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Merry
Christmas and May 2010 be a wonderful year!
2009. Wow! As I sit here, I can see the sunset making my Maple tree,
and the few leaves that have already scattered themselves on the green grass,
glow like stained glass – I can’t believe how fast the years have flown by.
25 years
ago in May – a couple of skinny, red-haired kids stood in front of the justice
of the peace in Cody, Wyoming and swore that we were ready to promise to love
each other, “Til Death do us part.”
Were we CRAZY? What did we know of Death, Life or
anything? But Because Greg is the
best man ever, here we still are.
It has been a wild ride, a
crazy Quarter Century. We have
lived in Wyoming; Custer state park in South Dakota; Ashland, Oregon; Beijing,
China; and after 13 moves in 12 years, we’ve lived in this old logging house in
Crescent City, California for another 13 years.
When we got married
there were 16 people in our combined families. Now, Death and Birth and Marriage have changed those numbers
to 26 people. The faces shift and the
roles and places alter but the core is still a group of people who may not have
chosen each other, but will open the door if we show up. I have been so rich in love my whole
life.
2009
I admit I was delighted to see the end of
the Bush years in the White House.
Ready for a change. I don’t
know if the choice was a wise one, only time will tell- but I do know
Americans
– and people all over the world – need to be wise now.
“It is too late to
confine loyalty within National Boundaries. Loyalty to all humanity is now absolutely essential.” Ikeda
This year
Austin got his real driver’s license and Emerson is studying to get his permit. I know it will be less and less often
that I have them both with me – more and more that they will be steering their
own way into their own future. It
scares me but when I look at them – I see strong, caring young men, with a lot
of the energy and compassion and courage that I was hoping they would develop.
I am so proud of them both.
Austin had a lot going on in 2009. He turned 16, got a driver’s license, traveled with the band
to Reno, and to LA to perform in Disneyland. Suffered headaches and memory loss from a concussion in
football. Started going into
training to become a game warden by doing ride-alongs.
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| Checking fishing on the Klamath |
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| Officer Weldon and Austin |
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| Austin with Game Warden |
Went duck
and deer hunting, came down with mono, became a high school Junior, met some of
his birth family at his great grandparents home.
Emerson
is starting to learn to drive, dropped the violin and joined a college choir
with Greg,
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| At Immigrant Lake |
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| With Uncle Lance and Cousin Lacy |
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| Love that smile |
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| Crescent City Community Choir |
turned 15 and became a sophomore, started psychology class and
thinks he found his career path there, mastered the art of cooking spaghetti my
way, is learning German, and loves
to play World-of-warcraft in his free time while on the phone at the same time.
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| Mom and I on Chief Joseph Highway |
As usual we put in a
lot of miles. Over 5,000 this
summer, visiting
family in Wyoming doing some camping and trying to help while Greg’s Mom has
been very sick. Most of the year
saw her in three hospital, in Wyoming, South Dakota and Colorado, but I’m happy
to report that a brain surgery and a hip replacement finally seem to be
allowing her to recover.
I took the month of
November, to write my second NaNoWriMo novel, and that was a blast. It is a sequel to the fantasy novel I
wrote about 5 years ago, and very different from the Oregon trail one I wrote
for national novel Writing month last year. With 3 novels sitting here in manuscript form, I have also
been researching publishing options.
It has been my “When I win the lottery dream” for so long, but now it’s
time to do the work to see if I can make it happen.
I also took on a week long Sub Job at the end of October, that stretched
to last at least through Jan. 6th and maybe longer. The Severely handicapped, middle school
class had a new teacher,
and she shattered her ankle when her dog knocked her off her deck.
Greg’s job changed
this year, from choir at the middle and high school in Brookings, Oregon – to
Band and Choir at the high school only.
That means most nights and weekends he has to perform with one group or
fund raise with another at city council meetings and football games etc. He seems to thrive on demanding schedules,
but with this and the worry about his mom, and trying to get enough college
credits to renew his Oregon teacher’s credential, he has been having a
stressful year.
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| Father's Day |
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| Mimi and Harvey |
I am so glad that I
have the opportunity each year, to go through my address book and the cards
from last year and remember all the people who are important to me. I’m so happy to have you in my life!
My computer has helped me stay in touch more. So I have to say, my email address is dixiedoodle44@charter.net and I
am on facebook as Dixie_Miller_Goode
and on twitter as pandorasecho. Plus I usually leave a note every
morning on the backpacker.com forum as echo on the good morning thread. I also post photographs on redgage as
Echo and started a blog called “echo’s Voice” at http://echo-echosvoice.blogspot.com/ That on-line community has led me to
declutter my home with flylady.com, and to start exercising and lose 20 pounds
with Jonathan Roche’s No excuse workouts, and to renew friendships and make new
ones as well as motivating me to write my novels. I hadn’t realized what a great tool it would be for changing
my life in positive ways. Before
this, we were not online and I just used our 1996 computer as a word processor.
Merry Christmas,
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| lovely Bison and calves |
Dixie,
Greg and Austin and Emerson
Gotta remember, my Dad's favorite STEELERS won their 6th Superbowl on the 12th Anniversary of Dad's Death! Yeah!
Gotta remember, my Dad's favorite STEELERS won their 6th Superbowl on the 12th Anniversary of Dad's Death! Yeah!
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