2010 in Review!!

My friend Karen K. started a new tradition this year of blogging her Christmas Greetings instead of sending cards or a news letter as she has done in the past.  The tale of her year with her husband, son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter was a joy to read.  Me….I’m tied to the tradition of sending out holiday cards.  For as long as I’m alive and can afford to do so, I intend to continue the tradition.  But I really like Karen’s idea of reviewing the year.  So maybe I’m starting a new tradition.  If I can remember to do so, I’ll post a review on my blog each New Year’s Day.  I have no idea of whether anyone will read it, but it sounds like a nice tradition to start!!

So, my review actually starts in the early Fall of 2009, when Katie and John informed us that they were expecting their first child.  Another grandchild to add to the family…what fun!!  Josh and Becca have their two sons, Alex and Eli, so a third, hopefully a girl, would be wonderful.  Later in the Fall/Early Winter of 2009 they invited John’s parents, Kirk and Fran and Pete and I over to their house to announce the gender of their child.  They had a fun way of announcing….Kate baked a cake, covered it in white icing, sprinkled pink and blue sprinkles on it, and then made us wait until after dinner to cut the cake.  The interior color would tells us the news. 

So dinner was almost painful, but of course we enjoyed the company and the anticipation.  Finally Kate set the cake in front of us, cut it and immediately we saw the pink crumbs tumbling out!!!  Yeah, a little girl to add to the family, sometime in late April.   Shortly the neighbors came pouring in as they had been told about what time the cake would be cut, so they wanted to know the news too.  It was a very fun evening!!

January came in quietly at our house, but it was one of the few years in a long time that I was actually able to keep Pete up until Midnight!!  We cheered in the New Year in front of our TV with a glass of champagne, then off to bed. 

Later in the month, on January 23 to be exact, we joined John and Kate and John’s family at a commercial ultrasound clinic with advanced technology.  While Kate’s obstetrician had performed the initial ultrasound, they paid extra money to see a 4D high density ultrasound of Little Girl Weiss just to confirm the sex with this new technology.  Wow…what an experience.  We were all in the room together, with a high def flat panel screen on the wall, and the tech began her magic.  She did confirm her gender and then went exploring.  That technology is incredible.  It was just like looking inside of Kate to see the baby personally.  No black and gray masses, this was high def imaging at its finest!!

Clearwater, Florida

 In February I headed south, down to Florida.  Give me a break please from the Ohio gray, drabby winters.  I don’t even mind the cold that much, I just can’t stand to go 8 or 10 or 12 days with no sun.  I got in the usual visits with everyone and a chance to enjoy the warm Florida sunshine. 

It was also around this time that I finally got a date set for my final day at my job.  Four years prior I had been told that my position was being eliminated due to a Johnson & Johnson global reorganization of the HR function.  It took them 4 years to finally do the deed.  I was the last one of my team left standing.  Everyone else had either moved on to other positions or been let go.  So the date was set for June 25.  Six months to go and then I would be retired from J&J.  Not from the working life, but it would be nice to retire with a pension, 401k and retiree medical benefits.  I was grateful.

As winter turned to early Spring we were able to start back up hiking again.  Yes, my friends Pat and Lynn and I are still hiking the Buckeye Trail.  I’ve lost track of how many miles we’ve gone, but it is somewhere over 500 miles.  We’ve hiked from Cincinnati to just south of Toledo on the trail and then east from Cincinnati over to Portsmouth and now we’re headed north toward Cleveland.  Eventually we’ll meet up somewhere south of Cleveland, bringing our two trails together. 

In March we hiked twice, both times in the Pike Lake area of the state.  This part of the state is getting a little hillier and takes a little more out of us each time.  But the three of us are hanging in there.  This has already taken much longer than we ever expected just because of different problems.  Currently our problems are with Pat’s feet.  She is just having a heck of a time with very sore feet.

Reagan Grace and Grams

In early March we got to throw Katie her Baby Shower.  That was fun and reminded us that the arrival of Baby Girl Weiss was just around the corner.  John and Kate had picked out a name, but refused to tell either Fran or myself.  We both had fits over naming her ‘Charlie’…just Charlie.  Not as a nickname, but as her given name.  I just couldn’t image doing that to a little girl.  It would be like naming a boy ‘Sue’.  So, we threw such fits that they settled on a name but refused to tell us until after the birth certificate was signed.

Well, the day finally arrived on April 27.  Kate went into the hospital and we all arrived shortly after she did.  She really wanted to go natural and while she went through the early stages of labor, John, Fran, Kirt and I played cards in the room.  I kind of felt guilty, us just relaxing and having a good time while Kate suffered through the pain of labor.  Finally, it got bad enough that we were all shushed from the room and Kate did get some relief through the help of her doctor.  Later that afternoon Reagan Grace was born!!  A beautiful little girl, perfect in every way….even her name!!!

In early May it was time for what has become an annual golf outing .  Friends Bonnie, Susan, Deb and I head south to Tennessee and Fairfield Glade.  A heaven for golfers, there are 5 golf courses within a few minutes of each other all managed by Fairfield Glade.  We stay at a condo there and play golf for 5 straight days!!!  We are so well matched in that none of us want to go shopping, or to the movies, or anything….but play golf.  It is great fun and May of 2010 was our 3rd annual trip.  This year Deb wasn’t able to join us, but I have confirmations from all 3 of them that we will be back on the road again in 2011. 

Hiking the Trail.

May is also the month of our Annual Friends Hike on the Buckeye Trail.  Pat started this three years ago by inviting everyone/anyone who wanted to join us for an extended weekend of hiking the trail.  My friend Karen S. comes in from Wisconsin, Pat’s friends come in from Wyoming and New York state and of course bunches of local friends take off a few days from work and off we go.  This year it was again in the Pike Lake area and we had a grand time.  Pat’s feet were still hurting and Judy couldn’t hike too much, but the rest of us took off for the hills and did great.

Our excitement this year was that one of our hikers got lost….yes, it was me!!!  But in my defense, I wasn’t lost….the other 5 were!!!  I needed a potty break so everyone went ahead while I stepped off the trail.   When I started up again I was surprised that the group wasn’t up around the bend.  I was on the trail, following the blue blazes that mark it…plus it is a well marked footpath.  But no one was in sight and I couldn’t hear them at all.  A group of 5 should make some noise!!!

I hiked and hiked and got madder and madder that they took off and left me.  Then, I got to a muddy place in the trail and did not see any footprints.  That’s when I realized they weren’t on the trail.  I had no idea where they were.  I knew I was in the right place because of the blazes…but what happened to them!!!????  I didn’t turn around as it was uphill to do so, so I kept hiking, knowing that I would end up back near the campground. 

I got to the Campground….no sign of them.  After 45 minutes I was headed to the Park Office to report them missing, when there they came, trudging down the road.  They spent a long time looking for me before they realized they were off trail!!!!  How could that happen?   Anyway, they realized I was in front of them when they saw my boot print in the mud.  Alls well that ends well!!!

The next day on this hike we had a little more of a challenge.  Somehow we got off trail and ended up in a thorny thicket!!!  Geeze what a mess.  I can’t believe all those people followed Lynn and me into nowhere land.  This was not a whole lot of fun, bush whacking our way through a very thick field of thorns.  Finally we could see a roof top and hear a dog barking when we broke through the mess into someone’s back yard.  The owner informed us that hikers come through there all the time.  Something about the trail not being well marked!!!  No kidding!!!  Anyway, our Friend’s Hikes are not usually this exciting…just a 4 days of outdoor fun!!

June brought to an end my 12 years of employment with J&J.  I was sad to see it end, but ready for a new adventure.  My last day was June 25 and on June 24 I was on a plane headed for Anchorage, Alaska.  Karen S. and I had met there 37 years earlier and she had invited me to join her on a trip back to celebrate her daughter, Gretchen’s, 40^th birthday.  How could I say no…and where had the time gone??  It was hard to believe that Gretchen was 40! 

Karen, Gretchen and Sue, hiking at Alyeska.

What a wonderful trip.  First huge advantage was that southwestern Ohio had been going through a severe drought and heat wave since mid-June.  Anchorage had been experiencing an unusually cool summer.  Oh, what a relief.  It was so nice to have cool days.  There was however, no sun to be seen.  Anchorage was weighted down with low hanging clouds every day but one of the 10 days I was there.  That was sad, since Anchorage is such a beautiful city with Cook Inlet in the foreground and the Chugach Mountains in the background. 

But every day we were out and about hiking, shopping, visiting.  It was a great trip.  Saturday after I arrived was the big 40^th Birthday Party.  It was sort of funny to make a big deal out of 40 years, when Karen and I have celebrated our 50^th and 60^th already!!  But it was fun to see Gretchen with all her friends and meet her very wonderful husband, Ben!!  Their home is a custom built house with lots of light and very modern furnishings.  It was totally comfortable and welcoming and was hard to leave at the end of 10 days.

Sometime in the summer, don’t remember when, Josh and Becca announced that they were adding to their family.  Grandchild number 4 will be joining the family sometime in January!!!

July heralded the transition for me from the routine of going to work everyday to creating a new reality for myself.  After four years of thinking about this transition I knew what I didn’t want to do….I did not ever want to work for corporate America again…not as a full time headcount, sitting at someone else’s desk and adhering to their rules and their politics.  I’d had enough. 

So, I signed up with Kelly Services, signed up with some merchandising companies and started doing freelance what I had done for 12 years at J&J, talent development work.  I also realized that I really wanted to do subcontract work.  At this stage of the game I’m not interested in getting out there, pounding the pavement for work.  So, I network with former colleagues, let them know what I can do for them, and slowly work comes my way.  Not much yet and not enough to meet our financial needs, but enough to keep life interesting.

August included a trip to Buffalo to visit with Pete’s sister Molly and her family and for her daughter, Kelly, high school graduation party.  That was fun.  We hadn’t seen them in quite a long time and a long weekend was lots of fun with them. 

Then my brother, Jim, came up for a visit from Florida for 10 days.  Jim seems to be pretty happy just hanging out.  Don’t have to keep him entertained, so we just had a nice laid, back visit.  We went around visiting cousins and playing cards at every opportunity.  Always miss him when he leaves. 

At the end of August David B. my cousin and I drove over to West Virginia to check out our Hallsted Reunion site for 2011.  For the first time we are renting one large house for the entire gang.  We’ll see how that works out.  If it doesn’t then in 2013 we go back to the old way, state parks where people can choose camping, cabin or lodge.  The house is beautiful and sleeps 32.  That may not be enough room, but there is plenty of floor space, so it is worth trying for one time anyway.

Alex after a hot practice!!!

In September Alex started his first year of soccer.  What a hoot, watching all those 5 year olds converge on the ball like bees to honey.  At the end of the season they were finally getting the concept of not stealing the ball from teammates.  I had a blast though, going to as many practice sessions as possible and then as many games as possible.  Alex was pretty good at the game for 5 years old so I think we have a long career ahead of us of attending games. 

Also in September we were able to do a little more Buckeye Trail hiking, still in the Pike Lake State Park area.  This was our first time out since the Friends Hike in May due to Pat’s feet.  We didn’t hike our usual daily mileage, but it sure was good to get out and hiking again.  I miss it so much when we go for months without any outings.

In October I took off for my second golf outing of the year.  This one was organized by a member of my Wednesday night league.  It was at Perry Park in Kentucky only about 1.5 hours from home.  Not bad and eight of us had a great weekend of beautiful golf.  The course was 3, 8-hole courses and the package included our lodging, meals, cart and of course 18 holes each day.  It was a very nice course that was covered with deer.  Everywhere we looked there were deer in sight.  They must realize they can’t be shot on the course, because they sure don’t leave it.

Lynn, Sue, Connie and Karen...ready for another round!!!

The end of October I headed east with Karen S. to Maine.  I took the Mega Bus from Cincinnati to Chicago where Karen drove in from Wisconsin, met me at the bus and off we headed, east for the Maine coast.  It took us 2.5 days to drive to Rockland, Maine where we had a condo waiting for us.  My friends Diane and Betts drove down from Bar Harbor and met us when we arrived.  Diane is a good friend who I met in 1968 after I first moved to Cincinnati from Florida.  In 1973 she moved to Maine when I moved to Alaska and she has been there since.  She spent her working life as the director of the Robert Abbe Museum in Bar Harbor and knows the state well for archeological digs and its geology.  So she and Betts took us to several sites over Friday evening, all day Saturday and then left early Sunday morning to head home.

From there Karen and I were on our own exploring.  As usual, we did a lot of hiking and exploring in the community.  We tried to stay out of the car as much as possible since it is a pretty long drive up there.  We ate yummy seafood almost every day and just had a good time.

On the drive home we stopped outside of Boston to meet up with my friends Dick D. and his wife Lynn.  It was so good to see them.  It was a quick lunch off the interstate at a Ruby Tuesdays, but a nice break from the car and a good visit with them.

November was another trip.  This time Pete and I headed south over Thanksgiving to Key West.  We flew into Ft. Lauderdale and then drove a rental car down the Keys to our time share there.  This was our first time at this time share and it was awesome.  Just one block from Duval Street and 3 blocks from the wharf area, we were in the heart of it all.  At the same time, the condo property was so encased in jungle plants, we couldn’t hear a thing when we were there. 

End of Highway 1 in Key West!

Once again, lots of good food, fun bars, a little bicycle riding around the island and watching locals roll cigars.  On Thanksgiving Day we left Key West, driving 8 hours to Orlando to visit with Mark and Molly, who had just moved down from Buffalo.  We hadn’t seen them for a couple of years and then see them twice in less than 6 months.  It was fun to have our Thanksgiving meal with them, but then we had to pack up and drive another 3 hours back to Ft. Lauderdale the day after Thanksgiving to catch our flight home.  We got to see a lot of Florida on that trip!!

Reagan, Sue, Pete, Eli and Alex.

We had our family Thanksgiving gathering upon our return, on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, which has been our tradition for many years now.  It allows Josh and Kate to spend Thanksgiving with their in-laws in a less hectic way!!!

December is stay at home month.  My last severance check from J&J was paid out on 12/10, so now a whole new reality arrives.  Christmas will be a little smaller this year, no big trips over the holidays, but it is nice to have my freedom and relax during this time of the year.  I am working just a bit but soon may have to make some adjustments to that. 

Josh and Becca let us know over Thanksgiving that if Welch Boy #3 doesn’t arrive sooner, he will be delivered on January 5, Josh’s birthday.  The c-section is scheduled so we all know what we’ll be doing that day!!!

Kate,  Reagan and John on Christmas Eve

Christmas Day was wonderful.  Our tradition is to offer up a brunch and opening gifts between 10 AM – 1 PM.  Usually by around 1 PM Kate and John have to head north for his family gathering.  It is a 2 hour drive for them so it limits our time with them.  But we have a great time.  Christmas is so much more fun with little kids in the house.  Alex and Eli get the whole idea of gifts and they are ready after brunch.  Next year Reagan will have the hang of it and the year after that Baby Boy Welch #3 will have the hang of it…so we have many years ahead of us of enjoying Christmas with little ones!!!

No special plans for New Years.  We will stay home and I’ll stay up until Midnight to watch the ball drop on Times Square.  We’ll see what happens with Pete…he rarely stays up.

We did lose two family members in 2010.  My Aunt Nora of Hattiesburg, Mississippi passed away at the age of 89, same age as my Mom.  That leaves 5 of my Mom’s siblings from an original family of 14. 

Also, my cousin David’s wife Oneida passed away after many years of poor health.  On Dad’s side of the family there are only 2 left, my Uncle Bob who just turned 95 and my Aunt Joanne.  Time is marching on.

It was a good year.  I can only hope that 2011 is as good.  Best Wishes to all of you.  Hope you have a safe and happy new year!!!