Merry Christmas!
I can’t remember the last time I sent Christmas cards or letters, so I’m not sure where to start filling you in.
So let’s work a bit backward.
I’m living back in Wyoming after three years with a newspaper in Washington. I’m pretty sure a chunk of my heart is still on an Oregon or Washington beach. I loved nearly everything about my life and work in Washington and nearly everyone who was part of my life there, but it was time to come home. Circumstances surrounding Mom and Dad prompted me to be closer to them — for everyone’s peace of mind.
I can’t say Wyoming has given me a warm welcome. My first weekend back, a blizzard shut down the city and ripped down a decent chunk of our still-leafy, precious urban forest, and I was slogging around in it with a photographer, typing stories on a laptop amid rolling power outages and wondering what I had gotten myself into. As I write this, we’re emerging from a weeklong deep freeze that featured sub-zero “high” temperatures three days in a row. My little Camry looks a little bit tougher since I put Wyoming plates on it, but I think it’s in shock and hopes we go back to the beach soon.
Have I mentioned that I miss the coast?
I’m working as a reporter at my hometown newspaper. That’s best discussed over coffee, in a venue that isn’t a quasi-annual letter.
Dad continues to improve from his cardiac arrest and brain injury last fall, and his good days far outweigh his not-so-great ones, both in number and in quality. He’s our walking miracle, and every chance to hug him is a gift.
His sense of humor and his orneriness came back first and strongest — you can imagine that we laugh a lot … and you’d be right.
Mom is an excellent best friend and caretaker for Dad, but sometimes the strain of the past few years wears on her.
I’m not letting her brush her own cares and concerns to the side. After a quick let’s-make-sure trip to the emergency room this month, she’s been set up with her own cardiologist, and we’re keeping closer track of her health, too.
We’re counting down the days to a pretty exciting weekend: Matt will graduate in May from medical school, and then we’ll all have to call him The Doctor.
Maybe not.
We're looking forward to time with Matt and Molly — it's been too long since we were all together.
More immediately, it’s only a few days until the not-quite-a-doctor-yet comes home for Christmas — the first time he’s seen Dad since the rehab hospital last year in Casper.
Exciting days, indeed.
OK — so that wasn’t exactly backward or forward. More like jumbleward-ish.
I hope you’re all well, that your Christmas is spent with people you love and filled with belly laughs and happy memories.
Peace and joy,
Sarah
