2021 Christmas Letter

 

Season's Greetings         Christmas 2021

 

         Well, 2021 began on an interesting note with the Insurrection on the U.S. Capitol Building on January 6, 2021.  With the Covid-19 pandemic seeming to wane, news is now breaking as I write this over concerns of a new variant out of South Africa, dubbed the Omicron variant. And 2021 marked my 30^th year of living in Hannibal. 

        This year for Johnathan, Carissa, Hunter, 10, and Kennedy, 7, started out by getting a new male Golden Retriever puppy, Kona. They went to Hawaii for 10 days and also attended the St. Louis Cardinals Spring Training games in Jupiter, FL. Carissa is still lead ultrasound tech at Swedish Medical Center. Hunter is doing well in school and loves his video games. He also started playing the trombone. Kennedy is also doing well in school and loves playing with her neighborhood friends. I enjoyed seeing all of them when they came to Missouri to visit for a few days in June.   

           Holly & Dave had quite the year. Aside from Covid, going into 2021 Holly dealt with the loss of long-time friends and her mother, Mernell, was hospitalized in January for ketosis.  Holly works at the same dance studio and she saw her mother in Arkansas during spring break in early April, Holly noticing that Mernell looked rather fatigued. By the end of April, Holly was back home in NJ when Mernell called Holly to tell her that what was thought to be a cold was found to be Mernell suffering a heart attack. Mernell was in surgery the next morning when there was a mishap, the outer sack of the heart was punctured, causing cardiac arrest and CPR was performed three times. Holly and Melanie got on a plane the next day to be with Mernell and kept Johnathan informed. Holly felt lucky to have family and friends come down over the next few weeks to allow her and Johnathan to visit Mernell and take care of Melanie, etc.  Holly was grateful to have Johnathan there that first week as Holly was in shock and beside herself. As Mernell made a slow recovery, Holly made the arrangements to get Mernell to various doctors, get groceries, etc., with a baby on her hip. Little Melanie was a trooper for being in new surroundings for a full three months. Holly and Melanie got back home in late July to celebrate Melanie’s 2nd birthday and they’re now doing fine. Dave was a trooper during it all, not seeing Melanie for three months.  Dave still works with the liquor distributor as manager and still looking for chef jobs as the restaurants get back to full capacity.    

           In July, Holly and Melanie spent a few days in Missouri with me. We all made the trip to visit Holly’s mother (and my ex-wife) Mernell in Columbia and I met Mernell’s boyfriend, Mel, who is a very nice and good man. Holly, Melanie, and I also had a nice visit with my mother which meant a lot to Holly.   

          My mother has had a couple of set-backs with her health this past year, but, fortunately, she has been bouncing back. She turned 89, so her “bounce back” is slower, but has fortunately been able to avoid COVID.  

          Three noteworthy individuals in my life had key birthdays in 2021. ¶ A fellow SCS engineer, Jim Rickman (who lives in Texas) turned 80. I surprised Jim by calling him on his birthday and we had fun reminiscing about a few of our great times together, my telling Jim that he has the driest sense of humor of anyone that I know. ¶ My co-worker for ten years and my best friend of anyone since my college days (and who is a good friend to MANY people), Terry Cooper, turned 85. I always call Terry on his birthday and we always enjoy reminiscing and talking about our special Doniphan co-workers who are no longer with us. ¶ And Linda, who was kind enough to fill a very big void in my life for the first ten years or so after I moved to Hannibal in 1991 when I began my disability retirement (when I knew of no one in Hannibal), by allowing me to drop by her workplace to spend 15 minutes or so to visit with her. The difference that Linda made in my life is likely immeasurable. (Of course, it would be very poor etiquette on my part to reveal what I believe Linda’s age to be.) Everyone who knows Linda thinks highly of her, and for good reason.  

           NASA's Perseverance rover landed on Mars on February 18, 2021, later sending back amazing videos of its landing. Perseverance carried with it a drone helicopter (named Ingenuity) to try to do five test flights in Mars' very thin atmosphere (which is only 1% of the air density at earth's surface), but, as of this writing on November 23, 2021, Ingenuity has succeeded in performing a total of 16 flights, and it is still going strong.    

         The Great Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in late December, 2020 was spectacular, my seeing both giant planets in my 2 ½” telescope’s field of view at the same time over many nights. And the weather co-operated well for me to watch the deep partial lunar eclipse on November 19, 2021 in the early morning hours at a chilly 23° F.    

            ¶ A good neighbor of mine, JoAnn Bridgman, 84, sadly passed away in October, 2021.  And I will also mention here Sharon Murphy, who lived next-door to me and who was always a good neighbor, passed away at age 70 in 2019, which I neglected to mention in that year’s Letter.   ¶ I learned from Terry Cooper that the youngest of four children (and the only daughter) of our late coworker, Harry Lovins, Abby, passed away at the age of 43 in September. I can recall Harry telling us that Abby was very much "the apple of her Daddy's eye."   ¶ Another matriarch of the Woodlawn/Holliday area (where I grew up), Willena Woods, passed away at the age of 93 in Dec., 2020 and she was a dear friend to my mother.   ¶ A man who went about his life and his work quietly, Louis Studer, passed away at age 84 in July, 2021. Louie was my last work supervisor when I worked in the Missouri State Office in Columbia, MO for the Soil Conservation Service during July, 1989 — October, 1990, a time when I suffered from serious mental illness and I know that I had to have been a challenge for Louie during that time. Louie was known for his sensitivity and kindness to others. I couldn't have had a better work supervisor than Louie during that very tough time in my life.  ¶ A woman who I worked with when I began my second year out of college (in 1977) in my SCS engineering career in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, Shirley Hutton, sadly passed away at the age of 90 in March. Shirley told me that she lost her son, Scott (who would have been around my age), when Scott was having heart surgery around the age of 14. A few years later, Shirley confirmed the mutual affection that we had when she introduced me to her assistant secretary as my being Shirley's "surrogate son." I sent Shirley a Mother's Day card every year and I stayed in touch with her, including a few stays in her home in Jackson, MO. Shirley was loved by many.  ¶ Another special member of my family, my mother’s first cousin (and my late great-aunt Phoebe’s son), LaRue Baker of Maud, passed away at the age of 79 in April, 2021. LaRue was a quiet-spoken and kind man and a hardworking farmer (and he did a few other trades) who could always say something that brought a smile to your face.  ¶ My Aunt Jane passed away on September 4th at age 86. There really are no words that adequately describe Jane's uniqueness and specialness in our family, but Jane's wisdom and humor (particularly Jane's sarcastic humor) quickly comes to our minds. Jane lived a very quality life and she will be missed by many.  Jane's youngest son, Lance, wrote a beautiful piece about his mother on Facebook after her passing and near the end of his narrative, Lance wrote something that is very true:  "There are so many things I could say about her but I don’t have room."  

          Johnathan's family and I went to a Cardinals ball game on June 24th (and Johnathan paid for my expensive Champions Club ticket---Thank You, Johnathan!!!!) against the lowly Pittsburgh Pirates, which our Cardinals lost 8 – 2. A sign of our times was Hunter and Kennedy spending most of their time at this game with their eyes glued to their smart devices. (But, with an 8 - 2 losing score, who can really blame them? 😀) In early September, 2021, the Cardinals were "dead in the water" and we found ourselves reciting the battle cry of Chicago Cubs fans: "Just wait until next year." But, incredibly, on Sept. 8th, when the Cardinals had a mediocre 69 - 68 record, and 3 1/2 games out of the 2nd wild card spot with only 25 games remaining, the Redbirds won 19 of their next 20 games (including a truly mind-boggling 17 games in a row to smash the Cardinals previous record of winning 14 straight games set in 1935) to clinch the 2nd wild card spot with 5 games left in the season. But, alas, there was no joy in Mudville, as the favored Los Angeles Dodgers defeated our Cardinals in an extremely tense and nail-biting Wild Card game on a 9th inning, two out, walk-off 2-run homer, 3 - 1.  😢 (My Aunt Jane would have loved this past season as she was a very big Cardinals fan since she was a teenager.)  

          A brief report about my health. My leukemia (CLL) is still in spontaneous remission and my heart seems to be behaving well. But I am out of shape and I have regained weight, but maybe I'll find the fire in my belly and diet again. I did have my first extracted tooth in 2021.  

          I have enjoyed corresponding this past year with Zofia of Germany, Jana and Ana Lisa, both of the Philippines, and Debbie, Lila, Lori, Valerie, Kate, and Phuong of this country.  And I am enjoying my 7th year of being "pen friends" with a happily married woman from Ohio, Carol Ann, which has become more rewarding and enriching for me with each passing year.  In 2020, I began messaging with Susan of NC and Kathy of PA, but both sadly passed away in 2021.           

          I will end on an amusing note in that when I received a Christmas card last year from my cousin, Gary Magruder, he wrote in his card, "I'm thinking of giving up watching the news and just waiting for your Christmas Letter."

I hope that you and your family have a prosperous 2022!  Greg