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.