With the years passing so much more quickly, it’s doubly painful to see the days shortening on the eve of the solstice -- I’m acutely attuned to the shaving of daylight minutes each dawn and dusk during my walking commutes to and from the train station. Even though my brain knows the growing daylight will return soon, my mind and soul ache for any sign of hope or spark. So in addition to normal hustle-bustle of family and work, we seek that spark in preparing for the holidays. That includes decorating, shopping and going to lots of concerts, but ironically that makes the days even shorter….
… and that makes it even more startling as we awaken to the fact that Amy just turned 18 and will be headed off to college – at Missouri State University (MSU, Springfield) – next fall. We extrapolate the rhythms of her previous three years and savor her last time participating in her many extracurriculars (drama, color guard, student council…). We’re delighted in the young woman she’s become, marveling at her poise and prudence in her college search and knocking out all the college credit classes taken in her senior year. Her approach will serve her well in college and beyond. Honestly, I wish I had had her poise when I was 23, let alone 18.
With Noah turning 14 last week, we’re equally pleased and proud of the young man. After giving up judo (started at age six), he joined the eighth grade football team and participated in his first real team sport, an intense time and energy commitment. He continues to achieve in Boy Scouts, currently working on Life Scout status. But my favorite thing about Noah is watching him lead and mentor, not only in his troop but also with Cub Scouts as Den Chief. I marvel at how confident and nurturing he is at this young age, but not as much as him going from alto to bass this year. In about five months his voice has become deeper than mine will ever be in my nearly five decades of life.
Denise continues to cultivate her organizing consultancy at an impressive clip. How she does that while juggling her Boy Scout leadership and volunteering for NAPO (the National Association of Professional Organizers), I’ll never know. But she does all that with gusto and keeps us grounded at home. But most of all spoils the kitties (Cuddles and Patches) and of course Koa, the World’s Most Co-Dependent Dog. He probably should have been named Underfoot.
My year has been blurry with balancing family, work and my volunteer stuff. I’ll hit my term limits on the local library board next May, but that free time is already being claimed by additional responsibilities at church. I keep focusing on one-time improvement opportunities, but ironically there’s a never-ending supply of those.
Highlights of the year included family stuff, like a driving trip to Washington DC, where we got to tour the Capitol Building, visit Gettysburg and other sites. Criticize Congress all you want (and I know I do), but to see where our country makes decisions without (physical) violence was quite impressive. More importantly we had fun just hanging out with relatives at a mini-family reunion.
A much sadder family reunion was at the funeral of my dad’s brother, Uncle Harvey, in September. He was my favorite uncle and I was deeply saddened by his passing. My brother and I were fortunate to spend an extended weekend with Harvey in April, before the cancer really took hold of him, and we really enjoyed just being with him, savoring the reminiscences and cracking each other up.
One of the biggest highlights was joining the United Way Chorus, which became like a family to me. This chorus, created this year by my company’s CEO (Danny Ludeman) in his role as Chair of the 2011 St. Louis campaign (at his wife Susan’s suggestion), was an odd duck. To bring together singers from local United Way agencies with the sole purpose of underscoring the spirit of giving back to the community was not only admirable, but also bold in not having an explicit musical vision. (By the way, I was one of two ‘ringers’ from the company brought in to augment the lower voices -- but we got to choose which agencies to represent.)
That non-explicit musical vision was actually license to choose songs, based not on genre or style, but solely about giving, and these songs were expertly chosen by our directors (Terri Merideth and Gerald Cozart). For the first time ever, I had to memorize songs and learn choreography. The impressive line-up of songs (e.g. Give a Little Love, Lean on Me, Thank You for Being a Friend, Let There Be a Voice, What the World Needs Now) had a We Are the World vibe… which was prescient because we added that very song late in our season for a special performance on the MUNY stage. But as fun as pushing myself musically was, it paled in comparison to meeting other chorus members and hearing the stories of their work in their agencies. It’s a special group of folk, and even though we don’t know if the chorus will return next year, I definitely plan to keep in touch with them.
The last highlight was just this past Sunday at our church’s Christmas Pageant. All churches are proud of their Christmas plays, but I’m especially proud of ours, not just because our church is like family to us. And it’s not just because of the costumes, the direction, the sound support (my contribution) or the dedication. It stems from the original script inspired by the young people (Sunday School through Youth Group) of the congregation. We’ve literally seen all the kids grow up in these customized scripts, and this year’s is the last to be written by Deb Bohlmann, godmother to Noah and mother of one of Amy’s best friends, Miriam.
As usual, the play leveraged each of the youth’s personalities, and this year it even cast Miriam and Amy as sisters, much like Martha and Mary (the active and contemplative sisters in the Gospels). Noah played Miriam’s son, meaning he had to refer to his real sister as “Aunt Amy” which at first caused no shortage of confusion. With sisters Miriam and Amy tending the inn at the birth of Jesus, we had a unique angle on the Christmas story...
But the stroke of genius was the final scene, many years later. Noah’s character was fully-grown, and with his mother Miriam and Aunt Amy, they not only reflected on Jesus’ birth, but on his very recent death, the empty tomb, and how Jesus touched their lives. This Christmas play was special because it was also an Easter play!
And this Christmas/Easter story, not the decorating or shopping or excellent holiday concerts, is what keeps hope sparkling for our family at this special time of the year.
Wishing you Peace, Joy and Hope in 2012!
Sherman, Denise, Amy and Noah
For copies of previous family letters, go to http://marsifan.blogspot.com/, where I hope to build an online index of personal writing.
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