9 Villa Verde
San Antonio, Texas
December 2006
Dear Friends and Family of the Jean and Henry,
One hundred twelve (112). That’s right; 112 as in 30.68% of 365, or almost a third of the year. That’s the number of days that this correspondent has been away from home from this year. And although year isn’t even over yet, I’m staying home with nothing more challenging than another impersonal Christmas form letter, the eighteenth in all too long a
series.
My 2005 letter was all photos. I’m returning to actual words this year because some folks were puzzled and, I dare say, disappointed at my turn to photojournalism. This year, the lexically challenged among you can go to my web site to see my year in pictures.
Some things never change, thank goodness, and are therefore worth mention. At the top of the list is my sweetheart, Jean, who, with infinite patience and good will still takes care of me.
My vanishingly small church, Community Unitarian Universalist remains poised on the brink of extinction as it has now for longer than I can remember.
My Toastmasters club also totters on the brink of existence. They did themselves no favors by electing me to the presidency last July.
I am still swimming with Masters of South Texas, still competing, and still picking up the occasional personal best. This year I joined an elite group of idiots called Butter Nuts by swimming an uninterrupted 600 meters butterfly. I also came in third, and last, in my age group in a national 10K swim competition. It is good to know that only three men of my age were dumb enough to swim that far.
My father is still alive and thriving. He is 91 years old and, this year, survived two car crashes and a move to Kauai. When word got around that he was moving away from San Diego, half of that fine (if no longer finest) city called me and ordered me to stop him. I failed. He plans on pushing the envelope next year with a cruise to down under and a move to San Antonio.
My son, Larry has managed to keep his revolutionary new project Ma.gnolia steaming ahead. You are all urged to visit the project site and take advantage of his marvelous work.
Getting back to the 112 days, as the song says, “I’ve been everywhere.” I made several visits to San Diego while the old man was there. We’ve made more than one visit to Dallas to visit Jean’s hugely entertaining siblings. We’ve been to Austin on several occasions using a variety of excuses. I’ve spent a fair amount of time in the San Francisco Bay area trying out restaurants with Larry and, of course, swimming. We’ve been as far East as Arlington, Virginia to see Jean’s son, Brad, and daughter-in-law, Adair, off to Mali. I’ve been as far West as Hawaii to swim with Dad in the Hawaii Senior Games. He couldn’t swim, but that didn’t stop me from getting two personal bests.
Enough. Jean and I hope that all y’all will fortify yourself with an Anchor Christmas Ale or two, put on a Santa hat, hang a wreath on your Prius, pray for peace in a troubled world and keep the lights of the season ablaze for as long as possible.