This has been a whirlwind year for us and it seems like we just got through Easter when fat frozen turkeys started filling the freezer space at the local market. That tricky Father Time outdoes himself every year! All of you who are getting a little more mature like us will understand this perfectly. To those who are younger, this probably sounds more like a personal dilemma.
I have a somewhat simplistic theory about how this works. When you are born, you start a long journey uphill, striving for physical maturity, mental development, social acceptance and understanding of the world around you. Somewhere in mid-life there is a long and almost flat curve in time where work, personal accomplishments, family and friends (but especially work) carry you through the days with variable momentum, much like a film in slow motion with periods of fast forward. Retirement should be a gently sloping downward curve, but it has a surprising twist. It's like living on a plane where time takes a more circular and liquid form. The people and events inside your circle are entirely by choice for the first time in your life. If the circle is strong it sustains your vitality, and with the right attitude and good choices, grace and peace take the form of reality. Your struggle is less focused on forcing change in the world, but more on living in the world we have with dignity. God is there with you before your first breath, when you step through the bounds of your circle, and for eternity.
Sadly, there are losses and regrets along the way. In late July of this year, Bill's step mother passed away very suddenly. We also lost a dear friend from Bill's home town. They were both very significant in our lives and will be dearly missed. May God bless and keep them always.
Bill's nephew Adam is serving in Iraq as a helicopter pilot and we ask your prayers for him and for his wife and children at home. Our prayers include Adam, the cares and concerns of both of our families and those of our friends and church family. While there is not enough room to be specific about each person here, prayers are a strong and sustaining force of protection and assurance through Christ's mercy and we are thankful for yours.
There are also many joyous occasions. This year brought us several opportunities to travel. Instead of our usual routine of flying we chose several auto-excursions, many within our home-state of Texas. In late April we had the opportunity to spend ten days with Bill's cousin and his wife touring the hill country and parts south for wild flower and bird watching, visits to some beautiful state parks and a day on Galveston beach. We spent time in July and August visiting friends and family in Colorado and Kansas. This visit was a long one so we were able to plan visits to several of Bill's friends as well as my own and we had a spectacular time.
September brought us the opportunity to spend 3 days at Mo Ranch, a church retreat in Hunt, Texas. We have 4 regular trips to Houston during the year to see Bill's doctor for check-ups and we always plan fun activities around the appointments. Early in the year we visited my cousin in Shreveport, LA and we have a consistent flow of visitation between our house and my cousins' house in Richardson, Texas, just outside of Dallas. Mid-August we visited another cousin of mine in Strawn, Texas for the 1st ever reunion of the cousins from my mothers side of my family. We planned a trip to South Padre for late September, but this got side swiped by Hurricane Rita. Perhaps next year!
While our travel was restricted to the Southwest this year, we are hoping and planning for a trip of a few weeks to New England next year. To each of you in the Northeast, we miss you and love you dearly.
We were also blessed with many family visits. My eldest daughter and her husband came for Christmas last year, both ending and starting the year beautifully for us. They are coming back this year (hallelujah!), and this time they bring great news. My daughter is pregnant with their first child. I can't wait for the happy event! Bill's second cousin from Michigan visited us for a few days in the spring and shared some genealogy gaps with us. My youngest daughter, Carla and some friends came in early April and spent a full week just being lazy with us. My cousin's son Josh from Louisiana, now 21, flew here and spent 3 days with us. My sister Marilyn and her daughter Ashley spent their vacation in June with us and my cousin Carolyn and her husband Ed have taken the time and energy to come from Dallas several times to share in our lives and help with the tasks of making our new home beautiful and comfortable. We even had a visit from my high school friend Susan and her husband. I had not seen Susan since February of 1965. Many of my friends from high school have been in touch since we moved back to Texas.
As many of you know, we chose to spend Thanksgiving with Bill's father in Kansas this year. He is in an Assisted Living facility there, now living on the nursing care side since he requires more medical care than he did in the past. Joe is 96 and doing pretty well for his age. He has some short term memory problems and is now confined to a wheel chair most of the time, but he has a miraculous sense of humor and still has a lot of stories and songs to share with everyone. He was very glad to see us and (I think) just as relieved to see us go because he was tired after our visit.
Our church and our community are a large part of our lives when we are here at home and this year has been an exceptional one in that respect. Besides worshiping at the morning service at First Presbyterian Georgetown on Sundays and participating in Men's Fellowship and Rebekah Circle, we've had numerous opportunities to enjoy fellowship, bus trips and get-togethers with a great group called Active Christian Treasures. It's been a wonderful place to make new friends. Our neighborhood at Sun City also has regular monthly activities, such as a monthly potluck, and we participate as much as we possibly can. Other activities that we enjoy here are walking in our neighborhood and on the trails, swimming and the computer club. We're hoping to take even more advantage of the club and activity opportunities going forward. Health is a big focus for us (that age thing again!) so the fitness center would be a good target for more activity.
Statistics say you won't get this far in the letter, but if you do, this last paragraph is reserved for special blessings for you and yours. May this season be peaceful, full of faith and family and blessed with good times. May your senses be showered with the feelings, sights, sounds and tastes of the holiday season. May your gifts be all that you hoped for and more than you need. We send our hopes and joys to you for this season and every day that follows. We send our prayers for your sorrows and our wishes for your future.
God Bless and Keep You Till We Meet Again.
Love,
Bill and Paula
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