Dearest Friends and Family (near and far),

As usual, I’m scurrying around with making grocery lists, getting the tree up and decorated and wrapping presents. It leaves no time for Christmas cards! Somehow, getting them written and to the post office is never on my radar.

So, y’all (my Southerners, that is for you) just sit back, open your adult beverage of choice and read on. For those of you playing along with the annual drinking game, I suggest you wait until you’re home before you start reading.

This year was a year of travel, of family, poetry and loss.

Richard and Chris traveled to several countries this summer. First they went to Sweden to visit friends, Finland, Germany, Hungary and Poland. In Poland they were joined by Richard’s brother Dave and his wife Jean. There, they met with a local tour guide who took them to the towns where their ancestors lived. It was enlightening and humbling.  They were able to stay home for a six weeks and then they went to Coimbatore, India and Vietnam. Chris traveled there for business with a team, and Richard played tourist (his favorite thing to do). This month, we traveled to San Antonio to see my sisters Becky, Meghan and her family and my mother. Chris and Eli joined us so it was a grand time! Saying goodbye to our niece Quest was difficult. Putting her in our suitcase was not an option – her parents stood in the way.

Richard is still working a few hours a day. His main job is to be Wrigley’s most obedient human companion. This requires, brushing, scratching, feeding, walking, letting her in and out only to repeat endlessly until she declares it bedtime – 8:30. Honestly, how did she ever survive frat life in Louisville?

Chris is still living in the Denver area and working for Ritchie May as a hedge fund auditor. The Denver Bretzlaufs keep him in their warm embrace. He’s playing in a men’s hockey league and also helping young Jeffrey (my niece’s son) improve his skating skills.

My Godson Sean is incredible – just saying! He has made strides in breaking out of his comfort zone. He had the role of Mr. Darling in the high school production of ‘Peter Pan’. He also had a solo in the school’s marching band competitions!

I’ve had a few poems published in local publications this year! I also continue with this blog for now three years. This year I was given the opportunity to co-edit a poetry book with an amazing and super talented lady, Jennifer Dotson. Let’s just say, I’d like to be just like her when I grow up. I also was elected to the Illinois State Poetry Society Board. I facilitate the North Suburban chapter and am currently chairing the State’s Manningham Trust Poetry Contest for junior high and senior high school students. The winners go onto the national competition. As the deadline approaches and I’m receiving poems from students, it gives me a warm feeling to know there are so many talented young people out there. It’s small dream for me to see teen writers’ groups all over the country to continue their growth as writers.

My participation in poetry open mics and two writers’ groups is always informative and uplifting. I met a classmate at the poetry open mic and dragged him to the Zion Writers’ group. I knew he would fit in, and I’m so glad to have run into him again! My all girls’ group has been together for ten plus years now. We started out as four, but now the three of us meet via video chat every 2 or 3 weeks because we now live in three different states! We are planning a weekend in Boston this spring.

This year we also had heartache. In June, we enjoyed Father’s Day with Dad and 24 hours later he was in the hospital with a severe infection. In just six or seven weeks he was gone. I saw the writing on the wall that first week – I felt it coming. We siblings held each other and our stepmom up. He never lost his sense of humor through it all. We will always be grateful for the love and care our stepmother gave Dad, and the love she’s shown us. She is now up north near her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren! We feel a sense of loss with her farther away from us, but her family deserves to have her closer.

But harder still for us was during this time was the loss of my cousin’s husband, Frank. He was too young to leave us, and the absence of his warm smile and embrace still reverberates with the family. We should have had him around for 30 more years – at least! Our cousin and her incredible boys are in our thoughts and prayers every day as they navigate this next chapter of their lives. His death has been felt by all of the family – cousins, aunts, and uncles. You’ll recall my blog post from August – A Great Loss. Four months later and this grief continues.

We also have our first Christmas without my dad and stepmother.  It is another chapter in our lives as well. As siblings we are surrounded by his gift – family. Through thick and thin, through spring days and harsh winters, we gather to live the lives he wanted for us – filled with love and laughter.

I wish all of you, dear friends and family, the same. May 2020 be a year of good health, broadening horizons, many family gatherings, quiet times and moments of raucous laughter.

Love,

Mary Beth

P.S. Drinking words – ‘year’, ‘family’, ‘growth’ and anything else that you think might get you a buzz.

Photo: Grandma and Grandpa J with Dad, Regina, Rosemarie