When the news feels very personal

I have two trips planned between now and the end of the year. They are both to places that have been featured prominently, and not positively, in the national news.

Thanksgiving in Vegas. In little more than a month, I'll be celebrating my birthday and turkey day just doors away from Mandalay Bay, where the nation's more prolific mass shooter mowed down 500 people. My heart is bruised by this carnage.

Christmas in Key West. Hurricane Irma did her damage there. The Publix Store, just minutes from the hotel where I'll be staying, was the site of an airlift that delivered bottled water and meal rations. It's the kind of thing you expect to see in a third world country, not outside of the grocery store where you've bought bananas, orange juice and Coke.

I know that these destinations depend on tourist dollars, so they will be up and running and ready for me. My friends, Reg and Henry, live in Key West and assure me things are rapidly returning to normal. I even spoke to the hotel where I'll be staying and the manager tells me all is well -- his building sustained minimal damage that's already been repaired and he can't wait to meet me.

But I wonder how it will feel to celebrate in towns still tinged with tragedy. I'm already hyperemotional these days, what with lingering concerns about my job (and, therefore, finances) casting a long shadow over everything. While that shooter didn't fire at me, and my roof was untouched by hurricane winds, I'm still an American. So on some level, what happened to those citizens did have an impact on me, too.

So I'm worried about being sad, I guess. And that's one of the ways depression takes hold of me. Worry about worry ... and then things start to look hopeless ... and the way I feel right now begins to feel like the way it will be forever.

Fortunately for me, the sun is shining. The sky is blue, Cubbie blue. And last night, my heroes delivered what's being called "a capital performance."

I know my guys aren't favored to go all the way this year. I realize how hard it is to repeat in the MLB. But they got here -- for the third year in a row! -- and they're defending their World Series championship with heart.

GO, CUBS, GO!