Last Thursday I left my keys at home. Luckily my flatmate was in when I got back. On Saturday I got my car washed. Only after handing over the keys I realised I left my wallet at home. And of course I had no money on me. I had to walk all the way back home and took the bus to pick up my car. Not exactly how I envisioned spending my Saturday morning. Now I’m waiting for the bus to go to work. For the second time this morning! Once in front of the building I noticed I forgot my badge. Wonderful!

Is this what happens when you get old?

This cynical expression is something we use very often in France. When I think of it it reminds me of one day back a number of years ago. Back then I was looking after children as a summer job. I was spending my days playing with kids on the beach. It was awesome..but I digress. One day I was playing with this 6 year old boy. Paul his name was. By mistake he hit me in the face. He looked at me and very coolly said: “C’est la vie!”. I was a bit surprised to hear that from a 6 year old kid but the memory has stuck with me since then and it always makes me smile.

For various reasons things have been quite challenging recently. Not least of all my troubles sleeping. Without going into details “that’s life” is an expression which has been quite a lot in my vocabulary in the last couple of months. I guess it’s a way to say that we don’t control events in life. You just have to take things as they come. It’s also a way to avoid feeling sorry for myself. Life’s tough. You just to have to deal with it.

So, yeah, c’est la vie! Things always get better…eventually.

For as long as I can remember, expect for a couple of periods, I’ve always had difficulties sleeping. It materialises in different ways but the end result remains the same: I’m exhausted. It used to be manageable but recently I’ve been really struggling. The worst is when I lie down in my bed for hours unable to find sleep. This happened to me last night. In addition to the heat of the last few days I guess I have a few things on my mind too. I only managed to sleep at around 5am (and I’m supposed to get up at 6am!). Most other days I would manage to fall asleep early but I would have agitated nights and I  would wake up several times during the night. On weekends I would go to bed later and still wake at 6am or 7am. I’m really tired of being tired! It’s a real pain. But I’m at a loss as to how sort it out.

I just want to sleep! I didn’t think it was a lot to ask.

Here we are again. One more year has come and gone. With 2010 only a couple of weeks away I could, like last year and the year before, make a list of the most notable events of 2009. This time, however, I will not. You know how people say that it is when things are hard that you learn the most. Well, suffice to say that a fair amount of learning was accomplished this year.

Next year, there are a few things I would like to concentrate on. First, I would like to be more present for my family. I have been shying away from my responsibilities (as a son, as a brother and as an uncle) for a while but this is not very fair to them. Second, I would like to find extra-curricular activities I can invest myself in. Maybe something which could also be useful to others. I also want to lead a healthier life – a recurring theme – : sleep more, eat better and exercise regularly.

Let’s see how long my new year’s resolutions last for. But for now Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!