2016
I’ve started the Christmas letter. That first sentence is always the hardest. But now that I’ve broken the ice, this thing should be sitting in your mailbox before St. Patrick’s Day! Here we go.
January
I think it’s time we set the record straight. It’s Emily’s birthday month, she turned 28 and I didn’t get her a pony. I never even considered getting her a pony. Never have. So, in the interest of keeping this Christmas letter the short, efficient source of pertinent Willis news it always has been, that is the last you will ever hear of me buying Emily a pony for her birthday…unless of course I actually do buy her a pony. I won’t, but I could. It would be kind of neat if I did though, huh? But we will strive to fill the month with tales of exciting adventures. Like this year when Jane and I went to New York with Jenny and Alan for a long weekend. We did all the stuff you are supposed to do. Took the bus tour through the city, visited the museums and managed to take in 3 Broadway shows. And of course, our favorite was “Misery”, starring cousin Bruce and Laurie Metcalf. We met up with Bruce after the show. Had a great time catching up with Bruce and his wife Emma. And Laurie Metcalf was the kind of fun person you would expect. I invited Bruce to come watch me work next time he was in Indianapolis. We had a great time. And later that month Scott Cooper took me to a Pacers game! Note the power of “checking in” on Facebook.
February
Not much happened this month. Went to see Tommy Emmanuel in concert. I really enjoy that guy. Was going to put a picture of him here, but then you would start expecting a celebrity photo on every page and this ain’t no People magazine. Weird envelope, huh? It’s hard to find good Christmas goat quotes.
March
Sarabeth turned 23 this month. And she liked the envelope and I trust her judgement on such matters.
April
Somebody else had a birthday this month. Not sure who, but I’m sure somebody did.
May
Big race in town, lots of birthdays too.
There is a reason that I didn’t have anything to write about for the last 4 months. That’s because, if you remember, we ended last year’s letter with the news that Emily and Adam were engaged and were going to be getting married in June. And that is why nothing exciting happened for the last 4 months. Jane and the girls spent all their time planning for and buying stuff for the wedding. And I spent all my time staying out of the way and writing checks for the wedding. I guess it would be more accurate to say nothing exciting happened for me. The girls had at least 3 wedding showers to attend and thousands of exciting decisions to make, like white or off-white for the table cloths at the reception. I made two or three comments when asked my opinion. Was never asked my opinion again.
June
It’s wedding time! And it really went well. One thing about the ladies of this family, they are organized. They must have made 1000 different lists, but those lists and the decision to limit my involvement resulted in a grand occasion. From the rehearsal to cleaning up at the end of the reception everything went smoothly. And we have all sorts of photos to show what a beautiful wedding it was. But let me tell you, it was rough on dad. They were married on Father’s Day. My entire family was there. My sister was performing the ceremony. We were surrounded by friends. Alright men, what was I telling myself? Suck it up, be a man, don’t cry! As a public service for those guys who have not married off a daughter, let me just tell you that it is impossible. Plan on crying. Stuff your pockets with Kleenex. You are going to cry. And be assured that as you start to tear up, but then try to stop and you make that really ugly face you always make in just such situations, that damn photographer that charged way too much is going to be there with that stupid camera pointed right at you. And let me also warn you that it is going to happen not only when you see her in the dress for the first time, but also when she grabs your arm and you start walking up the aisle. And during that father -daughter dance that you must do. And then when they leave the reception. And then when the DJ says he needs a check. Plan on crying. Heck, it might even be smart to have a tissue handy when you pick out the photos for the Christmas letter.
I have an interesting story for you. I have a business buddy named Jeff. For years, we would talk on the phone once a week and see each other maybe once a year. A number of years ago, Jeff decided he was going to run for the school board. Then city council. Now my buddy Jeff is the Mayor of Wichita, KS.! That’s a big-time city and an important job. We met up in Indy when he was here for the US Conference of Mayors. Spent some time showing him my city. Just wanted to let my Christmas letter friends know they are running in an elite crowd! I’m proud of you Mayor Longwell!
July
Now that the wedding is over, we can start the year. We started off with the Symphony at the winery with the Coopers and the Beckers. That’s starting to be a yearly tradition. Then a few days later went to a baseball game with the O’Rourkes. But most of our free time was spent at the cabin. This was our first summer on the lake and we tried to have friends out there every weekend. And we had a blast. Swimming off the boat or off the dock, it didn’t matter. For such a simple pleasure, floating on a raft with a beer in your hand, surrounded by friends is amazingly fun. And we managed to do a little of that every weekend for the next few months. One of the best things about the place is that it really didn’t take any upkeep. Since we were there with guests most of the time, Jane and I were on our best behavior. We made the bed and did the dishes EVERY day. Outside I would blow off the deck and cut the grass in the front yard. And cutting the grass was 10 minutes with a weed-eater. And once I got rid of the chicken coop it was even easier. I traded the chicken coop for a case of beer. Seemed like a good deal to me until the guy brought over a case of Bud-Light. But come to think of it, what kind of beer would you expect from a guy that wanted a chicken coop? One of the other highlights of the month was dinner and a show downtown. Jane and I went to the Columbia Club, which is one of those places that you find hard to believe still exists. This place came right out of an old movie full of characters from the board game “Clue”. Very Gatsby. The book, not the movie. And the show after dinner was Rumer Willis performing her Cabaret show. She was advertised as a “Saucy Songstress” and though I might be a bit prejudiced, I must admit, she was great! It made for a wonderful night out. Sometime before or after, Jane and I went to the Samsel’s wedding party. You remember Dave from last year’s letter, right? Played golf with Ryerson and Emery and I? Anyway, he and Katie were married on an exotic beach and a month later had a reception out in the country. And I’m very happy for them. Lovely couple! Come to town and I’ll introduce you. But most important, I now have a reason to post this favorite picture of my wife and me. I just like this one. Nice composition for a selfie.
August
I did something I wanted to do for a long time. One of my favorite activities is watching the Little League World Series. Great action, doesn’t drag on all night and is filled with emotion. And they play a couple of the regional tournaments here in Indy. So, I took a day off and went to watch a day of baseball. And this is big time stuff! It’s all shown live on ESPN. And there are cameras and announcers and people running the concession stand and umpires and the players and their parents and their little brothers and sisters. And me. I think I was the only person at the diamond that didn’t have to be there. There were no just basic baseball fans. I quickly befriended a grandparent from Kansas. We sat together and cheered for his grandson. I enjoyed it and might try to do it again next year.
It’s August 2016. Jane and I were married 40 years ago. I’m very proud of that milestone. It’s something to celebrate. On Saturday night, our kids were going to take us out to dinner. Someplace special they had picked out. Sarabeth was with us and we were going to meet Emily and Adam at the restaurant. So, we get ready and head out to the car. Sarabeth then tells us we need to put on blindfolds. Right about then, I thought something might be up. She doesn’t usually do that. We put on the blindfolds. I decided to let Sarabeth drive. Made sense, I didn’t know where we were going. As we drive around my mind is working at a fevered pitch! What restaurant would we be going to that was so special we had to be blindfolded for the trip? Never thought about a surprise party. I mean really, why would I? So what if there is a surprise party episode on every TV sitcom I have ever watched. And here I am on my 40th anniversary riding around in the backseat of my car with a necktie over my eyes. You can bet that every person that glanced over at us at a stoplight knew we weren’t being kidnapped. They saw us and thought, “Those people are going to a surprise party”. The car stops and Sarabeth helps us out. It is eerily quiet. Our daughters simultaneously remove the blindfolds and a bunch of our friends shout “Surprise!”. It was at this point I figured out what was going on. I’m very proud of my daughters. They did a great job of organizing a fantastic party, inviting friends from all over the place and we had no clue! And special thanks go to Jason and Alex for hosting this party. He never gave me a hint this was happening. The best part of the party was that all our friends and family had a chance to meet all our friends. People that I talk about all the time finally had a chance to meet each other. And now all our friends are friends. The photo on the right is some of the group that stuck around the longest. We were having so much fun we forgot to take pictures. We spent the evening talking, drinking a bit, telling stories, sipping a little bourbon (which is kind of like drinking a little bit, but more sophisticated) and eventually singing loudly in the back seat of the car. I decided to let Sarabeth drive. Made sense. Everyone that was at that party is on this Christmas letter list. Thank you for being a part of a celebration Jane and I will never forget. By the way, I didn’t make it to church the next morning. Bam was my guardian angel.
Exciting news from the tennis side of my life. The Men’s 4.0 40 & Over team that I play on, and is captained by my buddy Scott Cooper, managed to win the state this year. We then advanced to the Midwest Sectional where we played teams from Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan and Ohio. We had a great time at the sectional tournament and learned a lot. We learned that the players from Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan and Ohio are pretty good. But we are the Indiana State Champs and plan on doing it again in 2017.
September
I started the month with a work trip to Vegas. We stayed downtown on Fremont Street this year. Maybe because it is such a confined area, you get a different perspective of the city. Every weird thing that people will do for spare change is being done in a 3-block area. Saw some things that I hadn’t planned on seeing. I didn’t take any pictures. Didn’t need to. The images are burned into my brain forever. The good news is that I found a way to supplement my retirement income if the need arises. And the start-up capital is minimal. All I would need is a guitar, a cardboard sign and a hat. Seriously, that is all I would need. A week or so later Jane had a birthday. Happy Birthday Jane! The next week end was the kind of weekend made for Christmas letters. It started out simple enough. Jane and I invited our neighbors Ryerson and Abbey and their boys to the lake. Emily and Adam joined us for a day of boating and floating. After a couple of hours on the water we came back to the house to grill up some dinner. As we are eating, Adam calmly mentions that the police were out on the street. So of course, we all stand up to peer out the window. Adam wasn’t lying. You can see the flashing lights right over here in this picture. About that time, there is a knock on the door. I open the door to see two officers, who promptly ask me if I am the homeowner. I answer yes and step outside and close the door behind me. Which I am sure really pissed off the curious people on the other side of the door. The cops explain to me that they were there to serve a warrant to… (at this point I must admit I was wondering if it was my brand-new son-in-law they were after) …the guy that has the place next to ours there at the lake. They wanted to serve this warrant and he didn’t want to be served, so he ran out the back door, jumped in his fishing boat and zoomed across the lake. They didn’t care for that so they wanted to chase him. But they didn’t have a boat. But I did have a boat. They wanted to commandeer my vehicle! It was a scene right out of any police show you have ever seen on TV. Follow me officers! We hurried to the back of the cabin, navigated the three levels of deck then trotted down the 60 steps to my dock. We all leapt from the dock onto my pontoon boat! If this really was a TV show that last scene would have been shot from below in slow motion. But it wasn’t TV. It was real life. I then showed the guys how to operate the trolling motor that powers my 16’ pontoon boat and pushed them away from the dock. And they crank it up to full speed and head after their prey. Did you pick up on the fact that this is a big pontoon boat that is powered by an electric trolling motor? Full speed is described in the owner’s manual as something between a saunter and a leisurely stroll. These guys could have walked to the other side of the lake faster. This chase scene will never be confused with the boat chase from “Live & Let Die”. From our deck, we could see what was probably the entire Mooresville, IN police force scouring the area across the lake for this fugitive from justice. All six of them. One of the cops eventually brought the boat back, thanked me and headed down the road. Never did find out what the warrant was for, or if they caught him. I do want to use the last couple of lines on this page to tell everyone that I never really thought the cops were after Adam. I was just trying to be funny. Besides, a ran a thorough background check on him when they first started dating. He passed.
October
This month started with a race out at the IMS. This wasn’t your typical race. This was an airplane race and it was cool. They race against the clock flying between these huge inflatable cones set up across the infield. It was fast, loud and exciting. Our vantage point was safely in the 3rd turn stands. They are doing it again in 2017. Seems like a good reason to come visit us next fall. I had some vacation time I had to take. Just spent it hanging around the lake. Jane asked me to grow beard. I wasn’t all that excited about the idea, but Jane asks me to do a lot of things. And I manage to weasel out of most of them. But this was a pretty easy request. I could do it in my sleep! Here’s a picture of me and one of the lake cats when it was still mostly just an idea. A few days after that photo I had another birthday and the beard got a little grayer. Late in the month we had an Excel Graphics reunion. We had a good group of people show up. It was fantastic to see friends that I used to see every day. And good to know that for the most part everyone was doing fine.
November
I voted. It wasn’t easy. Please pray for our country. And I would have typed that sentence no matter who had won.
Thank you, Dr. Engelberg! Not once, but twice this fall you hooked me up with IU football tickets. Just want you to know that such generosity has earned you a special place in my heart and a place in this Christmas letter. Thank you very much! And my friends Steve and George, who enjoyed the games with me thank you too. See that beer over to the right? I drank that in your honor. Or maybe not. It could have been the one before. Or one of the ones after. I’m not sure, but one of them was definitely in your honor.
December
We went to the circus with the O’Rourke’s. Last time we did the circus it was just us four. Even without the elephants, it was a lot more fun this time with their son Brendan. Glad we got to see the circus one last time. Guess I can show my grandkids videos of what a circus used to be. Eventually. Christmas was a little different this year. For the first time in 28 years one of my kids was somewhere else when we woke up on Christmas morning. It wasn’t sad, just different. Thinking more about it now than I did then. My girls are all grown up. The day after we rushed to Louisville for the big Willis family Christmas. It was as great as always. We welcomed Adam to his first Willis Christmas panorama. Adam and I had to go back that night. He had to take care of the dog and I have an idiot for a boss. But the girls stayed an extra day, which lets us finish with a photo of a family member with something weird on their head. A Christmas letter tradition. Merry Christmas from the Willis Family
