Well, this will be one of the shortest Christmas
Letters ever.
I mean, what can you say about the 2nd
year of a pandemic? “We
only went out when we needed something?” That
works for Cathy and me, although we do have some
younger friends and family who consider themselves
invincible!
I must say that I’ve quit listening to
the babbling heads in the various government
positions since they change their minds every day. Six
Feet Apart and a Mask in a Crowd. That’s
about
the only thing that seems to have saved most of us,
so that’s what we do.
The only long-term project we’ve got going is
to prepare to move to back east somewhere that has
greenery, water, low taxes, and accents! We are
moving VERY slowly on getting things in order, but I
figure that’s normal when there is 44 years-worth of
accumulation to sort through. One thing
we are happy about is that we found a good home for
our box turtles who now grace someone else’s back
yard!
Speaking of the animals, we lost Sheila, our
old Aussie, this year.
Her hips wore out and she couldn’t walk, but
we were with her all the way. The other
dogs, parrots, and cat are doing well.
The kids and grandkids are fine. Greg
retired from the USAF and Rebekah is a Senior Master
Sergeant still working off-and-on from home. Their
daughter Kirstin is in 10th Grade and
lives for Beach Volleyball – they go all over the
country for various tournaments. In
Germany, Chris is happy working for the US Army and
never plans to come back stateside! Janna is
also working for the Army, as does Geoffrey part
time while he works on his bachelor’s degree
on-line. Connor
is a senior this year, and plans to get his degree
on-line as well.
Our oldest son Eric is doing well too – he’s
still in Oklahoma.
Cathy was lucky enough to get
to go over to San Antonio to hang out with Kirstin
while Gregory and Rebekah go off for one reason or
another. Cathy
enjoys these visits with the Granddaughter. I don’t
get to go, however, because someone has to watch the
animals!
As for me, I’d like to say that I’ve
accomplished something big this year, but I haven’t. I
guess I’d better get on the ball as I hit the big
Seven-Oh on Dec. 13. The
one activity I do religiously is take my guitar over
to the “memory unit” where Mom lives, and sing for
the patients.
My pal Ed and I seem to brighten their
week, and they actually applaud!
The worst thing about this year is
that the collective “we” took very few photographs,
and so this is all I’ve got to pass along this year. Here
is who is in the pics: Ted
(me), Kirstin, Rebekah, Cathy, Greg, Janna, Chris,
Geoffrey, and Connor. Next
year I hope to do better. . . Meanwhile,
try to enjoy life and love one another. Your
pals, Ted and Cathy.
