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Christmas Newsletter 2016

Thursday, December 8, 2016

The end of last year and the beginning of this year were tough times for our family, but things are looking much better. As I wrote my last Christmas letter, we had just discovered that our son-in-law, Erich, had a brain tumor, and I was getting ready to join the family in Seattle for the surgery. The surgery was a success, and the surgeons removed a baseball sized mass from his brain. The tumor was cancerous, and he has endured radiation and chemotherapy. The cancer is not gone, but it is under control.

Just one week after Erich's surgery, Candace delivered Gwendolyn and Penelope via C-section six and a half weeks early. They spent several weeks in the neonatal intensive care unit, and both are doing well as they approach their first birthday. Before leaving Seattle, we discovered that Mom needed a pacemaker. I extended my stay in Florida until after her surgery. About a month after I got home, Dad collapsed on a fishing trip and required emergency open heart surgery. That came up so quickly that I was not able to get back to Florida in time, and my sister and mother had to endure that one alone. After all the drama from November though February, I happy to report that everyone is doing much better.

Debi remained in Washington until June to help Candace and Erich recover from surgeries and the rapid expansion of their family. My big project while she was gone was leading the construction of new gallery walls at the Arts Center. I spent a lot of time designing and then building movable walls with a shim leveling system to adapt to the unlevel floor in our old building. The Art League members really stepped up to help, and it took about eight weeks to complete the project. After an open house to celebrate a local event and the completion of our new display walls, I was able to squeeze in another trip to Florida to check up on my family.

Debi finally came home in June, just in time for our RV trip around the northeastern United States. My primary object was a 10-day class at the Nazareth Guitar Institute in Nazareth, Pennsylvania where I built an archtop jazz guitar. We took our time going out and spent several days near Lexington, Virginia, where I got to visit Foamhenge, an infamous roadside attraction that is a full scale reproduction of Stonehenge using Styrofoam. On our way back, we spent time at Virginia Beach, Virginia and Boone, North Carolina. Three thousand miles later after burning 339 gallons of gasoline, we made it home.

Just two days after getting home, Debi went back to Washington for another 3 months. After catching up on things in Tennessee, I planned a trip to Gulf Shores, Alabama for a few days at the beach followed by a few days in Louisiana to play guitar with an old friend. Unfortunately, fate got in the way again. A bearing overheated, and I lost a wheel off the RV about 40 miles out of town. No one was hurt, but it took two months to get the axle replaced. That put an end to RV trips for the rest of the year.

We travelled to Florida (without the RV) to spend Thanksgiving with my parents and sister. Candace, Erich, and the twins were also able to visit. They spent a day at my parent's house before travelling on to spend time with Erich's family in Florida. Debi and I came back to Tennessee for about 10 days for me to fulfill some obligations like a house concert and hosting an open mic. We will be travelling back to Florida where we will catch a flight to Washington to spend Christmas with Candace and her family. My parents are taking care of our cat, Sophie, which accounts for our circuitous route.

We weren't able to spend any time with our son, Aaron, and his family this year. Hunter turned 12 this year, and Evan celebrated his 7th birthday. Cristina and Aaron are doing well. We hope to be able to visit them this coming year.

Here are some selected pictures from our past year. I hope that you enjoy them.