This year of transitions began with a
quote I had heard in January that resonated throughout the entire year: “The
days are long but the years are short.” It’s so poignant and self-explanatory that
I hadn’t bothered to look up the quote until just now — it comes from Gretchen
Rubin’s book The Happiness Project.
And in drafting this year’s letter, both
kids asked the interesting question about what goes into the letter or more
specifically, what gets omitted. Is it always just the happy stuff?
It’s a blessing that our lives have been
so filled with good stuff relative to the short word count for these letters
that we don’t really need to include the sadder stuff. But like everyone, there
are always challenges. And it’s really hard to write tersely about those
challenges. So for this year, let’s just say that we truly appreciate the
preciousness of life and good health, and how fragile these can be.
And that in the backdrop of that
fragility, having families reunite to see a new family form at a wedding is
even more precious.
• Twelve - training
days Noah took to be a Residential Advisor (RA) in his sophomore year at
Missouri University of Science & Technology.
• Eleven - days of hosting
out-of-town guests for Amy’s wedding in August!
• Ten - how many Boy Scout camping trips
Denise went on. She’s still leading the Scouts (now as a Commissioner!) and
will eventually persuade Sherman to go on his first Scout camping trip.
• Nine - how many
times Denise thought about adopting a dog from the APA (where she regularly
drops off donations for pets on behalf of her clients from her professional
organizing business). Patches and Cuddles, our resident cats, are not pleased…
• Eight - number of
free gourmet cupcakes Amy brought home from one of her registered dietician
internships this past summer. Our heads spun from the diversity of all her
internships and we rejoiced with her after she got her certification. She’s
taking online classes this year and plans to earn her master’s degree in 2018
• Seven – number of
video interview subjects as part of a short film series Sherman worked on for a
non-profit group throughout the year, including some film work in Denver! Check
out crossings.org for more details.
• Six – was the actual tally for how many
times Sherman teared up during the wedding day. (Recall from last year’s letter
there was a betting pool on the tally.)
• Five - number of
people who performed Hawaiian songs at the wedding rehearsal dinner, which was
the only surprise in the weekend’s schedule. In addition to Sherman’s Hawaiian
band mates (Jim Chickering and Wil Cruz), we were joined by close family
friends Michael Kunz and Deb Bohlmann to sing Disney’s “Lava” as the soundtrack
for a photo slideshow for Amy and Drew. The rest of the wedding weekend was
excellently planned by Amy with beautiful personal touches throughout.
• Four – as in
Fourth of July. Sherman celebrated the holiday in Washington, DC, as part of
supporting Circus Harmony (as a board member and also by not performing) in
their appearance at the 2017 Smithsonian Folklife Festival.
• Three – number of
children in the family now, since we gained a son (didn’t lose a daughter), as
pictured on our holiday card
• Two - on his 2nd day at his summer job (Ace
Hardware) there was a power outage and Noah had to process everything on pen
and paper.
• One - as in the One who we celebrate this
time of year...
Health, happiness and humor to you in
2018!
Sherman, Denise, Noah, Amy and Drew
