Well another year has come and almost gone. We started the year with high hopes of good things to come. I started warning the people at work that it would be my last year. It was going to be but looks like I may stretch things into the first quarter of 2014. I would have taken early retirement in August but they didn’t offer enough to end the year out so I opted to stay with it and now, I am begging for them to come offer me a package to get out. No matter what you want they will find ways to not let you have it.
In the first part of the year, nothing big happened. At least nothing that I can remember. We were adjusting to not having Dad around and still working. I did make a few trips out of the country this year. Was in
Canada… In February of all times to be there?
and people were jumping in the water, after they cut out a big hole in the ice!!!! NOT ME!
Venezuela,
They have a vast array of Old Cars Road-side stands for everything…
I experienced some different foods (sweet corn pancake with a semi soft cheese)
And some ???? advertising (it was a clothing store in the mall).
Thailand
Where I had to take “survival training”?
More ? exotic foods? And Temples
Mexico,
Colorful houses… Group Taxi’s
Unique artists…
West Texas… you know that is a whole other country (according to their own advertisements).
Along with several US locations, including a trip offshore and some fine food in Louisiana…
It was in the spring we got the word that we would be grandparents again… actually on April 1st… so it came out that it was a fools joke, then turned out to be a truth… !
While we waited on that event we did get to attend some more graduation exercises (pictures)… both Ryan and Brooke got to graduate from Radiation Tech and Nursing school… so we have a Registered Nurse and a Picture taker(aiming for Medical Assistant) in the family now… I sure was glad to get them out , again, and I bet they were too as I know I can really wear on people… ha!
They finished up all the testing and both passed the final exams and got their respective certifications. They promptly picked up and moved to Colorado Springs and both have jobs out there and enjoy living there… they say they like their jobs but it is work and how can you truly like work? I don’t, but I have been doing it a whole lot longer…
Sherrie is still working and in order to qualify for her retirement she has another year+ to put in… She threatens to quit every month but stays.. It has been a real problem. My work is such that my time off does not work well with when her boss will let her of so we have not had a real vacation in over 2 years, we plan to remedy that this spring and start taking our time away. We do visit her parents when we can as they are the remaining members of our collective older generation. It is different times now. We used to have big family gatherings both her’s and mine when our grandmothers were alive, but now that gathering has diminished and we seldom see some of the extended families.
Sherrie has been really intent on knitting stuff. this year It is her focused hobby now. Just like me she gravitated from one to the other. She works on it pretty constant now, every free minute is used up knitting. She is making stuff for others all the time. I can relate to having that other thing to do that distracts you from work. I get totally involved in my Ham radio and loose track of time and other stuff (well some of that is Old-timers, you know when you get to a point you only remember some of the stuff some of the time?), . I have been asked a lot lately , “what will you do when you retire?” They just don’t understand that when you have several hobbies that you could do full time, work is not the focus for me that it is for them. If you want to know what Sherrie is making, ask here on Facebook, she will send pictures… Lots of lots of baby stuff… which brings me to November 4th…
Luke was born on that day (picture)… he was really small as he came a bit early due to required C-section delivery. He is doing well now, but still a bit small and catching up… Big brother Ethan is really involved in taking care of Luke as well…
So, the year came and went, we made a few new friends, met up with a lot of old ones, didn’t get to go on vacation but I traveled more than I wanted… just hate those long plane rides. The family has grown, we are happy and expecting to take more time away in the near future. We are happy here in Stillwater and do attend a lot of the events here, as much as we can since we are so close it is good entertainment at a good price.
To that end, we wish everyone a very merry Christmas. Please try to remember the reason for it all. We also wish you all a Happy New Year and may you all be as happy as we have been… and look forward to the new years events.