XMAS 17

Considering we are in our golden years, things have been pretty eventful since my last letter. We had visits from and to cousins, family and friends, took a nice long road trip, and are generally at ease. The sad news of 2017 is that my father passed away on Easter morning from the complications of a stroke. As you can imagine, it was a difficult time for us all. He was the best husband, father and man I have ever known.

Cathy and I have avoided the hospital this year, although Cathy had out-patient surgery on her left hand to cure “trigger fingers” and allow her to grasp things again. She’ll get the right hand done in 2018. She is busy right now making new Christmas wreaths using her good hand! She did make a trip back to North Carolina to say goodbye to her sister in-law, Francis, who was in hospice care. Cathy also got to visit with her brother Gary, who lives in NC now. As for me, I’m still helping out with a living history group, mainly by towing the float in the Veterans Day Parade. I also play guitar at the weekly “jam sessions” at the local Senior Center (when did I get old enough for that?). Other than that, I’m pretty lazy and just enjoy the weather, and the pool in the summer.

We made some local day-trips this year. Things like going up to Cloudcroft to see the aspen change (we hit it on the right weekend this year!) and taking Mom up to the village of Hatch to have green chile cheeseburgers at world-renowned Sparky’s (well, known pretty well around here). We also made a nice, long road trip to St. Louis to visit with our cousin Rita, who was in hospice. We got to stay with my cousins Jim and Anne, and really enjoyed the tours we got around the area, including down to Great Grandpa’s old family farm near Fredericktown. What a change since the last time we saw it in 1978 - instead of cornfields, it’s now a forest!

We went way out of the way on road part of the trip. From here to Corona NM to see the actual site of the Roswell UFO crash. Then to Fort Sumner, NM, to see Billy the Kid’s Grave, then to Amarillo TX to go to the Big Texan Steak Ranch (the one where you get the meal free if you eat a 5-pound steak - we didn’t even try!). Then a long trip across the prairie to the Adobe Walls Battlefield ruins, where two of the most interesting but little-known Indian fights on the plains took place in 1864 and 1874. We stopped in Dodge City KS, which isn’t worth seeing, and then up to Cawker City KS, where my Mom’s Dad was born in 1898 (we didn’t see any sight of him!). On the way to St. Louis we stopped at the Budweiser Clydesdale breeding farm (which we really liked). On the way home we stopped in Coffeyville KS and Guthrie OK to see the Doolin/Dalton gang graves, other things you should google too! Down to Konawa OK to visit with our oldest son, Eric, and then to Odessa TX where we saw a life-size recreation of Stonehenge, proudly built by Texas engineers in 6 weeks (vs. 2,000 years in England). We made a detour to Archer TX to see what’s left of Larry McMurtry’s used book store (to be honest Coas Books here in ‘Cruses is better!). Then down to our favorite part of Texas, the Davis Mountains, then home.

We had some interesting visitors this year too. My Mom’s Brother’s children, Jim Ticknor and Jamie Van Pelt (and her husband, Jim) came out for a visit with Mom. We haven’t seen each other for about 50 years, so it was a great reunion! My Dad’s Brother’s youngest daughter, Carol Morris and her husband Sterling came out twice to visit in their RV. Dad’s commander in Vietnam and Mom’s best friend Will and Roxey Polley drove through twice too - we just hope we’re that nimble at their age!

The rest of the family continues to do pretty well too. We had Eric, our oldest son, over from his home in Oklahoma twice, and really enjoy his visits. He’s 42 now, and we never figured we’d have kids that old!

Our youngest son Greg and his wife Rebekah are both Air Force Master Sergeants and still based at Hickam in Hawaii. Greg won the General Horace M. Wade Innovation Award - best in the Air Force! Rebekah got home safely from her 9 months in Afghanistan, where she was awarded a Defense Meritorious Service Medal. Our granddaughter, Kirstin, is 12 now, and continues to be very serious about volley ball, practicing or playing every day. This past year her team went to a big tournament in Anaheim, and came out 5th out of 60 teams! Meanwhile, Greg and Rebekah are still physically fit - running marathons even! Greg also came “home” last spring for a few days after Dad passed away, and then went back to Hawaii and reenlisted. His high-school buddy, Glover Gossett, who is a decorated Army Captain, also stationed in Hawaii, swore both Greg and Rebekah in for 4 more years each, taking them into retirement range. It is a very small world!

Chris & his family are leaving Yokosuka Naval Base in Japan for Stuttgart, Germany in late December, where Chris will manage the U.S. Army’s hotels there. He has been at Headquarters for both the Army and Navy for 15 years and says he wants to get back to the real world! Janna completed her college work last month, and is now a certified teacher. She says she’s hoping to get a job at one of the on-base elementary schools in Germany. Geoff is a Sophomore in high school, and had a singing role in this year’s school play. Singing? I never knew! Connor is chugging along in 8^th grade and continues to do well - looks like he'll be the scholar in the family - his standardized tests place him in the 94th percentile of his peers, at the College Freshman level! They have really enjoyed living in Japan, but are really looking forward to northern Europe (they were based in Naples, Italy, for 3 years before returning to Japan).

Mom still lives at the assisted care complex, and though she is wheel-chair bound is doing quite well, and will probably outlive us all. She also has some short-term dementia, but hasn’t forgotten anyone yet! And talk about a small world - her friend from when we were stationed in Morocco in 1962, Cynthia Apostalon, moved down from Albuquerque and lives in the room next door to mom! Both Kerry and I keep an eye on Mom, visiting every day, sometimes for a short time, sometimes longer. Sometimes I take her dog Charlie over to visit, or take my guitar and play for her for a couple hours, or until my fingers bleed, whichever comes first! Haha!

As for the menagerie, all other animals and birds are fine. This past summer a feral cat had a litter in the desert somewhere near the house, and I was going to catch and relocate her because she sometimes eats the dove that live around here, but decided not to after I saw her eating a pack rat, which I used to love, but don’t anymore!