Ahem.

So I turn 24 years old today. I don't generally make a big deal out of my birthday, and this year is no different. I don't feel old, either, despite my being a new father, which is a pretty adult thing to be.

I am struck by the thought that another entire year has passed, and I made exactly zero progress towards my only major goal: becoming a minister. At the beginning of the year, all signs pointed to me returning to college and working to finish my bachelor's degree. By the spring, however, we knew Genia was pregnant and so my plans were on hold yet again. The year has absolutely flown by and, looking back, it was all running to stand still. And now at the beginning of 2004, and my twenty-fifth year of life, I feel like it will be yet another year of the same. Will I ever get anywhere?