurant in Buckhead. It is about $100 a plate and that doesn't include beverages or dessert. So needless to say he dropped a grand on a Christmas shindig. We were all dress very nicely and had a blast being all fancied up and going into the city for a night. Last night was a disaster in comparison. We had cafeteria food, ate in a college dining hall, had a billion kids running all over the place screaming at the top of their lungs, had to sit through a child attempting to sing the twelve days of Chistmas in his own key, which was hysterically funny, and the only really impressive thing was that my super duper boss (the CEO) recited 'Twas the Night Before Christmas by heart with his wife. It was mighty impressive, the recital that is. It only lasted an hour which is not near as much time as I took on doing my hair (which I have come to find is much longer than it used to be and takes a whole lot more time to do anything with as a result of the growth). Everybody kept buzzing around saying "Isn't this just lovely?" and then I realized, they don't know the difference. I do. That is why I was stuggling so with the whole concept. I understand that there are bigger and better things out there. Ignorance is bliss, knowledge is power and knowing about ignorance creates growth. I can see my Mom's face going "What?" The experience as tedious and disappointing as it was, taught me several things: 1) be thankful for what you have, 2) love and tolerance are always the best for any situation and 3) never miss an opportunity to keep your mouth shut. So once I went through the motions of sitting through this I realized that I work for a tremendous family oriented company that is kind, loving and good. Although, there are some things that I don't understand, I do enjoy the company of my co-workers. I don't have to tell everyone that I had a better party last year because that would only be egotistical and arrogant and very disrespectful to my boss, who worked so hard to make good with what she had, my super boss who enjoys the children so much, and my super duper boss, who is one of the best men I have ever met. He is going to match whatever we raise for a Christmas Family this year. He is a really good hearted man. So maybe it wasn't as terrible an event as I first believed, but it sure wore me out. Between having to go through all those thoughts to grow and change my perception and having the sniffles, I was plum tuckered out last night for bed. Thank goodness today is fresh with no mistakes in it.