********Season's Greetings ***************************** Christmas 2011
Well, this year's headline is easily that Johnathan and Carissa welcomed into the world at 3:44 p.m. PDT on June 8, 2011 their new son (and my first grandchild!), Hunter Lawrence Jarboe (the 5th generation of Lawrence Jarboes going back to my paternal grandfather born in 1896), weighing 7 lbs., 11 oz. and 20" in length. (Interestingly, Hunter was born on the 20th anniversary of my move to Hannibal.) All three of them visited family and friends in Missouri and Illinois in late August and early September, including a get-together at my sister's, Alicia's, home in Jefferson City to see other family members and the unanimous view is that Hunter is a very precious and well-behaved baby boy. Johnathan decided that he was not a good fit with Edward Jones as a financial advisor and is seeking employment elsewhere while continuing to take classes towards his MBA. Carissa, after spending time at home after Hunter's birth, is back at work as an ultrasound technician. (I neglected to say in last year's letter that Johnathan and Carissa purchased a very nice home in the Seattle, WA area.) Holly is still enjoying life in New York City and is still waitressing to pay the bills and was accepted as a member of "The Unofficial Dancers of the NY Giants, Inc." which is a dance group, as the name suggests, trying to become associated with the NFL football team. In November, Holly and her mother attended a red carpet premiere in New York City for a private screening of "Henry" the short film, shot in 2010, in which Holly had a small role. Holly also came home in August to see everyone. It is with great sadness that I must tell you that the Four Woods Sisters (my mother and her three sisters), who I often mention in my Christmas Letter, lost their senior member when my dear Aunt Bea passed away in March. Bea's daughter-in-law, Judy, put it well when she wrote, "Early this morning the Allen family's amazing matriarch escaped the bonds of earthly pain and we rejoice for her in our sorrow. 'Mom, Grandma Bea, Aunt Bea, Bee-Tree, Miss Pianisimo'... just a little shy of 89 years of love, laughter, softness and sassiness. How we will miss you." I might add that everyone who knew Bea well knew her also for her considerable intellect. I can recall my mother telling me that after Bea read my 800 page memoir about 15 years ago that Bea told her that she thought that my chapter entitled 'A Christian Astronomer's Theology' was "Right on." We Jarboes in Missouri enjoyed seeing my Aunt Jane and two of her daughters, Adele and Rachel (and one son each), when they visited Missouri in June. The St. Louis Cardinals. 10 1/2 games out in the Wild Card race after August 25, 2011. 2011 World Series Champions. I could add a 'Page #2' to this Christmas Letter to describe the truly unbelievable year that the Cardinals had in which they were pretty much left for dead after the Dodgers swept them in three games in August 22-24 only to go on and accomplish perhaps the greatest comeback in baseball history, including being down to their last strike in two different innings in Game #6 of the World Series only to come through both times to stave off elimination and win Game #6 in the 11th and then go on to win Game #7 against the Texas Rangers to win 'The Whole Enchilada'. At several points along the way in September and October, I found myself thinking, "Can you believe that the Cardinals are actually doing this?!" The Cardinals season this year was also noteworthy as at age 2 1/2 months, my grandson, Hunter, dressed in Cardinals attire (of course), saw his very first Cardinals game on August 26th in which Lance Berkman (an invaluable addition for the Cardinals this year!) came through by hitting a two run homer in the bottom of the 8th inning to put the Cardinals ahead 5 - 4 and the Redbirds held on to win against the Pirates. On that same day the Atlanta Braves, the Wild Card leader, lost to the Mets, 6 - 0, and it turns out that this game that Johnathan, Carissa, Hunter, Holly, and I attended was the Cardinals' very first step out of the oft-quoted deep hole of 10 1/2 games out to being 9 1/2 games out in the Wild Card race. So it is crystal clear that Hunter was the Cardinals 'Good Luck Charm' this season. Nathan, who works at the Hannibal YMCA and was a high school classmate of Johnathan's, and is a BIG New York Yankees fan, picked the Rangers to beat the Cardinals in six games. After Game #6, Nathan told me, "I was almost right and I should have been. But you can't win a bet against God! There had to be angels out there (helping the Cardinals)!" And, upon reflection, I think that Nathan was most likely right about that. Until very recently, my health has held its own this past year, I am happy to say. I have had my least concerns about my heart since my heart attack in 2006 and I am very thankful to God for that. I even did the impossible (at my age) and lost 35 lbs. which I hope to maintain. My leukemia, first diagnosed in late 2009 as CLL, Stage 1, was also in a 'holding pattern' with Dr. Bari discovering two more enlarged lymph nodes in September. But in mid-November, I noticed a grape-sized lump inside the side of my neck which will be removed in the coming days for biopsy. Pending the results of this biopsy, I may have a full body CT scan which may indicate the need for my first round of chemo. While I continue to place my life in God's Hands, positive thoughts sent my way are very welcome. In one of my occasional attempts to close my Christmas Letter with an amusing anecdote, I offer you this one: When Holly was home in August, we were in Walmart one day and I saw a woman named Penny who works in the Walmart Customer Service Center and I wanted Holly to meet her. Penny is a few years older and a little taller than I and Penny and I enjoy trading good-natured barbs with each other quite often. When Penny looked down at Holly, she marveled by telling her, "Oh....you're....beautiful." Standing off to the side, I remarked, "Well, Penny, that really shouldn't surprise you too much, should it?" Penny paused briefly, laughed, and then explained, "I'm sorry. I didn't know her mother," causing all three of us to have a good laugh.
P.S. Celestial Event Alert: On June 5, 2012 there will be an incredibly rare transit of Venus across the sun's disk beginning at 5:10 p.m. CDT until sundown for the U.S. (with the transit still in progress), best seen by projecting the sun's image through a telescope onto a sheet of white paper on a clipboard. This is very fortuitous for us astronomer types as this will occur a full six months before the well-advertised end of the world on December 21, 2012. ;-) The next transit of Venus occurs on December 11, 2117.
I hope that you and your family have a prosperous 2012! Greg
My Flagship Web Post (since 2002): http://www.writers.net/writers/16294
Cliff Notes Blog Page (since 2005): http://www.blogger.com/profile/7227366
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