From Our House to Yours

1-1-11, 1:11 PM

There exist people in this world properly motivated and organized such that their Christmas cards/letters including photos arrive via postman days in advance of the blessed holiday.  Then there are us.  A day late, a dollar short and indolence that knows no bounds.  But we are filled with gratitude for our friends and family, and a desire to provide you with an update.  E-mail??  I don’t need to be reminded of my affront to Hallmark and the US Postal Service, nor my dear departed mother and her 40-year tradition of Christmas letters typewritten on the old Royal.  But really, how many of us are still using film photography? So here goes.

There can be no greater highlight than a new addition and ours came on December 21st  with the arrival of Delcy JoAnne Schulze. Mother Kelly, Dad Chad and big brother Torben welcomed 7lb 8oz and 20” of “Gerber Baby” perfection.  4x mother Grandma JoJo served as doula and commented, “I’ve never seen it from this end before.  Pretty cool!”  We were glad to have Mom and baby home in time to celebrate a special Christmas.  Kelly also finished up her Master’s degree in May and Chad, et al, argued a case in front of the Supreme Court in DC.  They also found time to visit Hawaii.  Grandson Torben is a RoadRunner in pre-school with kindergarten on next fall’s schedule.  As Kelly noted, “I have never seen anyone who can make Grandpa and JoJo smile quicker and wider than Torben.”

    

With additions come subtractions and the day after Christmas, Ryan, Alison and their Samoyed, Skye packed up the U-Haul and moved to Pittsburgh.   Alison is with HJ Heinz and has taken a position in their corporate headquarters.  Ryan is doing web development and will be able to work from home.  They rented a late 20’s brick 3BR in a neighborhood close to downtown and are excited about their new adventure. They both travel a bit for their jobs and have spent the first few years of their marriage focusing vacation time on travel, both domestic  and international.  They celebrated their 30th birthdays by getting scuba certified in St. Johns.

Heather enjoys administrating in the Dean’s office at Wm Mitchell Law School in St. Paul.  She started in March, just about the time husband Adam was graduating from Mitchell with his Juris Doctor.  She also has a gig with a wedding planner and planned/worked several this past year.  It is probably good that this opportunity came after her own wedding as she is getting to work some pretty lavish affairs.  Heather has long been a dancer and after college joined a school that does Irish step-dance ala Riverdance.  She works hard at it almost year ‘round and they have become a talented and entertaining group.  They don’t aspire to world tours, but did perform in Milwaukee for that city’s renowned Irish Fest this past summer.   She and Adam just got back from an enjoyable few days in Chicago where they vacationed between the holidays.

Wade has been with us this year while taking some classes and working at the airport and snowplowing with his cousin.  So far it has been a good year for that with last month being the snowiest December in our history.  It has been fun having him around as he leans towards exchanging trash talk with dad while doing chores and projects together.  Alas, he will be heading back to the U of North Dakota after the holidays.  He insists that he has but one semester and change to graduate as a commercial aviator.  Light at the end of the tunnel?  Jobs are scarce and he would like to learn to fly helicopters so he is trying to negotiate a guarantee for training with the Army.

As for JoJo and me, the vast majority of our time is spent involved in all things family.  We have made a couple of attempts to venture out on those things that retired couples do, like leisure travel, but something always seems to get in the way.  So we stay pretty close to home and slowly work on various projects.  There is never a lack of those between the 3 houses we have in the St. Paul area and the small farm in Wisconsin.  Sounds impressive doesn’t it?  Even a tad pretentious.  Trust me, its not.

The last half of the year was a struggle for JoAnne as she went through chemo for the fourth time since she was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia in 1998.  Three cycles was about all she could handle so they took a break in Nov/Dec.  A PET scan and visit to the oncologist has turned into the resumption of chemo beginning on the Tuesday the 4th.  After 12 years of dealing with CLL, one would think that you develop a capacity for dealing with adversity, but I would be lying if I said that JoAnne and I were not taken aback by this news.   Please pray hard for her………… and with enthusiasm.

Top: Torben, Chad, Kelly, Delcy, JoAnne, Kevin     Front: Ryan, Alison, Skye, Heather, Adam, Wade. Fenway

May God’s Grace shine on you and yours in the coming year, and find you looking forward to all the best that 2011 can bring.