New Year Sacrifice

So, December has been a trying and busy month for me, as I have donned my Social Butterfly guise, and have taken to the town more often than not for the completion of those items that are on my very busy social calendar.

I love the month of December. I can feel it looming when November brings on the Christmas Breeze that will cause all and sundry to don the so called winter garb of the Islands. For me, the month of December is all about closure, and the time to remember and cherish all that is important to me - family and friends. Mistakes and accomplishments can either be eroded or applauded in the month of December. January is coming, and with it the opportunity for renewal. We can either learn from our mistakes, or we can make them again and continue vicious cycles of regret.

Last year, I had undertaken to start each succeeding year of my life by making some form of personal sacrifice, which would have no particular form of content or context. I needed this to test my limits, restraint, willpower, and just to create some excitement from the monotony of my life. For January 2006, I gave up red meat. Now lemme tell ya, this was not easy. I still yearn for a nice and juicy home cooked hamburger , or a piping hot plate of beef lasagna…but I have managed to stay the course. My red meat hiatus should be easier or the next few years, as I have now committed to this lifestyle change.

My eldest sister was diagnosed and has suffered from Tinnitus for the past ten years. She has also experienced gradual hearing loss in both of her ears, to the tune of 21% loss in her left ear and 22% in her right. She has learned to live and adjust to the hearing loss, but her symptoms of Tinnitus results in a constant buzzing or vibration in her ears, which is akin to the constant roaring of a lawnmower or generator, the sound of which can increase or decrease, depending on certain factors. Caffeine, stress, loud noises and certain foods will increase the buzzing, and she will often take to her bed with migraine headaches due to the noise, and her inability to stop it.

She has had to give up a lot of the things that she loves while adjusting to the on set of tinnitus and her hearing loss, one of which is Soda. Yes, people try to sell that caffeine free junk, but it just ain’t the same. My Big Sis is not a coffee drinker, or a chocolate eater, but she did treasure a nice cold Pepsi with a Patty first thing in the morning on the way to work. Sigh. There just ain't nuttin else like it. The burning feeling of the caffeine when you inhale a huge gulp from that red and blue can with the ice cold condensation running down the sides, the consumption of which will result in a resounding belch that can shake the rafters of a house. Sigh.

Let it now be known to all and sundry, that for the new year January 2007 (Drum roll here), as a show of solidarity for my wonderful, awesome and magnificent Big Sis, I will no longer be drinking Sodas. Can you hear the mournful bagpipes and depressed violins wailing and weeping the loss through the Cyber Universe? This is a body that used to guzzle at least 2 six packs of Pepsi per day, and there is nothing better that an Appleton and Coke at a Carnival fete. I will now have to find a suitable replacement. All thee holding stock in Pepsi Cola, sell you shares before January 1st, 2007. I have spoken.

I love my Big Sis, and though I cannot ease her burden, I can try something to let her know that I support her in all that she does. I now goin’ send her a text and call her a Doofus . She will know what I mean.

On that sappy note, I shall now exit.

'Ta.