Thursday, December 31, 2009
Peace and Season’s Greetings:
Considering the last holiday report I wrote was in 2006, it’s going to be tough to do a short version covering three years, but I’m going to try:
Family all doing pretty well. Moved back to SC from Milwaukee in April 2007. Got my old software training job back. Two new tattoos, one pet (Rosco – our Jack Russell) lost to a copperhead bite, tons of home improvements, no marriages, no divorces. Finally made it to Fenway, during the post season nonetheless. Men still perplex me.
It was a good year, all in all, although it ended with my Mom having to have surgery on her broken ankle. She whacked it against a big crock sitting in her kitchen. Rumor has it that she figured it was broken but didn’t want to disrupt Christmas, which was only a few days away.
She went to doctors she worked for all those years as a nurse, this time as a patient. The doctor saw her Monday and she had surgery Tuesday. (The doctors in that same practice have fixed now (over the years) her ankle, my broken knee, Robert’s knees, and Dad’s Achilles tendon.)
We are all very thankful that she’s home, healing well, and that us kids are close enough to look after her and Dad.
Robert, Suzie, and Wayne are all well. My niece is about to start college, and Shea just turned 14. Shea’s best friend just got her learner’s permit this past week. Wasn’t even my kid and I could feel the gray hair sprouting.
Shea didn’t take long to adjust to high school life. She is in the Naval ROTC program, and going great guns, so to speak. She gets good grades, and is really a great kid. And tall.
For the past few years, Shea, Bill, and I all took a summer vacation together. We went to Jamaica a couple of times, Disney World, and Bonaire last year when Shea got her SCUBA license.
This year, Shea and I took our own vacation, and I finally used the sky miles and hotel points I’ve collected over the years. I had lots of them. We went big. Flew to Rome, then to Berlin, then Madrid, then home. (Can’t say enough good things about Rome.) Shea does orienteering for ROTC (maps and stuff) so day one in Rome I gave her a map and told her what I wanted to see. Not a single missed step, and we walked for miles. For days. Same thing in Berlin, and in Madrid she had the metro map down in about two stops I think.
It was a great trip. Australia may be next on our list.
So then there’s me. I’ll start with the tattoos. For my 41st birthday (2008) I got a Dave Matthews Firedancer on my right forearm. (Unintentionally, it is now how the security folks at the airport know me.) I have grand visions that one day I will get to meet Dave and have him autograph it, but until then it’s just something nice for me to see every day, on the road or not.
It confuses many people, which was also an unintended consequence. Of course to me she makes perfect sense, and it’s obvious to me what, precisely, “it” is. It’s funny to hear people guess, though.
In January of this year, I was in Guam for a work project, so while I was there I had Shea’s nickname put on my left ankle. (This time the ambiguity was intentional.) With three I am the highly-tattooed geek in the family. And that’s alright by me.
I highly disliked my job in Milwaukee, so in February 2007 I resigned. I got my old job back, put my house on the market, it sold in two weeks, I bought a house from my dad and moved back home. As fast as I moved up there, I was back and settled in here.
So work-wise I’m back to teaching software. We are doing more and more classes online which means that I am often able to work from home with my Tasmanian Devil slippers on. This year I took exactly half the flights I took last year.
Which is a great thing. I’ve had far more time with my family. And time to get projects finished. (I had my housewarming party only 2 ½ years after I moved in.) Now I can just sit and be. There’s not a huge list of things to be done. Feels pretty good, I must say.
I did manage to have a boyfriend for a few months this year too. Nice guy. A cop from northern Virginia, and a fellow Dave fan. It was fun. But just wasn’t in the cards.
Speaking of cards and Dave, for Christmas this year I took myself to Las Vegas to see Dave and Tim Reynolds at Planet Hollywood. It was fabulous. (I also got to see the King’s Singers in November. A banner year, musically.)
I am thankful for the very many blessings in my life.
And to say I got my Christmas letter done this year, I better go for now.
Love,
Angie
