Having Ourselves a Happy Little New Year

   
     When Bill started flying back in the late 1980s for USAirways he was often gone on Christmas. In fact, since he was a junior pilot, for many years he flew on all holidays. For people in the service industry, every day is Wednesday. There is no distinction unless those serving make it, like wearing a musical Christmas tie with his uniform, or reindeer antlers in place of the cap. Back in the day when flying "non-rev" wasn't so hard, I could join him on a holiday layover. We've spent Christmas Eve at a candlelight service in a small Lutheran church somewhere in Connecticut (or was it Massachusetts?), Easter Sunday at a church in Toronto, New Year's Eve in Boston (that was a neat "First Night") and once in Tampa (or was it Fort Lauderdale?).
     Then after Bill's mother couldn't make the annual Christmas trip to Pittsburgh we would go to Sun City, AZ instead, spending Christmas Eve at her church, followed by a late meal at Mimi's -- a really great French bistro chain in the southwest. The day after Christmas we would fly to Chicago and have a late Bouman family Christmas with my parents and sisters and their families, usually arriving back home in time for New Year's Eve.
     Since we are not late night revelers -- we've only done one "hotel style" New Year's Eve party in 31 years of marriage -- we've made that night our gift exchange night. Since neither one of us have been able to keep a promise to keep the gifts to a minimum, we can usually draw out the evening nearly to midnight.
     This New Year's Eve we're recovering from a vicious 24-hour stomach flu that -- fortunately -- hit us after we got home on Thursday evening. I shudder to think of two of us trying to cope with that on an airplane, even though it was a direct flight! Alfie is also a little worse for the wear after his stay at Pet Paradise; he came back with a cold and has been sneezing quite a bit. I had hoped we were finished with vet visits for a while.
     This past year had -- as they all do -- pluses and minuses, gains and losses, but overall we feel really, really blessed. We both have jobs we truly enjoy. Bill has always liked a) working with his hands and b) working outdoors, so getting the marina maintenance job in April when another employee quit unexpectedly was a godsend. After losing my job of 24 years in early September, I started freelancing as a reporter and proofreader for a community paper and in another case of being in the right place at the right time, was hired on as the editor in early December when the previous editor left for another job.

     We also rejoiced in the birth of twin grandsons, Hudson and Porter Smith, in March, adding to the four grandchildren we already have: Brogan, 6 and Griffin Smith, 3 (in Los Angeles) and Devin, 16 and Ally Shelton, 14 (in St. Louis). We mourned the deaths of Bill's nephew Matt Hallock (in July) and of my uncle Ray Schwab (in December).

     So this little blog at the end of the year isn't anything special or particularly funny or insightful. Just an opportunity to round off 2012 with one last wish for friends and family: May the Lord bless you and keep you. May He look upon you with favor and grant you His peace. Amen.

Having Myself a Merry Little Christmas

In a few short days we’ll take down the 2012 calendar and put up a new one. We’ll look at 365 long days stretching before us and wonder what 2013 will bring, ‘cause we sure had no clue that 2012 would end up like it has! When Bill and I ushered in the New Year, I was still gainfully employed and he was actively seeking a job. We started making friends with boaters who were here for the winter season, and joined a not-so-nearby Lutheran church, where I recently accepted the position of council recording secretary.

In late February we adopted a young cat, Alfie, who promptly battled a chronic urinary tract infection for the next six months. I didn't like having to put him on antibiotics every 4-5 weeks, so I did some research on homeopathic remedies. A combination of a daily dose of a cranberry powder plus three eye droppers full of water every day seems to be doing the trick as he's been "clean" now since September. Alfie’s a character and has quite a range of snorts, chirps, wheezes and grunts, especially when he’s sleeping.

At the end of March my sisters Beth and Patti and brother-in-law Daryl came to Florida for spring break, and we enjoyed a week at a luxury condo in Ponte Vedra Beach (courtesy of Beth’s employer) with several forays into Old St. Augustine and the outlet malls. I also joined a fitness club that month and started a lunch hour workout four days a week. In September I added a 3.5 mile walk every other day and finally started to lose weight in October, dropping 13 pounds and a size and a half in eight weeks.

In April Bill got hired by the marina as a handyman, for whom no project is too large or too complex to tackle. He started by power-washing the docks, of which there are four, but barely finished the first one when he was re-directed to other projects. It took nearly six months before Docks A, C and D were clean and the fourth (ours) is still waiting for a lull in his projects.

Summer in Jacksonville was quite unrelentingly hot, which Bill enjoys, me not so much. [We did make use of the pool, which is where I got to know the publisher of the local community newspaper.] I think Bill lost 20 pounds through sweating as he built a pergola, a garbage corral, a bicycle parking lot and tackled numerous repairs inside and out of the condo units that were on the market. [Aside: the marina has an 8-unit condo which was built in 2007 and never completely finished. As buyers were found, Bill got punch lists a yard long that needed to be addressed before closings.] Here Bill is painting the deck posts for Unit 301; he also had to replace a window in the front of the unit.

Shortly after Labor Day, my boss of 24 years flew down with the unhappy task of having to lay me off. The company had lost some major business and as a remote employee, I was easy pickings. I immediately created Pure Grace Consulting, registering it in Florida as a limited liability company. A former co-worker, Kris Praskovich, designed my logo. I've done a few small jobs here and there for my former company and for a Lexus dealership, and applied for almost a dozen jobs in marketing and communications here in Jacksonville, to no avail.

Fortunately my connection with The Resident News resulted in working as a stringer (aka freelance reporter), picking up several assignments each week. Getting back into reporting, writing and editing to use my journalism degree has been great fun, plus I’ve been getting to know the city very well. Many of the assignments were business profiles (aka  paid advertorials) for hair salons, gift shops, jewelers, bakeries and restaurants, an electrical engineering firm and a builder. I also covered social register events, and got to meet the former owners of the Jacksonville Jaguars, J. Wayne and Delores Barr Weaver.

Right before Thanksgiving the paper’s editor took another job and I was offered a full-time position on the editorial staff. I start on January 2nd as copy editor / reporter with a flexible schedule that will allow me to continue my morning walks and noon workouts. We are both so thankful that we have jobs we love!

Thanksgiving was a traditional turkey dinner with all the sides, as a potluck. Nineteen boaters came together to enjoy the day. Bill made his famous apple crumb pie and I assisted with setup and cleanup. On Black Friday Bill started the chore of putting up over 7,000 lights on the marina clubhouse for the holidays, and setting up trees in the clubhouse and in the condo lobby. Somehow I got roped into decorating both trees!

We are celebrating our second Christmas on Pure Grace; it’s hard to believe we’ve been full-time live-a-boards for 18 months now. Every now and then I’ll wish I had a kitchen item that’s still in storage in Pittsburgh but mostly we’ve made do with what we have. One of these days we’ll have it all moved down here and put into storage after culling out those items we can absolutely live without for the rest of our lives.

Be sure to look us up if you’re ever in northeast Florida. Jacksonville is every bit as lovely, interesting and historical as Pittsburgh! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!