Happy Holidays 2007!

Well, I'll be durned! It's that time of the year again already, and Billie has sent out her annual Christmas letter. Every year, we try to pool our ignorance and dig out all the addresses we can remember (why does it get more difficult each time?) and every year we get Christmas cards and letters from people whose addresses somehow got left off the list.

As often as not, they're people who could be mortally offended by the fact that they've been forgotten.

So if your name fell through the cracks, please forgive us! It was certainly not intended. Most likely Billie and I each thought the other was handling it, which means that you SHOULD have had TWO Christmas card from us. There, now, doesn't that feel better?

On the other hand you may just be one of those people like me, who doesn't even notice when they don't receive a card from someone. In that case, you are beyond hope.

(The penultimate sentence above should have read "... doesn't even notice when he or she doesn't receive ...". I think I'm going to avoid the PC trap in future by using the neuter form, so that the sentence would read "... doesn't even notice when it doesn't receive ...". But that looks just as ugly, so I prefer to use the grammatically incorrect and possibly non-PC form "they", even though I secretly believe that anyone who advocates Political Correctitude deserves to be referred to as "it". But, of course, I'd never admit to that.)

Read on ...

Dear Friends,

“They” say time speeds up as we age. If not for our digital assistant,

it might be impossible to recall the joys of this Mach 3 year, which

now races to its close.

Our electronic memory, though, reminds us that we spent January and

February on Roatan, where we relaxed, snorkeled in the sea, and

prepared Alan for a Honduran root canal. Just as the dentist injected

the anesthetic, Roatan’s famous electricity went out! The project was

happily aborted until we got back to Texas!

Spring and early summer took us to Mexico for health assessments; two

trips to California for seminars; a trip to the Smoky Mountains for

recreation; and a trip to Nashville’s “Fan Fair” and Trent’s first

“Ropin’ Pen” party. In July, Chris’s daughter Andie, Trent’s daughter

Montana, and her little sister entertained us for a week, following

which we enjoyed a month in the UK, France, and Spain - visiting

friends and family; exploring bits of Spain and France (including a

French country music festival. Yes! Texas and Nashville music in the

escargot land!) In August, a “TB scare” prodded us to our own research,

resulting in a retraction of the diagnosis and Alan’s avoiding

dangerous drugs. (Yes, Virginia, “false positives” do exist).

In September, to celebrate Alan’s 75th birthday, we visited Chris and

Kristie (who also celebrated birthdays that week) in Corpus Christi,

TX. A beach party in October lured us to Puerto Aventuras, Mexico,

where we had vacationed our first three Christmases together. A few

days later, Alan headed to Roatan to begin maintenance on our house

there, while Billie followed a week later (using the interim time to

visit family and gather repair items unavailable in Honduras). A

three-week working holiday left the house looking great! Next time,

though, we’ll plan to play!

Even if days and months seem to blur, this year has brought

re-evaluation of who we are, what’s important, and what we want to do

with our lives. To live with unforgiveness toward self or others, to

retire to a rocking chair, to declare we’re too old to learn and be

challenged – none of these suits us. Life is so precious, so short,

that we want to experience as much as we can. Though we’re not likely

to be accused of “acting our age,” we’re enjoying new adventures,

meeting new friends, and sharing a moment, a day, or a beer with the

sojourners along our paths.

We are thankful to have crossed paths and walked a few – or many –

steps with you. Thank you for the special warmth that thoughts of you

create in our hearts!