Newsletters are generally written for the entertainment of the immediate family, so the inclusion of others is somewhat an honor. However, lacking a context for the events that included family members can make the prose boring and meaningless. Heidi, the author of this particular letter, included enough detail to make everything interesting and funny.
I’ve never tried to write a newsletter, but Heidi has inspired me to give it a whirl. I hope that I can follow her lead.
2009 was a traumatic year in that I lost a brother, Don, to cancer, even though his doctors told him that they had discovered it early enough that the prognosis was good. His death came at a time when we originally had planned to hold our bi-annual family reunion. It spelled the probable end to that tradition. We have lost three of the original ten, and two spouses have voluntarily withdrawn from attending.
We did enjoy seven wonderful, fun reunions, which originated from my remarks at our mother’s funeral in 1993 that the next time we would meet would be to say goodbye to a brother or sister. Our oldest brother, Dick, passed away just days before the reunion in September of 2005, so we did have a memorial for him at that one.
But that’s enough of the morbid. 2009 had its bright spots, too.
Judy and I decided to take separate vacations this year, since I get way too involved in my hobby of barbershop singing. Unfortunately, Judy is not a fan of the art, and I get a lot of fun and satisfaction from it. We do have an agreement that I don’t practice in her presence, so harmony in our home is definitely not the musical variety. She just leaves town when I get into show business, so I'm entitled to my own time away when I'm not performing.
One really positive benefit that came from the above is that I was able to take my long solo auto trip in June. I actually got to drive, something I never do when Judy is with me. The trip was just short of 7,500 miles, and I had a long string of “didn’ts.” For instance, I didn’t get any traffic tickets, and I didn’t have any accidents. I didn’t get lost, but that might have been attributable to my GPS. Finally, I didn’t miss very much along the way. (I stopped so often that I might need a new set of brakes soon)
I kept a daily journal on my trip, and sent it each night along with pictures to several of you. After I returned home I had requests from others for the journal, which I aptly titled “Don’t Fence Me In.” In all, I believe I repeated the journal messages four times, and each time I did so it was like taking the trip all over again. If you missed it and would like to share it, I’ll be glad to run it once more. Just let me know.
A really nice change took place this year. Instead of paying rent to someone else to help pay off their mortgage on their town home, we decided to purchase our own property and quit subsidizing others. Throwing away $9,000 per year somehow didn’t seem wise.
Of course, there were some other incentives to make it worthwhile to own our home. The New Home Buyer Credit was a huge factor in our decision. September 24 marked the third anniversary of the sale of the El Paso home. That qualified us as “new” buyers. It was like getting a big discount on the new home, but it was really better than that. Any time you can get a dollar-for-dollar tax credit, you should take it. We did!
The town home we bought is in a fairly new subdivision on the outskirts of Augusta, but not really in Grovetown. It is a rural area that used to be a buffalo bison ranch, and as soon as I tell that to anyone who lives here, they know exactly where it is. It’s funny that we just can’t seem to get away from Buffalo no matter how far we go from Western New York.
Speaking of economics, not a day goes by that I don’t give thanks that I am no longer in the work force. I know that many of you have been negatively impacted by the state of our economy, and I sympathize with you. I hope that you were able to put aside some funds for that rainy day which seems to have arrived.
Okay, here comes the family part… Our kids are doing well. Our daughter, Cathy and husband Jeff have embarked on a new phase in life, as Jeff just retired from the Army and will be a civilian contractor. He just won't have a uniform on and won't be deployed again. Grandson Chase is a junior in High school, and he reminds me of myself at that age, but I won’t elaborate on that. We live only about 15 minutes away from them, so there is plenty of family interaction.
I can’t close this newsletter without the customary picture of my family—in this case, my favorite “grand puppy”—Abby, the cutest and smartest Dachshund in the world, in her Christmas finery.
That about wraps it up. I trust that I haven’t bored too many of you and that I have at least entertained the rest. Judy and I both wish each and every one of you a blessed and prosperous new year in 2010. It is hard to believe that Y2K was ten years in the past, doesn’t it?
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