December, 2017
Well, if you are getting Bob
& Bonnie's Annual Christmas Newsletter, you know it's Christmas and we are celebrating
the Birth of the Christ Child. Or Hanukkah. Or Milad un Nabi. Or the Celtic
Yule for the Winter Solstice when the light returns. Or, for the commercially
minded, the best shopping season of the year, which the churches keep trying to
ruin by pushing religion into it. Or almost the end of football season, when
the NFL players can return to drugs, assaults and domestic violence full time
for a break from plying a kid's game for millions. Or get their heads examined.
Regardless of how you
celebrate the end of the year, and the coming of the New Year, we wish you all
the best. As always, the year flew by. And the world's in a hell of a mess.
Always has been.
This year, Bob & Bonnie
returned to work. In January, Bonnie started working for the DAV scheduling
rides to the VA for veterans in Rock
County
In February, Bob took a job
as a PT security guard with a great company. Nice to be back in Uniform. He
enjoyed the work, but, alas, was too reliable. He had asked for 20 hours a
week. When they found out that he was a team player, they started calling him to
fill in, giving him 11-hour shifts, and weeks up to 37 hours. He couldn't keep
it up and get his medical stuff (Still 1.5 hours every morning and every night)
done, so he gave it up.
But in July he was hired as a
writer-editor for the My Life, My Story
project at the Madison VA Hospital. It's 20 hours a week, Monday-Wednesday,
days, and pays about twice what the security job did. He interviews veterans,
writes up their life stories, gets it in their patient records for their
providers to read, and provides them with copies for their family and friends. We
think that stories written for the project will be read by veterans' great
grandchildren, long after we are gone. He and the other writer-editor have
admin duties (not as much as the boss) supporting the 20 volunteers. His boss,
Thor, and co-worker, Seth, are bright, easy to get along with, team players. They
and the volunteers are all excellent writers. He loves it!
Also in July, Bob's cousin
Bruce and cousin-in-law Diane stopped by
in their motor home for a visit. If was great to see them; it had been
some years.
In June, Bonnie's 88-year-old
father, Ted, fell and, not wearing his Life Alert, was on the floor for over 24
hours before going to the hospital. She drove there and spent a month getting
things in order, arranging for care to come in daily, cleaning out his house
and getting him needed support. She went back late October for ten days for a
great visit.
We had to say goodbye to
Tommy, Britnye's tuxedo cat, who developed kidney problems. But we welcomed
Madison, a sweet, affectionate calico girl we rescued from the shelter. Caramel
and Marmalade are still with us.
In September, we celebrated
our 25th wedding anniversary with dinner out and a nice party at our condo.
In October, we took an
anniversary getaway for four days to the Castle La Crosse B&B. It's the
grandest house we have ever stayed in and the hosts and breakfasts were wonderful!
The grandkids still live
about 20 miles away with their mom and dad/step-dad, Julie and Lupe., Britnye,
17, is doing great her junior year and still has a passion for dance. She took
first place at the Midwestern Stars Dance Competition.
And she also was in the
musical Little Women.
Dale, 5, started kindergarten
and is taking dance with his sister. He plays T-ball in the summer. In
September, he went with us to the Wisconsin Scottish Games and got his first
kilt.
Bob's brother Mark is still
living with us, and also got a new kilt.
Bonnie's son Dale still lives
in Pennsylvania
So it was an eventful year,
with a lot of stress, especially for Bonnie. But a lot of great developments as
well. We are happy and relatively healthy for our years. We hope that 2018 is
good to you and yours.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment