2018

Hi there! Hope everyone is enjoying life as the weather eases from winter into spring. Saw a robin the other day and was reminded that it might be time to start my Christmas letter.

January

I guess starting with this month lets us ease into the letter, whether as a writer or a reader. Like doing some stretches before you start the big workout. I don’t want anyone to pull a muscle. Sometime this month Jane and Emily went to one of those wine and painting things that women like to do. Not sure if it was a Christmas gift from Emily or a birthday gift from Jane, but they had a great time. Here is a photo of them posing with their projects. Bam is posing with his Kong. I think that adventure sparked something in Jane. She really enjoyed it and has been playing with watercolors all year. And as you can tell from the photos, she’s got a bit of talent. Also, this month, Emily turned 30. Weird.

February

It’s February in Indianapolis. We stayed in town all month, so I am scrambling to figure out what to write about. But through the magic of modern technology I was reminded that sometime this month we went out with Jason and Alex to have dinner and listen to a friend play some music. And we took a photo specifically for this letter! Because if you remember from past letters, we always do stuff together but never take photos. And when Jason finally got his photo in last year’s letter, his head was cut off. Well this is the year that I make amends. Here is a photo of Jason and Alex, with heads! Of course, the painting on the wall behind him makes it look like he is wearing a silly hat. Not my fault.

March & April

These two months were when Jane and I got most of our culture for the year. We started in March when Phil and Tammie invited us to the theatre. We met at their place downtown. After a fun dinner, we were their guests for a performance of Les Misérables. We had a great time with some good friends. For those of you that are not familiar with the play, I would have to say that it examines the nature of law and grace, that the play elaborates upon the history of France, the architecture and urban design of Paris, politics, moral philosophy, antimonarchism, justice, religion, and the types and nature of romantic and familial love. At least, that is what I picked up, though I may have missed a couple of the finer points since this was the first time I had seen the play. In April we traveled to Cincinnati for some Willis culture. My siblings all gathered at Bob’s house. He invited us to enjoy a performance of Spamalot. We had a great dinner and then walked across the street to the theatre. For those of you that are not familiar with the play, I would have to say that it was funny. After the play we went back to the house and did typical Willis stuff. We spent a great amount of time sitting in the living room singing along with the music from my iPhone. Though some might have termed our selection of tunes as “oldies”, I think “classics” would be more appropriate. Sometime that night we were inspired to re-create a classic Willis photo of our children. At some point probably 25 years ago we stuffed all our kids in the hallway at our parent’s house for a photo. That would be the one on the left. They were a bunch of cute kids. But nowhere close to being as cute as their parents! I guess I should point out that about 10 seconds after the kid’s photo was taken, those children had vanished. Back to playing. 10 minutes after the parent’s photo, we were still trying to get untangled and off the floor. Very much a “Help, I’ve fallen, and I can’t get up!” moment. I do want to mention that I am sure that both events described above do fall into the culture category. I know because I did not wear blue jeans to either! And by the way, Sarabeth turned 25 in March. Also weird.

May

Big month here in Indy. Really big for us because I have 19 members of the family coming up for Memorial Day weekend. Start with Saturday at the lake and then Sunday at the track. We had people staying in 3 different locations, 2 of which Jane and I had to get cleaned up. So, let’s start at the lake. Jane and I are out there for a weekend of getting everything spruced up. And we hear a cat. MEOW! Now when I write MEOW, envision if you will, a loud, scared pitiful MEOW. And imagine that MEOW about once every 20 seconds. There is a cat stuck up in one of our trees. We tried coaxing her (sounded like a her to me) down to no avail. We then decided to head into the small town for lunch. While there, as trite as it seems, we thought we’d check with the fire department. They said they would send somebody out. They did. In the last 2 years I’ve now had the police and the fire department in my driveway at the lake. After assessing the situation, the firemen informed me that they didn’t have a ladder long enough reach the cat. It also might have had something to do with the fact that this tree is between my deck and the lake. A 15’ climb on one side of the tree equaled a 40’ fall on the other. As they left, they told me not to worry, because they have never found a dead cat up in a tree. We went to sleep that night with ear plugs. I wake up the next morning with Jane poking me in the side telling me there is someone on the back deck. I open the back door and am greeted by my neighbor, the subject of the police visit mentioned earlier. He and his buddy were going to get the cat that belongs to the lady down the road, out of the tree. They prop a 10’ ladder against the tree and he climbs to the top rung, on his tiptoes with one hand around the tree and one swiping at the cat. He grabs a tail and yanks. The cat makes a sound I can’t describe. The neighbor “catches” the cat on his back. Did I happen to mention the neighbor was shirtless? He scurries down the ladder and his buddy grabs the cat and yanks it off the back of his friend. The neighbor then makes the same sound the cat made 3 sentences ago. Though a little worse for wear, the cat and the neighbor both made it back to their homes. I am guessing that only one learned a lesson from the ordeal. A week later the Willis clan hit town. We spent that Saturday at the lake doing all sorts of lake stuff. You know what that stuff is by now, so I’ll just show you a few pictures. On race day a year earlier, Teresa and Laura were at the lake with us. I listened to the race during the day and watched the replay at night. The ladies liked what they saw and thought it might be fun to go to the race sometime. Seemed like a perfect bucket list thing that wouldn’t be hard to accomplish. I figured the Indianapolis 500 was a pretty big place and there might be room for a few more people. The call went out and we ended up with 19 takers. On race day we came in from 3 different locations, met at a friend’s house near the track and started walking. For those of you that have never been to the track, if you park close, even if your seat is close, you’re not close. For those of you with Louisville connections, you could drop Churchill Downs inside the infield five times and still have room to spare. We walked a long way, carrying our food and drink. And did I mention that it was over 90 degrees? And these aren’t race people. Other than my family, no one else had been to the 500. I was afraid that halfway through, most of them would have been sitting back in my living room. My brother brought a couple of magazines to read. But it didn’t take long. Once we made it to our seats in the 3rd turn, people started to perk up. It was interesting to watch, with all the pageantry and a cool fly-over. But it was all over once the cars hit the track. And after the flag dropped and all 33 cars came at us in a pack on that first lap, they were hooked. It was a great race and I really think everyone enjoyed it. My niece Megan noted that when the cars approached, she would stand up a bit and lean forward and watch them as they went into the turn. And she said she did it over 200 times that day! We met at my house the next morning and went out for brunch. After eating, a few of us walked through Hinkle Fieldhouse at Butler, where the big game from “Hoosiers” was filmed. It is a well-known fact that my sister Nancy will talk to anyone. When the security guard came out to check on us as we snooped around the outside of the building, so Mike could look at the windows, Nancy started talking and the next thing you know we were walking on the gym floor. The guy basically just asked us to lock up when we were finished looking around. Knowing Nancy, that security guard may be invited to Thanksgiving dinner! Eventually, everyone went home, and we slept.

June

The next weekend we traveled to Hart, Michigan to see all my college janitor buddies. You remember them from last year’s letter, right? This was going to be special. It has been a long time since I had seen Doug, and an even longer time since I had seen Jerry. And Jane and I missed those guys! We met at Doug’s place. And for the most part, we just stayed there. We might have had some planned activities, but mostly we just sat around and talked about everything. We got all caught up about each other’s families, their parents and their kids. About jobs and vacations and hobbies and all sorts of stuff. We just did that friend thing. And plan on doing it on a regular basis. And I really like these photos! How amazing is it that a random group of janitors can be so darn good looking? Remember last year when Emily hitched a ride on Jane’s conference and had a little New Orleans vacation? Payback time. Emily spent a couple of weeks in Denver this month for work. And Jane and Sarabeth jumped on a plane for some mountain time. While Emily was going to class the other two were hitting all the sites. And then they had the weekend free to explore together. These two photos confirm a couple of stereotypes. When two young girls are together anywhere for a period of more than 17 minutes, a selfie must be taken. The other is that no matter what they read on the travel website, tourists will not believe that it actually gets cold at the top of a mountain, even in the summer. From all reports, it was a great trip!

July

This was a month of lazy weekends at the lake with an occasional highlight in between. One of the highlights was that Jane was honored at work. They celebrated her 40 years with IU Health. There was a nice reception and tons of coworkers stopped in to congratulate her. The part that made me the proudest was how her coworkers celebrated all her accomplishments and not just the fact she managed to last so long. They owe a lot to her and I think they tried to show it. Every year about this time Scott Cooper tells me stories about some sort of fantastic sweetcorn holiday weekend. I always just figured it was his personal “Great Pumpkin” that he had been chasing ever since he was a small child. Jane and I decided it was time for an intervention. We followed him as he drove deep into the southern Indiana countryside. A place called Hopewell. A small country church surrounded by cornfields. It’s a real place! And it was marvelous! We attended the 59th Annual Corn Roast at Hopewell Presbyterian Church with Scott and Liz. The place was packed. We sat in the sanctuary listening to music for 45 minutes waiting for our turn and it was worth it. There were sandwiches and slaw and desserts and stuff, but mostly there was sweet buttery corn. We ate a ton that evening, and I loved it. And I certainly anticipate being invited again next year. Jane and I had the next week off and decided we needed a road trip. I guess we needed to work off all that corn. We headed to Louisville for a few pretty much unscripted days. We started downtown at the Louisville Slugger bat factory and museum. A school field trip at least 4 times for me, Jane had never been there. Looked at the big bat out front, wandered through the museum and then took the tour. We then left to meet Nancy for lunch. After lunch, I thought we would head over to tour Churchill Downs. I was wrong. Jane wanted to go back to the bat factory. It seems that as we were leaving the place, she noticed the batting cages. Jane wanted to bat! So, we went back so Jane could try her hand in the batting cage. Here’s a photo. I sure wish I could put the video in this letter. It was beautiful! I think she went 3 times, once cause the old guy running the thing liked her style. After that we walked around town a bit, stopped for ice cream, and then walked through an art museum. We had to walk right past the batting cages on the way to the car, so Jane hit another couple of dozen balls. That evening we had dinner at Captain’s Quarters on the Ohio River with Marky, Donn, Teresa and Laura. Neat place, good food and very interesting wine. We had fun sitting there just watching the river and talking. And then, just like it was scripted, the Belle of Louisville paddles by at sunset. The next day we hit a couple of spots on the Bourbon Trail. It was very historical, educational, cool and a great excuse to sip a little bourbon and purchase a souvenir or two…or 750. We went to Buffalo Trace and then over to Woodford Reserve. Buffalo Trace was classier, and the tour guide was more fun. Looked like it probably did 100 years ago. Woodford was slick and corporate. Kind of a fancy pants place. But I do love me some Double Oaked! Put the Bourbon Trail on your to-do list. I did do enough planning to see that we ended up near Lexington around dinner time. We met up with Dennis, Lynn and Jackie for dinner. The food was good but mostly we just sat around and talked about stuff. We even talked about a lot of you people, but it was all good. It was great spending time with some of my favorite people. And the amazing thing that just hit me is that they have been favorite people for about 47 years now. And they haven’t changed a bit! We spent the night in Lexington, and I figured we would head back to Indy the next day. Jane figured differently. We headed to Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill. The first thing she did was get us a room there for the night. Guess we weren’t going home that evening. This place was cool. It was pretty much just frozen in time. They were in the process of restoring a few the buildings, but most were open for us to tour. We listened to a couple of lectures and learned about the Shakers. I seriously admire their sense of design and engineering. We had a great meal that evening and then went back to our room. That was pretty much all we could do. There was a TV, so we settled into a couple of straight back wooden chairs and watched “Murder She Wrote”. I admire their culture, but I promise you I am not Shaker material. Heck, I broke a few of their bigger rules and I was just there one night.

August

We started the month at the State Fair, and once again the Urick’s made an impression by serving up the hit of the fair, Deep Fried Wick’s Sugar Cream Pie. It was good to the point of decadence. Thanks for being such a great host. Oh, there were some animals and things there too. The next weekend I headed to Louisville to meet up with some high school friends. Dann Barnes was coming in from New Mexico and bunch of us were going to meet at David Maddy’s house. I haven’t seen either of those guys in years, so I wasn’t going to miss it. We spent the evening telling really old stories. I have known every one of those guys since the second grade, so we had a bunch of them. And halfway through a story, one of us would suddenly realize that they were there too and have to tell their version. It was great fun. We ended the night with a salute to everything that made us what we are today; Stonestreet, Prairie Village, Dixie Manor, Stuart, Valley Station and Falls City beer, which we are toasting with in the photo. We ended the month with the tennis gang out at the lake. We did all that lake stuff we do. Out on the boat, a splash in the water, a drink or two, great food and all sorts of stories. I’m not sure what I was doing in the photo at the left. I think I was telling the story of the cat in tree from a few months earlier. Jane managed to get a nice panoramic of everyone out on the boat. She didn’t cut anyone’s head off this time! But it did make my belly look unusually large for some reason though. Wonder what it could be?

September

Salem, Indiana. Family reunion on my mom’s side. Not how I wanted to end my Labor Day weekend. I really don’t know most of these people. But sometimes you do things because you should, because it’s the right thing to do. I planned to keep close to Nancy! She could whisper names and relationships under her breath and keep me from embarrassing myself. I’m not sure how successful she was, but I had a great time! Reacquainted myself with some fine people. It won’t be so hard to get me down there next year. A couple of days later Jane and I decided we wanted to go on a nice vacation. We were going to go to the Grand Canyon and Sedona. Well, a week after that we flew into Phoenix and headed north. We checked into our hotel and decided to drive into the park and take our first peek at this canyon. I thought I knew what to expect once I got there. I’ve seen pictures and movies of the thing my whole life! But I was wrong. My favorite part of the vacation was when I first pushed my way through the crowd and made it up to the rail at the visitor’s center. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything that took my breath away like that. It almost hurt my brain trying to comprehend what I was seeing. It was magnificent! God done good. Once I gathered my senses, I realize a few other things. One was that we were one of the few people there from the US. This place attracts people from all over the world. One guy was all excited, pointing at a squirrel and shouting “Mongoose”! And I realized that fences and rails can’t protect the stupid. And that this was a nice place, but we had to get away from the visitor’s center. The next day we took a guided jeep tour. Just us and another couple. Afterward we met our extremely knowledgeable guide at lunch and got the inside scoop. He told us the best place to watch the sunset. A private little area that is a 20-minute hike off the road. It’s not on the maps. So that night Jane and I hiked to our own special spot on the rim and watched the sunset. And took photos. Tons of photos. You couldn’t help it. And then the sun was gone. And then we walked back to the car through the pine forest in the dark. But the stars were bright enough to light our way. Pretty damn romantic if you ask me! A little chilly, but still romantic. Our guide also told us the best place to watch the sunrise. Contrary to popular belief, and I consider myself popular, it is not from your hotel room bed. We set the alarm for 4 a.m. and headed to our special place. And I must admit it was worth it. We saw one other couple, but other than that the Grand Canyon was all ours. We watched the sun come up and the temperature warm us up at the same time. For awhile there I felt really small and insignificant. Then I realized that the same guy that made all this made me. Makes you feel pretty good actually. The next day we got a different view of the canyon. We decided we needed to do a helicopter tour. Jane was a bit nervous at first, but once we got up, she forgot all that stuff. We put on the headphones and they started playing Also Sprach Zarathustra. We hit the spot where the pine forest below instantly becomes canyon right at the crescendo! I think the pilot had done this a couple of times before. The next day we headed to Sedona. The drive was the best part. Right outside the city we came to a park with a small creek. We stopped and soaked our feet in the ice-cold water before heading into town. That was probably my favorite time in Sedona. It’s an interesting place. I think it’s where old hippies with money go to retire. Sorry, but I just can’t get into all the vortex idiocy. We did another helicopter ride because it’s fun and then a jeep tour of some seriously old native American ruins. Later that evening we wandered a couple of blocks from our hotel which was outside of town. It was pitch black, but the stars were the most beautiful I have ever seen. My neck was sore as we drove back to Phoenix the next day. A week later we attended our niece Carrie’s wedding. It was a beautiful wedding. I get to add Paul’s name on the envelope this year. Jane had a chance to see a number of family friends and caught up on all the news from Greensburg. And the rotunda at the state capital was the perfect place to take our official family portrait. I ended the month in Louisville again for a bit of golf with Dave Emery. We played Friday & Saturday and then attended our annual mini-high school reunion at Mike Linnig’s. A good time with good friends and a lot of “Whatever happen to…” conversations.

October & November

Fun month. Jason and I went to Vegas for a work trip and an extra couple of days. Didn’t lose any money, so I guess I won. Jane and I went to Alan & Jenny’s Halloween party. It had been awhile since we had seen them. Fun party, but the highlight was an actual Big Foot sighting. You never think it could happen to you but the next thing you know, you’re a part of history. We sent the photos to the authorities for verification. We expect to hear something soon. Two days later, on a Monday night Mark & Karen Becker joined us for dinner and a concert. We went to see Lake Street Dive at the Vogue. On a school night! Can you believe it? Great show, great music. We planned on taking a photo for the letter but forgot. But trust me, we really went, and we rocked! First time at the Vogue in about 30 years. Hasn’t changed. Thanks for the IU football tickets Doc! Sarabeth and I had a great time.

December

December was all Christmas. We really got into the spirit when we went to see Straight No Chaser with the Coopers and the Borders. It was a great show, but mostly it was a great bunch of friends. I’d go to a rap concert with these people. We did our Indy Christmas and the next weekend headed to Columbus, OH for the big Willis Christmas celebration. Thank you, Erik & Lindsay, for hosting us. We managed to get 28 of the 30 there and Skyped with the two missing sisters. It was great to see everyone, but there was one special person at her first Willis Christmas. Baby Irene! To Kyle and Jayne, the proud parents, thanks for honoring my mom. I think this little girl is going to be a great Irene.

I’m out of paper. Jane and I hope your 2018 was fantastic and that your 2019 is even better.

Wayne & Jane