Tax preparation chores, today, brought 2007 in sharper focus. I had to go through the check records, one book at a time, fishing for medical expenses that weren't reimbursed by Blue Cross. I saw blanks in the deposit column that might have contained income. I saw deposits from disability payments that absorbed the anxiety of no income. Like breadcrumbs, checks and receipts mapped the trail back to the beginning of the year and I strolled back through it all. I was dazzled by the scale. Tens of thousands of dollars of our own money and hundreds of thousands of dollars in insurance payments littered the landscape.

We are incredibly resilient. We should have had nervous breakdowns on the economic impact alone. The economic impact was dwarfed by the focus on risky treatments that promised negative side effects and devastating possibilities.

As I walked back up the checkbook trail to today I felt better and better. I worked three days last week, practiced my golf swing. worked out in the gym and gained a few pounds. My muscles are firming up. I calculated my body mass index today and was delighted to realize that, as thin as I am, I'm right in the middle of my ideal weight category. I don't have to gain weight...just muscle.

I also need to fatten up the checkbook. All in good time. I continue to get great work and I'm really enjoying my clients. I hope to move on to an average of 3 days a week after the first of the year.