2020
Whew! That was quite a year wasn’t it? It kind of changes my perspective on what I am about to attempt. What started as a simple Christmas letter can now only be viewed as a historical document! I will do my best to accurately chronical the years events without mentioning politics or using the C-word. We’ve all had enough of that to last a lifetime.
January
The girls decided we needed a family tattoo. They came up with the basic idea, I sketched it out and the next thing you know the four of us are in a tattoo shop. (After reading the fine print on his marriage license, Adam respectfully declined the invitation.) The ladies in the family, because they are cool and hip, had all been through this before. I hadn’t, but I’ll try anything twice. So now we are bonded by more than simple DNA and I’m happy with the finished product, which is a good thing since saving the receipt is basically useless. Sometime near the end of the month we went to the Home Show with Jason, Alex, and Ruby. It was a good time, but I mostly mention it because I found a good photo to use. Except Ruby was only a few months old at the time and didn’t have a good grasp on the concept of a selfie yet. She gets better as the letter goes on. We ended the month in Sarasota with Jenny, Alan, Barb, and Stefano. We did the stuff we like to do down there, which mostly consists of basic silliness. And a bit of shopping, some great eating, and exploring. And being the trend setters that we are, the photo to the right was taken long before any of us had watched Tiger King! Yeah, we’re cool.
February & March
It is cold and nasty in Indiana this time of the year. A good time to continue working on my home remodeling projects. A couple of more bedrooms to update. Like the last effort, it all started with painting and ripping up carpet. Then I sanded and refinished the floors. Next was all new trim and hardware, then replacing all the electrical outlets and switches. Ended up with another nice guest room and an art studio for Jane, which she quickly took full advantage of. March 14th was Pi day, so Jane and her friends Kay, Barb M. and Diane decided to celebrate by reciting the first 300 digits of Pi as a performance art piece on the circle in downtown Indy. I jest. Actually, they celebrated correctly by enjoying a fine meal of assorted pie dishes at a fancy restaurant in Broad Ripple. A really nice, truly cultural event. But maybe I gave them an idea for 2021. The next day, our part of the world ground to a halt. They cancelled the rest of the Big Ten basketball tournament. They cancelled basketball in Indiana! Quickly thereafter it was no work, for those that do such things, no sports, no restaurants, no parties, no fun, no nothing! We were told to stay home. And for the next couple of weeks, we wandered around in a daze. And tried to figure out why we couldn’t find toilet paper in any of the stores. Nearly a year later and I still don’t have an answer for that one.
April
You know all those times when you said, “One of these days I need to….” do whatever needed to be done? Well, I had a bunch of those days. A guy can only justify watching so many reruns of past Masters and Wimbledon matches. I started with that big box of photos in the basement. I went through them and scanned the best. It brought back a bunch of great memories. And I thought it would be nice to send those photos to my friends so that they could enjoy them. I did, and they did, and it was good. But I had lost contact with a few of these people. Hadn’t spoken to them in 40 years and had no idea where they lived. These are people that used to be a big part of my life! But it is amazing what you can do with a computer, the internet, and a bit of time. I tracked them down and eventually made a phone call. We spoke for over an hour and I have added a few addresses to my Christmas letter list. It seems that friends are always friends. So, some good things have come out of this mess! My next project was to organize all my music. I went through all my CDs, uploaded everything, and then started giving the CDs to my friends so they could enjoy them. It worked out well for everyone. I don’t see quite as much success in store for that big box of VHS tapes under the stairs though. One more pandemic or possibly an alien invasion and my basement will be clean and organized! I didn’t think a photo of me sitting at the computer while creating an Excel spreadsheet of my CDs would be too exciting, so I added this one of Penny, my neighbor’s dog. She’s always happy to see me, she makes me happy, and I don’t have to feed her or take her to the vet. The perfect pet! Thanks Ryerson!
May
After refinishing 3 of the bedrooms upstairs, our master bedroom was next. I had thought I might take a break before jumping into it, but I had nothing but time and I needed something a bit more physical to do than scan photos. This was going to involve all of the same steps as the other rooms with one exception. Crown Molding! If this letter had a soundtrack, an ominous Dun-Dun-Duuuun would have followed that word, the carpenters equivalent of Voldemort. But I wasn’t afraid. It can’t be that hard. I aced geometry in high school. As a matter of fact, geometry is my favorite branch of mathematics. I was actually looking forward to this adventure. And I had Adam to help me. This was going to be a breeze. Not long into the project, I came to a realization. I had been lied to! Maybe Mrs. Henderson knew, maybe she didn’t. I won’t pass judgement. But I know now. The 90° angle is only a theoretical concept. It does not exist in the real world. It may be alive and well on classroom chalkboards and in geometry textbooks, but not at my house. I was beginning to sense this was the case after doing the baseboards in four bedrooms, but now I know for sure. It was starting to look dismal. It was at this point that I ignored everything that Mrs. Henderson had taught me and summoned everything I could remember from that Beginning Sculpture class I took my sophomore year in college. A little wood putty, a pallet knife, time, sandpaper and paint, and my crown molding looks nice enough to perpetuate the hoax of the 90° angle. And then I built a headboard for our bed. And then I slept in it.
June
It is now summer and time to head to the lake. Our first big lake party is the annual gathering of the janitors. This was our first time hosting this prestigious event, and like most events this year it was touch and go for a while. But we were very smart and safe, and all masked up when we needed to be. Unfortunately, Doug and Diane were trapped at home deep in the Michigan wilderness and couldn’t make it this year. But Jerry & Lisa, Mike & Mercedes and Bob & Sue made for a nice group. This was a multiday/multivenue event that had the guys playing golf while the ladies visited the zoo and the art museum. The golf was good. I mean, we didn’t play well, but no one got hurt. And from the photos they took it looks like the ladies had a good time. We had a couple of great meals at the McKenzie-Veal home. We then spent the weekend at the lake where we did the same kind of lake stuff we always do, just 6’ apart. We had a great time and already have next year’s gathering planned. It will be bigger and better than ever! The best thing to come out of that weekend though, was that Mike and I ended up playing golf nearly every week from then on, until well into November. We wrestled with a lot of the world’s problems on those Monday mornings. I think we actually solved a few of them. But we never could figure out why I couldn’t sink a two-foot putt! Unless it was for triple bogey.
July
We spent the 4th out at the lake. Most of the cities around us had cancelled their fireworks, but the people on the lake made up for it. We watched the sky for hours that night as our neighbors entertained us. The next weekend was another edition of Willis’ on the Water, though toned down a bit. Other than my kids, it was all grownups. Just my brother and sisters and their spouses. But somehow, we managed to have a good time. Of course, all we really did was that typical lake stuff. And scattered about are photos to prove it. I specifically added that photo of Sarabeth catching some rays on the boat because I know that Emily is pretty much going to dominate the rest of this letter. This was the weekend that she officially announced that she was pregnant! We had known for what seemed like forever and it was great to be able to tell the world. And even with the bad cellphone coverage we get out there, within minutes the news had reached Louisville, Columbus, London, Singapore, and even North Dakota!
August
So, Jane and I are going to be grandparents. We are pretty excited about that, but it’s just going to have to wait. First things first! We need to go to Louisville and help Donn and Marky build a shed in their backyard. It worked out well. I had a chance to play golf with Dave Emery. We had a fun time, but he was just as helpful as Michael on my putting issues. He actually suggested that I practice. What a concept. The next day Donn and I built the foundation for the shed while the ladies did something else. And the next day we went into full construction mode. Donn and I did the heavy lifting of those 14-pound plastic walls as the girls assembled all the windows and final trim. It was more like putting together a Barbie Dream House on Christmas eve than heavy construction, but I was amazed at how sturdy the finished product turned out. I’m sure Marky will put it to good use this spring when planting season begins. The next week we went on an adventure with Jenny and Alan. We spent a Tuesday driving from small town to small town out in the country north of Indy. We started with a nice lunch at a place where they knew the owners. Imagine that. Officially we were antiquing. Finding these little antique stores in cities like Michigantown and Rossville and Frankfort. Driving from one grain elevator to another in search of treasures. And we found a few. We bought some really nice glass paperweights in Frankfort. But I think it was mostly about the driving. It was a beautiful day to cruise down the 2-lanes. Another fun time with fun people. Emily is getting big. Did I tell you it was going to be a boy?
September
A couple of paragraphs back, Dave calls to tell me about this Myrtle Beach golf outing that he has been going on the last few years. He had invited me in the past, but I had that work thing going on, and for some reason Jane thought we should spend our vacation time together. But we are retired now and there is no reason a man of my means can’t take a little golf trip with his friends when he wants. Well, I want you to know, I walked right up to her and said, “Please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please! And she said yes. So, we headed south. 20 guys, half from the Louisville area and half from Baltimore met in Myrtle Beach. We had 18 holes a day scheduled for the next 4 days. What we didn’t know is that God scheduled about 18 inches of rain over those 4 days. We got in about 10 holes on day one. We managed 27 holes on day 2 but it was “Cart Path Only” so it felt like 54 holes. We were rained out after about 6 holes the next day but made some calls and drove 20 miles south and got in 18 that afternoon. The next day we were supposed to play 18 early and then head home but it was raining when we got there so we just skipped it and hit the road. I was rained on in six different states before I got home that night. It was just horrible golf weather. And we couldn’t go out and party at night. But that’s the weird thing about golf. We had a blast! See that island green in the photo? One of my 6 shots eventually landed on it! I did win a slight bit of cash for a closest to the pin. Dave came in 3rd overall and Richard won the 1st place trophy. Can’t wait to do it again this June!
Two weeks later Jane and I meet up with Scott and Liz at their place in Palm Coast, Florida and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves! We spent a lot of time at the pool and then would wander the beach for a while. Most of our visit there, the surf was a bit, as Liz would say, “turgid”. But I came this far, I at least had to wade in up to my waist. Almost like a cartoon, the Atlantic said no, and picked me up and tossed me back to shore. I felt like a kid again. A wet kid that had been beaten with a stick. Luckily, there was a nice place I could relax and recover. After lunch and a handful of Oreos I retired to the balcony. Scott, being the good host he is, decided to join me for nap time. What a nice guy! We had a chance to play some golf and later Jane and I tried to teach Scott and Liz the finer points of thrift/consignment store exploration. They did OK, but it always seemed they made it through the store much faster than us and were always waiting at the door for us to finish. But that might also be why we ended up with twice as many treasures! We also spent a day at the Space Center. We had a great time, because it is really a cool place and also because we were about the only people there. We owned it that day! When we left, there were about 8 cars in the parking lot. Our visit was excellent! Great weather, great place, fantastic food, and fun friends. Kind of perfect!
October
We started this busy month with a leisurely stroll through the grounds of the art museum. They decided to do it big this year for Halloween so we thought we would take a sneak peek. A great day with great weather and about a million pumpkins and gourds. Here’s a nice photo of Emily amongst a mess of those cucurbita. Did I mention that she’s pregnant? Speaking of that, we hosted a baby shower in our front yard a few days later. It was by far the best baby shower I have ever attended. Thanks to all of my family that showed up to help and all of our friends that attended. People came from near and far and it made Emily incredibly happy to see everyone, even if it was just from the eyes up. Thanks Dave & Kim! The next weekend Jane took part in a drive-by craft show. She had all sorts of jewelry and watercolors for sale. I told you she took advantage of that new studio we made for her! The bad news is that she made a bunch of money so there will probably be more shows in her future. Which is also my future. The next outing was a day in Brown County. We did the usual stuff, only this year it was with masks and without Sarabeth. For some reason she thought it would be more fun to hike through mountains in Colorado. We finished the month with Scott and Liz at the museum for the big Halloween show. It was a fun night if you like pumpkins and ghosts and things like that. We do, so it was.
November
We had a beautiful few days down at the lake to kick off this month. Jane and I were down there getting things ready for winter and the perfect Saturday popped up. So, the kids and their dogs came down for a visit. We didn’t go swimming, because it is November in Indiana, but that left us with more time to hang out on the deck and relax. And we took what is my probably my favorite photo of the five of us. And I think it is the last photo of just the five of us. I would like to thank Adam for carrying the boat battery up the 60 stairs from the dock to the garage. It’s times like those when an old man really appreciates having a son-in-law! One of the fun parts about writing this letter is that I can write just about anything I want. I can thank Adam for the help he gives me throughout the year, or I can just post a random photo and say, “Thanks Stan!”, without any other explanation.
The exciting part of November
This is the happiest I’ve been in a long time. Heck, I’m starting to tear up a bit as I’m typing this. Our grandson, Evan Finley Wallace was born on the 22nd. There’s not a whole lot else to say, since most of you all have a fairly good understanding of the process. I will let you know that he is perfect and about the cutest kid I in the world. Those of you with similar small children in your life are just going to have to trust me on this, I speak the truth. And now I will grace this page with photos to prove it. In the last one, I am wearing Jane’s dad’s bibs. She bought Evan an outfit to match. It’s going to be fun!
December
Remember when I said Jane was using that studio we fixed up for her? She had been taking watercolor classes at the Indianapolis Art Center before all the nastiness happened and she received a notice about their juried student show that was going to open mid-month. We quickly submitted 2 pieces and one of them was accepted. We thought that was really cool. A day or so after it opened, she got an email letting her know that her piece won the award for best watercolor, across all divisions! I’m immensely proud of her and quite impressed with her talent. As my friends pointed out, it’s nice to have an artist in the family. Oh, what do you know, there’s another picture of Evan! A week or so before Christmas we made another pilgrimage to the art museum. Jason, Alex, and Ruby joined as we strolled through the grounds looking at the Christmas lights. Once again, the museum put on a great show. Every last branch of every last tree had a light on it. It was beautiful but the most fun was chasing after Ruby as she trotted in front of us and realizing that next year Evan might be doing the same. I’m sure he will be advanced for his age. And look how much better Ruby has gotten with her selfies! Christmas was rather calm this year. We stayed at home and had a nice little family event. It was a nice change of pace from all the excitement with the new baby. We did the usual. Watched the Grinch, did a jigsaw puzzle, sipped a bit of bourbon, and I napped in the recliner with a baby on my chest. I can’t think of anything better. We postponed our big Willis Christmas for a couple of months but did manage do a Zoom Christmas with a good size chunk of the family. And it was good. Just think, if I had mentioned a Zoom Christmas in last year’s letter no one would have had a clue what I was talking about.
So that’s it. It has been a difficult year. I’m one whole page shorter than the last few letters. I didn’t even tell you about the nice vacations we had planned that were cancelled. But after writing this letter I realized that some good things happened this year also. Of course, a new grandkid is cool, but also my house is nicer, Jane and I walked and biked more this year than the rest of our life combined, my basement is a little more organized and I had a chance to reconnect with some old friends. Not bad at all. But I still wish I could sink a putt.
Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a healthy New Year!
Wayne & Jane
