2
Exhausted 2 Write Newsletter
"This writing business. Pencils and whatnot. Overrated, if you ask me."
Eeyore from " ?
"
The 2006
2 Exhausted 2
Write Newsletter
(issued in 2007)
By December I wasn't even going to try to kid myself: there would be no Christmas letter.
Much earlier
in the year I'd sworn I'd write it in October and get it out before Thanksgiving!
I'd write it on my laptop while in California! (Alan had removed such software
without telling me.) I'd write it when I got back! – Shingles! I just
hope this stays a Happy New Year letter, and not a Happy St. Patrick's Day
letter!
From
the past three newsletters: "Alan toils at Seminars Unlimited. They're
still building their new campus. Alan's hand-dug well in the back yard remains
at 2000 A.D. status." Nothing has changed. He's in good health
and spirits. In June, he worked a week at Nameless Valley Ranch as "The
Story Guy" and canoe teacher.
He
traveled to New Mexico three times to work on the Denny cabin (damaged in
winters storms), and once to simply play (including placing a
Geocache within view of the cabin -- clearly visible near the ridgeline
above Alan's elbow).
Nikki
and Kilory are in Sixth Grade with Mrs. Lopez. Straight "A"s.
They're causing us to consider a convent school in the middle of an Iowa
cornfield. They're violinists in the orchestra. At school Kilory was learning
French horn, and Nikki clarinet, until the band teacher quit (I don't think
it's their fault?). They belong to the A------- Pathfinders Club and are
participating in the Bible Bowl competition again. Last year, with controversial
judging, they narrowly lost to a much older team in the state finals. It
seems that unless Kilory watches the game at Uncle Doug (Denny)'s house,
the Dallas Cowboys lose, so many a match has been enjoyed at Uncle Doug's
("Survivor" episodes, too).
I still
work at Curves whose corporate color is PURPLE! It's destiny.
Overheard
at Curves where I'm actually paid to be quirky and fabulous:
"Where do
you buy a gag gift?" "Why are you asking me? Ask Chrissie!"
"That's Chrissie's
car with the Christmas bows up and down the antenna, right?" "How'd
you know?" "Who else's could it be!?"
"I
used to think Capricorns were quiet, calm, and staid. Then I found out Chrissie
is a Capricorn. I've never met anybody less quiet, less calm, or less staid!"
"Other Curves
aren't like this one. Ya'll are friendly and you make it fun."
Like I said: it's destiny.
Our
July 4th Parade entry won the Best Overall Entry trophy and Best Children's
Entry. Please note the one trophy is almost as tall as Alexandra, our littlest
firecracker! Please also note that even our shoes are Lit Fuse Yellow!
Our
Christmas entry won 2nd Place Animal Entry (the dog didn't look bad either).
We might actually have placed better, but there was a muff up and our Bag
Ladies weren't ready when the judges came by (not the Bag Ladies' faults).
L-R: Sylvia, Alan, Chrissie, Mackenzie and Mikayla Petersen*, Kilory, and
Nikki. Sylvia isn't wearing her reindeer antlers in the photo.
*Daughters of Kim Neufeld
and Don Petersen; granddaughters of David and JoAnn Petersen.
In August, I flew alone to Atlanta to pick up a used diesel VW Jetta from a couple who turned out to be SDA. I drove through Alabama to Mississippi to spend the weekend with Sally and family. I dawdled all the way there and all the way back to Texas, stopping at every antique mall that tickled my fancy. I had such a good time!! The girls had been touring New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana with Gramma and PaPa since July, so my parents weren't home to have a fit about me traveling solo. In Idaho, they visited Luthy relatives and saw the cabin that my great-great-grandfather, Albert "Frenchie" Luthy built.
Labor Day
Week was spent at the Denny cabin in Black Lake, New Mexico, but this time
without the Wiists. The powers that be changed the Angel Fire Living History
Rendezvous from Labor Day to Memorial Day: something we didn't find out
about until July. Maybe Memorial Day Week 2007, if it doesn't interfere
with Veronique and Alan's Nameless Valley Ranch duties.
It was just as well we didn't find out about the Rendezvous switch: we had
just gotten back from Europe and couldn't have gone in May anyway.
The last time Alan and I left for Europe, we knew we'd never get to return to Paris unless we brought the girls with us! They begged to see Degas' "Little Dancer," Van Gogh's sunflowers, and DaVinci's paintings. They'd been asking me when we'd take them to see such things, and Paris. "Someday." When we left in April 2001, they alternated between crying and homicidal mutiny.
We decided
2006 would be The Year: before our girls started to really
blossom and get scary. Gramma came with us to: finally use her passport;
see where our Swiss ancestors hail; and, help us keep an eye on two pretty
little girls in the big city. For three weeks we dragged Gramma all over
France, Switzerland, Germany, and specifically Paris. The main theme of
the trip was "Have we killed Gramma yet?" That and Smart
cars.
We visited Corgémont,
CH, where Albert "Frenchie" Luthy, was born
(Read
about his daughter and his life in America as "that crazy Frenchman");
and Durrentzen, FR,
where Alan's great-grandfather sired Alan's grandfather.
You can see lots of pictures and
read about De Gaulle airport security pulling me over and calling the police
(you knew it would happen someday!)
Family archives:
Uncle
Bob (Davidson) died August 29 from skin cancer. He attended Glendale Union
Academy with my parents and has been family ever since. I just can't bring
myself to take his name off my e-mail list. He is pictured here, last on
the right. I am in red. Some of you who know me will have heard me speak
of (or know) my friend Suzy: she is directly behind me in this 1971 photo.
My
great-uncle Leo Noakes (of
the Luthy line) died June 3.
Pictured here are Mildred Connell, Melvin Woodland, Alma Noakes, Alice Cummings,
Leo Noakes, and Ruby Woodland at our June 12, 1988 wedding.
Arnold
Velez (March 13, 1966-May 13, 2006)'s death was unexpected,
untimely, and inconceivable, in that Arnold was always an unstoppable Force
of Nature.
What a guy! You can barely see him in this photo, but I swear to you, all
the other photos I have of him are of him jumping/screaming at me -- all
teeth and tonsils. (L-R)
Bill, Brenda, Arnold, Nora, Wes, Kendall, Pam Schnell-Gilley, Erik,
Dorie, Bret, T'resa, LuAnn, Kevin, Steve Brain -- December 1986
Billie
Griswell died December 5. She was my neighbor for 19 years; my surrogate
grandmother; my earthly guardian angel. She sat in the waiting room with
my parents during my Caesarean; was the first visitor after the birth; I
know she was behind pastors anointing me when I was blind (which produced
an eye-surgery result which was deemed "miraculous" by medical
professionals); she brought goodies for the twins every holiday; she visited
me in ICU in 2005; and, and, and. One doesn't get sympathy when one's neighbor
dies. I cried at Christmas carols ("Yeah. I could use some comfort
and joy. *bawl*"). I stress ate and gained much weight. I was/am
bereft. Bereft and hefty.
Alina
Weis got engaged to Dr. Dean Dagermangy. He took her to Lake Arrowhead for
a horse ride in the snow, then a fancy dinner followed by a walk on the
dock. He pulled out a poem that he wrote for her. At the end of the poem
he got down on one knee and proposed. Can you believe it?! How romantic!!
Just look at them! Don't you just want to pinch his cheeks?
Sydney
Iris joined the Ivan Bartolome family in May. And then they all went to
Disneyworld: Luke, Sonja, Sydney, Ivan, and Trent.
My favorite
pet ever was a black Munchkin shelter cat I adopted in July. He was killed
a week later, in a way that left me tramuatized. Alan wouldn't allow me
to get another Munchkin to deflect my grief unless it was another black
Munchkin cat. In September, I found one: in the San Jose (CA!!) animal shelter.
Mom
offered to fly me out since it would cost more to have him shipped to me
as it would to fly out, spend a week with my "sister" Carolyn
Kearbey, and fly back with him. So my maid-of-honor adopted the cat for
me, picked me up at the Sacramento airport a week later and let me hang
out with her 94-year-old dad for a week. We had fun. He and I ate out, and
toured the Jelly Belly factory. I also helped at her school library, 
where
her pox-ridden students gave me (outrageously painful) shingles! Airport
security broke Jazzy's pet carrier: my red-eye flight home consisted of
me wrestling an unhappy cat loose on an airplane. Mr. Kearbey came down
with shingles in December. That and the medication caused him to fall quite
a bit. I offered to go back and watch out for him until he was well if they
could fly me out, but he's a manly man and insisted he could manage while
Carolyn was at work. Our cats and dogs were as disappointed as I was, but
for different reasons: they want this insane short-legged cat to go back
to California! Alan won't hear of it. Napoleon Jazzy Cap'n Jack is sooooooooo
his cat. They love each other so much I'm jealous.
In 2007,
I've already turned proudly 40; have scheduled a split-me-open-from-hip-to-hip
hysterectomy; have a new business opportunity; and am looking into a major
household project. During the 2007 holidays I'll tell you how it all worked
out; or at New Year 2008; or St. Patrick's Day 2008. Easter?
Have a realistically contented 2007.
Chrissie,
Alan, Nikki & Kilory
alan_christine@sbcglobal.net
P.S.
Remember when you're shopping: Disaster-Area.org
has an associates link to Amazon.com. Purchases
made through this link benefit the Wes Stoops Scholarship at Southwestern.
We hope you enjoy your
visit.
