Thanks for the kind words ladies.

I'm not totally alone, I do have some family and we do get together. And my boyfriend (I use that word loosely these days) always includes me with his family (they think I'm great). I guess I just yearn for the "days of old" when my folks were here and I had my OWN immediate family to celebrate with. This sounds crazy, but I feel like I'm on the outside looking in and I hate that feeling.

And Chatty, volunteering is a great idea, but hard to do in Atlanta. I called the Hosea Feed the Hungry organization several months ago to volunteer for Christmas and was told they didn't need any more people. I've run into that the several times I've tried to get involved in other organizations (including Habitat for Humanity). The answer is always "We have enough people, but we'd love to have your money." But that's a great idea, I plan to keep looking.

I think one of my New Year's resolutions is going to be to find a church home. For me, that will probably fill much of the void because it will open doors to get involved and do things for people in my local community (things that I wouldn't otherwise know about).

And Hannelore, I LOVE that song!

Whirlwind