2004
Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and assorted other holidays,
I have to start this letter. It’s not so much that the time was just right, as it was that Jane wants to start stripping wallpaper. Wallpaper that starts at the front door and flows throughout the house, only stopping when it reaches Sarabeth’s bedroom door at the end of the hall upstairs. So, the real reason this letter is late this year is because I am typing really slowly. Now, let the journey begin.
JANUARY
Emily turned 16 this month. What a special birthday. You would think that this would be the year she finally gets that pony. You would think. Well, she didn’t. But something special did happen. After about 5 years, the braces came off. She now has the nicest teeth that money can buy. I would show you how nice they look but the stubborn teenager won’t let me take a picture of her mouth. So here are Kirby’s teeth. I hope you like them.
FEBRUARY
All the typical stuff happened this month. Lots of tennis and indoor soccer. Sometime during this period, I started to notice that my body wasn’t working right. My right leg seemed to be lagging behind the rest of me. Tennis was tricky, but just walking was getting difficult without a little trip or stumble every so often. I hadn’t felt that way since college. Only it didn’t go away after lots of aspirin and 14 hours of sleep. Something wasn’t right so I went to see my doctor. He said I was just getting old, but if I wanted, he would order some blood tests. What I wanted was a new doctor!
MARCH
I went to my sports medicine doctor, who banged on me with a hammer and sent me for an MRI. A week after that I was in surgery. It seems they needed to remove a very unimportant part of my neck that was pinching my spinal cord. But they were nice enough to replace it with a little bit of cadaver bone and a metal plate to hold it all together. Now this was my first experience as a patient in a hospital. The only thing I knew about surgery was from watching TV. After I walked into the operating room and balanced myself on the 2x4 they called a table, I was strapped down and it was time for the anesthesia. I remember one sentence. “OK Wayne, we are going to start with a little gas here that will make you feel drowsy and …Wayne it’s over, wake up.” Those 3 dots in the middle represent 4 hours of my life that are completely gone. I have no idea what happened during that time, but I would appreciate you letting me know if any photos show up on the Internet. As you can see from the photo, everything worked out just fine. I will be back playing tennis again sometime before page 3 is finished.
Other things happened this month. Sara turned 11 on the day of my surgery. We decided that we would party sometime in April. And a week later, Emily got her Drivers License!
APRIL
This month was mostly about tennis and soccer. Emily playing the tennis and Sara kicking the soccer ball. Because of my surgery, I was not allowed to play tennis or bowl. That was three evenings a week that were now free, so I spent a bunch of time watching my girls do their thing. And I enjoyed it…for awhile. But I would rush home from work to take Sara to soccer, pick up Emily after practice, go back to the soccer field and wait, all the while listening to Emily complain because she needed to get home so she could get started on her homework. We would stumble back into the house about 7:15 and I would then spend an inordinate amount of time begging the ladies to get started on the previously mentioned homework.
Emily needed a car. If she had a car, she could drive herself and her sister to all these practices. Now I never thought I would be the kind of father to rush out and buy my 16-year-old a car. I didn’t get my first car, a 71 Ford Pinto, until I was a junior in college! But this would be a big help for the family, and I did like the idea of giving my daughter a little something more than I had as a kid. So, I got her a 72 Pinto!
MAY
Remember the end of last year’s letter when I told you about Jane’s big nursing honor? Of course you do. The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses awarded her the “Excellence in Education Award” Well it was time for her to go to Orlando for the convention and presentation. She gave a speech to about 5000 people and they had these big 8’ tall displays in the hall with her picture and info. (The display is now at her hospital for the rest of the world to see) We are all very proud of what she has accomplished, but the best part is that the girls and I flew down for the last part of the week to vacation in the sun.
When my mother found out about our plans, she insisted that I call my Cousin Butch. She told me that he lived in Orlando, his kids lived there, and his daughter even worked for Disney. She might be able to pull some strings and get us into the park. And Mom assured me that he would just love to entertain us for the weekend. Well Butch rates high on Mom’s favorite relative list, but I really didn’t know the man. His visits to Louisville either found me too young to remember, or at college or maybe here in Indy. I didn’t want to call him! Well, remember when you were a kid and your mom would speak with that certain tone in her voice, and you knew you’d better do what she said? Guess what? It doesn’t matter how old you are, that voice still does the trick. She made me call Butch.
I called and we went. We had a great time. Dianne and Todd got us into Disney. As you can see, Dianne even took us on her favorite ride. Butch and Darlene invited us to their house. David, Liz and Max met us there and we all went for a great big Sunday dinner. What a great time getting to know family. In between Disney trips Sarabeth and I spent a bunch of time in the pool. Jane and Emily spent a bunch of time lying around the pool. I believe Emily was either working on a specific tan of some sort in this photo or practicing to be a hood ornament.
JUNE
This is an interesting time now. Emily is out of school, but Sarabeth still has 1 more month. Em had a week off then headed to church camp for two weeks. Last year they taught her how to wash dishes and this year her job was serving the meals. They said something in the brochure about this camp preparing her for the future. I wonder if her future involves Denny’s. I started playing tennis somewhere around this time. I was soon back playing for the club team in our summer league. I have recovered enough to play, but I still have a nice visible scar on my neck that I can rub worrisomely after a bad shot.
Sometime this month we ran across town and had a cookout with the Levitts. We had fun and told stories and talked about typical suburban things. And I really need to call them and invite them to our place for dinner. It was fun, but not necessarily Christmas letter fun. But Joe did manage to take probably the best photo I’ve ever seen of my girls, and I thought it would be rude to print the picture without at least some sort of mention of the source.
JULY
Emily is back from camp and working at the daycare again. Sarabeth is out of school, so it is time to cram 3 months of summer vacation time into 31 days. Emily starts it with a long weekend tennis tournament in lovely Terre Haute, IN. She won Miss Congeniality. Sara went to VBS and then a week at art camp. Then most of us went to southern Indiana to watch me lose the annual MSGA golf outing. It was time for our official family vacation. Jane and I decided the week before that we would take the kids to Washington DC. I figured it would be safe, since the Democrats would all be in New York for their convention. We loaded up the van and headed east.
We drove the whole way there, because we didn’t plan far enough ahead to mooch a room from the Zinns in Hanover, PA. But we made it and the next morning we played tourist. We stayed in Alexandria and took the Metro into the city each day. That ride seemed as much fun to the girls as anything else we did. After a couple of days, they were expert commuters. We spent most of our time on the mall, wandering from museum to museum. I really feel lucky because my girls appreciate time spent in an art museum. The MOMA was probably our favorite. It’s really neat that our government supports something as grand as the Smithsonian and that the American public takes advantage of this resource. And I have a feeling that it is not just America’s elite, educated upper crust that is indulging in these museums. It is surely the common man also, as evidenced by the photo on the left. The small sign next to the crystal says, “Touch Me”, imploring the observer to feel the hard, sharp, angular facets of this mineralogical specimen. Please note that the little sign is nearly worn away by all those that read and obeyed its message. Our first evening there we met Bruce Bohanon and Bryan Davidson for dinner. We get to see Bruce every couple of years or so, but I had not seen Bryan since before I was married. A real long time ago! But we recognized each other in the restaurant, so it is obvious that we haven’t changed any since high school. We had fun doing what old friends do.
We did tons of walking around Washington and our entire trip can be documented in Bear photos. There seems to be this big fad in metro areas to fill the streets with large fiberglass sculptures. Chicago started it all with cows. DC has its pandas, Indy has race cars. Peoria has its slugs, which may not have been a great idea. Anyway, here are the girls with their favorite bear photos. After a ½ day of trying to find a place to park and a ½ day of shopping in Georgetown, we left the city. We figured we would get out of town, drive till about 7:30 and find a hotel room. Washington is interesting in that I think the entire population must have a weekend place somewhere between Georgetown and Indianapolis. Due to the traffic and the construction and the rain, we finally found a hotel 8 miles off the interstate somewhere in Pennsylvania around 11 that night. The next morning, we headed home. The highlights of the trip included being stopped on the interstate by the Kerry campaign bus caravan and then hour later seeing the Bush caravan heading the other direction on the highway. Our political system in action, driving buses all over Pennsylvania. As you can see from the barricades in the photo on the left, the Kerry campaign slowed my progress considerably. Luckily, we made it home just in time for August.
AUGUST
Sarabeth starts the 6th grade. My little girl is now in middle school. She made the school tennis team, holding her own against those big old 7th and 8th graders. I enjoyed running to school after work and watching her practices and matches. I hope I continue to enjoy it, since I probably have 6 more years ahead of me. Early in the month I headed to Vegas with my tennis buddies. We had a great time, but I really can’t tell you about it. Sorry, I just can’t! You know, blood oath and all that stuff. The next weekend I went to Louisville to see my cousin Marci and her husband Paul, while Jane and the girls had a soccer tournament. They spent about a week with my mom, just soaking up a little bluegrass. I would love to show you a picture or two, but Marci never sent them to me. I love using this letter for dropping hints and would appreciate it if those of you that speak to Marci would remind her of her omission. Instead, you get to see this picture of Sarabeth receiving her trophy from winning a soccer tournament in Muncie, IN. A few other things this month included Emily starting school as a junior and Jane and I celebrated 28 years of marriage. Mother Teresa aint got nuthin on my Jane. Well, I had no idea what to get her for our anniversary. A couple of days before the date, another cousin called and mentioned that he was going to be doing a couple of Labor Day shows with his band in Las Vegas. Problem solved. We were going to Vegas!
By the way, thought I’d let you know that I really didn’t buy Emily a 1972 Pinto. I bought her a car that was actually made in this century.
SEPTEMBER
We left early Saturday morning. Bruce set us up with a room at the Golden Nugget where the show was going to be. We spent the first part of the day doing something I had never done in Vegas. Win. Something about that wife of mine tells her which machines to play and when to play them. After a while, it got on my nerves. We met Bruce at the pool for awhile in the late afternoon and then got ready for the show. After things got started, Bruce invited me on stage to sing backup. All eyes were on me and the band proceeded to do an instrumental number. Luckily one of the guys gave me something to shake and make a little noise, I mean music. By the way, I know where all the eyes really were, but this is MY Christmas letter. I am proud to say that before the show was over, the crowd was chanting “Wayne Rocks!” between songs. I had them going crazy and I didn’t even have to take off my shirt! And I have to admit I really enjoyed it. Almost as much as I enjoyed the look on my daughters’ faces when I told them that story. Emily would not believe it until she had confirmation from the chat room on Bruce’s web site. Sarabeth always believes her daddy. The show was really great and just plain tons of fun. After the show we all went down to a small bar at the casino and took over the place. That “we” would include Bruce, the band and crew and a bunch of BW fans that all flew in for this show. We stayed there and drank all sorts of stuff way past our bedtime. We spent the next day wandering around the casino, gambling and waving to the groups of women that would call out “Wayne Rocks” as we passed them in the hotel. At least I think that happened, but some of the facts may be a bit fuzzy. We got back home late Monday and rejoined reality Tuesday morning.
September also brought Jane another birthday. One of those milestone birthdays. Or is that millstone? Anyway, she pulled it off with grace. Until she got her first letter from the AARP.
OCTOBER
Everyone knows how much I like this month. Maybe because it is so predictable. I go to some exotic location for a work convention, this year Minneapolis. I have a birthday, this year number 49. And the family goes to Brown County for some fun in the woods. Ouch!
When we got back from the woods, my back hurt.
NOVEMBER
Most of what I write about for November would not stand up in court. After a few days of pain, an emergency room visit, a regular doctor visit, and then a trip to see my surgeon I was pretty chemically altered. Most of the month was a blur. But I am told that Sarabeth went to LA for a week during her fall break to visit Aunt Teresa and her cousins Lauren and Megan. Here is a photo of her behind the President’s oval office desk from the set of “The West Wing”, where Lauren is a writer. They took her to Disneyland and all sorts of other famous LA places. She really enjoyed her vacation with the girls and upon her return emphasized that she really should have a pedicure at least once a month. Here’s a nice picture of her and Teresa from Disneyland. Emily spent the month rehearsing and then performing in the school production of “West Side Story” My mother and Nancy came up to watch her as a fancy dressed dancing Jet girl. We went to Louisville for Thanksgiving. I ate and slept in the recliner. That had more to do with the turkey than the drugs.
DECEMBER
On the 2nd I had surgery again. That same doctor opened me up in the same place and took out the plate he put in last March and replaced it with a longer one. It all went fine, and I will be playing tennis again sometime early in next years letter. We had a nice quiet Christmas at home and then went to Louisville for the big family deal. Thought I would include this photo of my Mom and all her adorable kids. Just in case you were curious. And after reading this letter, I am sure you are curious about the kinds of people that influenced me as a child.
LAST, BUT NOT LEAST
It was a fun year again and that’s what we live for! All our friends and family helped make it special. And I really want to thank all those cousins out there, without whom this year still would have been possible, just not as much fun.
I promise that next year I won’t spend so much time talking about medical problems. It was just that all this was new to me and made a pretty big impression. Thanks to everyone that said a prayer. It really helped. Always does.
Give us a call, an email or a visit. Even a regular old US Mail postcard if you remember how. Just figure that if you’re on the Christmas Letter list, we would like to hear from you. Merry Christmas, no matter what time of year.
Wayne, Jane, Emily and Sarabeth
willisisonfire@aol.com Thought you might like to see Kirby and Scout.
