My 2006 Christmas Letter
**********Season's Greetings**********Christmas 2006*****************
2006 was a year of major life events for Johnathan, 25, Holly, 21, and myself (52!). In May, Holly earned her degree in Dance at Stephens college, cum laude, with many of Mernell's and my family members attending Holly's graduation ceremony and we all enjoyed having lunch afterward. During Holly's final college semester, she performed in many dance numbers in their Spring dance recital. In August, Holly and one of her best friends, Jenna, took the big step in moving to New York City (sharing an apartment) and Holly seems to have adjusted quickly to the Big City, quickly working in two jobs at restaurants (one owned by Bette Midler). Unfortunately, Holly has developed back problems requiring therapy and she hasn't yet auditioned for any dance parts. Hopefully, 2007 will be the year in which she is able to pursue her ambitions to be a dancer.
I am VERY proud to say that I became a father-in-law on June 24th when Johnathan and Carissa became betrothed in a beautiful ceremony here in Hannibal in which all of my family members attended. The bride was beautiful and the groom was handsome and the entire event went perfectly. One unexpected plus was seeing some of Mernell's relatives for the first time in over 18 years. Johnathan and Carissa honeymooned in Australia where, unfortunately, Carissa developed a serious eye infection requiring hospitalization that, fortunately, completely healed. The Navy then transferred Johnathan to Everett, Washington and Carissa stayed behind in Hawaii until November to complete enough time of employment in her hospital job to receive a substantial contribution to her 401K, which I thought was wise.
Because the Cardinals moved into a brand new stadium this year, I had given up on seeing a game this year because of the great demand for tickets, that is, until Johnathan surprised me with getting tickets for me, Holly, Brett, and himself for a game on Father's Day, in which Cardinals pitching ace, Chris Carpenter, came through with a 4-1 victory over the Rockies. Despite the Cardinals mediocre regular season record of only 83-78 and barely escaping a late season collapse, the Cardinals shocked the baseball world by winning the World Series for the first time in 24 long years. I enjoyed talking to Johnathan after each Cardinals win (and a few tough losses) and also once with Holly when she was at a bar with a large screen TV. (It is rumored that Holly expected to see Cardinals star Albert Pujols doing cartwheels around the first base bag in Game #6 against the Mets---it's a long story, you'll have to ask Holly.)
(Explanation of this is after the end of this Christmas Letter.)
In August, I enjoyed seeing my mother's sisters Bea, Jane and her son, Lance, but we all greatly missed Ferne and her charm and humor as she was under the weather and couldn't travel.
Johnathan pleasantly shocked me by flying to Missouri to surprise me over Thanksgiving weekend and brought me into the world of cell phones by purchasing a very nice one with lots of features for me.
To observe the first anniversary of my father's passing, Chris, Angela, and Alicia and I got together at Mother’s (Diane was ill and the weather was bad for Rochelle) and I used the occasion to bring my Jack-O-Lantern and do the 10th annual Punkin Pitchin' with Mother, Angela, Alicia, and her daughter, Brooke, doing the honors at the farm.
The celestial event of 2006 was a rare transit of Mercury across the face of the sun (the next one is in 2016) which I shared with a librarian, Sheila, a group of fifth graders at the library and with my hairdresser, Nikki, at her beauty shop as she has always been interested in what I share with her about astronomy.
And my major life event began with Holly coming up to see me on August 1st and we to Quincy to eat at Fazoli's and we had our usual great time. Late that night, I developed what I call a 'nuisance' in my chest which I still had the next morning, but more noticeable. I decided to take the precaution of having it checked out at the hospital's emergency room, thinking it was likely nothing. However, from the EKG, I was told that I was suffering a heart attack, which I could not believe! and I went through the thought process of possibly dying in the next few hours. One image that I’ll never forget is seeing Holly sitting close by, her head turned slightly away and seeing tears covering her cheeks and she then wiped them away with her small hands. I was flown by helicopter to a hospital in Columbia. An artery of my heart was 90% blocked which was opened up and a stent was inserted. I was in ICU and then a regular room, one day each, and then I spent four days recuperating at the farm under my mother's kind care. When my mother took me back to Hannibal, I told her that I'm very glad that I still have a mother who can still take care of her children. Alicia asked me to write an e-mail describing my 'close call' which I did begin to write but after it was about two-thirds completed, I noticed that it was so full of humorous comments on my part that I thought that no one would appreciate the gravity of my brush with death, so I didn't finish it or send it. (Example: During the angioplasty, after asking what my doctor was doing, he replied that he was getting ready to insert the stent in my artery. I then asked, "Are you giving me a 'Dick Cheney Special'?", which drew laughs from the medical team. My doctor then replied, "Yes, I guess that we are.") During my time on the farm, as I walked around the house for exercise, I couldn't help but closely notice the horizons around the farm that I had become so familiar with and how close I came to not seeing them again. I completed 6 weeks of cardiac rehab, coming to know some pretty special nurses, especially one named Tracy. I joined the YMCA to hopefully continue to get in better shape.
I can now honestly say that every day in a gift from God and for those who would, please take a moment to thank God for giving me a little more time in what is, more often than not, a pretty wonderful world.
We hope that you and yours have a Happy and Prosperous 2007!
Greg, Johnathan, & Holly
*********************************************************
And this is from an e-mail that explains a remark that I made in my Christmas Letter above that is so funny, I think, that I have shared it with many and it has become part of the 'Supersweet101 Family Lore':
Well, I trust that you will watch Game #7 tonight. There are few things more exciting in sports than watching your team in a deciding Game#7----the only game more exciting to watch was if it was the Game #7 of a World Series.
Last night, I got a message from Holly on my answering machine when I got home, asking me when last night's game began. I called her back during the third inning and learned that she and her roommate, Jenna, were at a bar within a block of their apartment (in New York City) watching the game on a big screen TV as they can not get the game at home. Holly said there was one Mets fan and several Yankee fans there, also, with the Yankee fans rooting for the Cardinals.
As Holly and I both watched the game, we discovered that I was getting the televised feed about three seconds sooner than Holly was, so I gave Holly a play-by-play preview of what she was about to see, leading Holly to tell me at one point, "I hate this!" as she said that my preview was ruining the game for her as she was learning what happened before she saw it for herself.
The camera showed a closeup of Cardinals great Albert Pujols who had just been intentionally walked and he was laughing and chatting it up with the Mets first baseman and I told Holly, "And Pujols is having a good time."
Cardinals batter Juan Encarnacion then swung and missed the next pitch and I told Holly, "And there's strike two."
And then I decided to ad lib a little bit and I told Holly, "Oh, look. Pujols is doing cartwheels."
After a brief pause, Holly told me, "Oh, shut up."
I laughed and told Holly, "I'll bet that you really stretched your neck out to see that, didn't you?"
Holly replied, "It got about six inches longer," leading me to laugh very hard, in small part due to my picturing everyone in Shea stadium and the national TV audience seeing Albert Pujols doing cartwheels around the first base bag during live action of Game #6 of the NLCS.
(Sometimes, I think that I have too much fun.)
Well, win or lose tonight, the Cardinals had a great and 'interesting' season. It would really be something if a team that finished only 5 games above .500 and nearly had a historic collapse in September actually got into the World Series.
2006 was a year of major life events for Johnathan, 25, Holly, 21, and myself (52!). In May, Holly earned her degree in Dance at Stephens college, cum laude, with many of Mernell's and my family members attending Holly's graduation ceremony and we all enjoyed having lunch afterward. During Holly's final college semester, she performed in many dance numbers in their Spring dance recital. In August, Holly and one of her best friends, Jenna, took the big step in moving to New York City (sharing an apartment) and Holly seems to have adjusted quickly to the Big City, quickly working in two jobs at restaurants (one owned by Bette Midler). Unfortunately, Holly has developed back problems requiring therapy and she hasn't yet auditioned for any dance parts. Hopefully, 2007 will be the year in which she is able to pursue her ambitions to be a dancer.
I am VERY proud to say that I became a father-in-law on June 24th when Johnathan and Carissa became betrothed in a beautiful ceremony here in Hannibal in which all of my family members attended. The bride was beautiful and the groom was handsome and the entire event went perfectly. One unexpected plus was seeing some of Mernell's relatives for the first time in over 18 years. Johnathan and Carissa honeymooned in Australia where, unfortunately, Carissa developed a serious eye infection requiring hospitalization that, fortunately, completely healed. The Navy then transferred Johnathan to Everett, Washington and Carissa stayed behind in Hawaii until November to complete enough time of employment in her hospital job to receive a substantial contribution to her 401K, which I thought was wise.
Because the Cardinals moved into a brand new stadium this year, I had given up on seeing a game this year because of the great demand for tickets, that is, until Johnathan surprised me with getting tickets for me, Holly, Brett, and himself for a game on Father's Day, in which Cardinals pitching ace, Chris Carpenter, came through with a 4-1 victory over the Rockies. Despite the Cardinals mediocre regular season record of only 83-78 and barely escaping a late season collapse, the Cardinals shocked the baseball world by winning the World Series for the first time in 24 long years. I enjoyed talking to Johnathan after each Cardinals win (and a few tough losses) and also once with Holly when she was at a bar with a large screen TV. (It is rumored that Holly expected to see Cardinals star Albert Pujols doing cartwheels around the first base bag in Game #6 against the Mets---it's a long story, you'll have to ask Holly.)
(Explanation of this is after the end of this Christmas Letter.)
In August, I enjoyed seeing my mother's sisters Bea, Jane and her son, Lance, but we all greatly missed Ferne and her charm and humor as she was under the weather and couldn't travel.
Johnathan pleasantly shocked me by flying to Missouri to surprise me over Thanksgiving weekend and brought me into the world of cell phones by purchasing a very nice one with lots of features for me.
To observe the first anniversary of my father's passing, Chris, Angela, and Alicia and I got together at Mother’s (Diane was ill and the weather was bad for Rochelle) and I used the occasion to bring my Jack-O-Lantern and do the 10th annual Punkin Pitchin' with Mother, Angela, Alicia, and her daughter, Brooke, doing the honors at the farm.
The celestial event of 2006 was a rare transit of Mercury across the face of the sun (the next one is in 2016) which I shared with a librarian, Sheila, a group of fifth graders at the library and with my hairdresser, Nikki, at her beauty shop as she has always been interested in what I share with her about astronomy.
And my major life event began with Holly coming up to see me on August 1st and we to Quincy to eat at Fazoli's and we had our usual great time. Late that night, I developed what I call a 'nuisance' in my chest which I still had the next morning, but more noticeable. I decided to take the precaution of having it checked out at the hospital's emergency room, thinking it was likely nothing. However, from the EKG, I was told that I was suffering a heart attack, which I could not believe! and I went through the thought process of possibly dying in the next few hours. One image that I’ll never forget is seeing Holly sitting close by, her head turned slightly away and seeing tears covering her cheeks and she then wiped them away with her small hands. I was flown by helicopter to a hospital in Columbia. An artery of my heart was 90% blocked which was opened up and a stent was inserted. I was in ICU and then a regular room, one day each, and then I spent four days recuperating at the farm under my mother's kind care. When my mother took me back to Hannibal, I told her that I'm very glad that I still have a mother who can still take care of her children. Alicia asked me to write an e-mail describing my 'close call' which I did begin to write but after it was about two-thirds completed, I noticed that it was so full of humorous comments on my part that I thought that no one would appreciate the gravity of my brush with death, so I didn't finish it or send it. (Example: During the angioplasty, after asking what my doctor was doing, he replied that he was getting ready to insert the stent in my artery. I then asked, "Are you giving me a 'Dick Cheney Special'?", which drew laughs from the medical team. My doctor then replied, "Yes, I guess that we are.") During my time on the farm, as I walked around the house for exercise, I couldn't help but closely notice the horizons around the farm that I had become so familiar with and how close I came to not seeing them again. I completed 6 weeks of cardiac rehab, coming to know some pretty special nurses, especially one named Tracy. I joined the YMCA to hopefully continue to get in better shape.
I can now honestly say that every day in a gift from God and for those who would, please take a moment to thank God for giving me a little more time in what is, more often than not, a pretty wonderful world.
We hope that you and yours have a Happy and Prosperous 2007!
Greg, Johnathan, & Holly
*********************************************************
And this is from an e-mail that explains a remark that I made in my Christmas Letter above that is so funny, I think, that I have shared it with many and it has become part of the 'Supersweet101 Family Lore':
Well, I trust that you will watch Game #7 tonight. There are few things more exciting in sports than watching your team in a deciding Game#7----the only game more exciting to watch was if it was the Game #7 of a World Series.
Last night, I got a message from Holly on my answering machine when I got home, asking me when last night's game began. I called her back during the third inning and learned that she and her roommate, Jenna, were at a bar within a block of their apartment (in New York City) watching the game on a big screen TV as they can not get the game at home. Holly said there was one Mets fan and several Yankee fans there, also, with the Yankee fans rooting for the Cardinals.
As Holly and I both watched the game, we discovered that I was getting the televised feed about three seconds sooner than Holly was, so I gave Holly a play-by-play preview of what she was about to see, leading Holly to tell me at one point, "I hate this!" as she said that my preview was ruining the game for her as she was learning what happened before she saw it for herself.
The camera showed a closeup of Cardinals great Albert Pujols who had just been intentionally walked and he was laughing and chatting it up with the Mets first baseman and I told Holly, "And Pujols is having a good time."
Cardinals batter Juan Encarnacion then swung and missed the next pitch and I told Holly, "And there's strike two."
And then I decided to ad lib a little bit and I told Holly, "Oh, look. Pujols is doing cartwheels."
After a brief pause, Holly told me, "Oh, shut up."
I laughed and told Holly, "I'll bet that you really stretched your neck out to see that, didn't you?"
Holly replied, "It got about six inches longer," leading me to laugh very hard, in small part due to my picturing everyone in Shea stadium and the national TV audience seeing Albert Pujols doing cartwheels around the first base bag during live action of Game #6 of the NLCS.
(Sometimes, I think that I have too much fun.)
Well, win or lose tonight, the Cardinals had a great and 'interesting' season. It would really be something if a team that finished only 5 games above .500 and nearly had a historic collapse in September actually got into the World Series.
posted by supersweet101 @ 3:46 PM
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