from our family to yours.
We begin the New Year with hearts overflowing following a wonderful Christmas with our girls in Florida. We can’t think of a better gift. Since many of you often inquire about them, we are happy to give you updates.
Holly remains in the Florida panhandle. In addition to teaching
enrichment programs (Spanish and music) to preschoolers, she is a
Professional Development Specialist for educators working on their Child
Development credentials. She uses her gift of music by singing with the Northwest
Florida Symphony Chorale and uses her experiences to advocate for other Gold Star survivors
by serving on the Air Force Survivor Advocacy Council.
Alison continues to work in marine mammal conservation at UNCW.
She uses her music talent to play trumpet with the UNCW Jazz Combo, the Wilmington Symphonic Winds, Wilmington Virtuosi Brass, and Costal Carolina Orchestra. In addition, as part of the GSTA team (Gold Star Teen Adventures,) she mentors and instructs Gold Star teens in scuba diving.
Camille is currently dancing with the St. Louis Dance
Theater and teaches young, aspiring dancers.
Since we are on the route to her mom’s home, she stops by several times a year. (Wherever her career takes her, we hope we will always be on her route.) Grandma (aka ABN) loves spending time with her in the craft studio.
All three are accomplished cooks which made it fun to watch as
they worked in the kitchen. We were reminded of the girls standing on stools as
Holly taught them how to use the mixer, break eggs, measure ingredients and many
other culinary skills. Needless to say, we ate well. The energy, laughter, music, and a little happy chaos made for a wonderful Christmas.
2025 is now history. It was rich with travel, friends, new experiences, blooms, butterflies, birds, and ended with wonderful family time.
The Wanderer is
resting quietly in storage as The Beast (aka
GMC Yukon Denali) steps up to justify his price tag. In September he took us on the
bourbon trail, in October to Austin, Texas for the wedding of our niece. Okay,
Claire is not actually our niece, but
we love her as though she were. The Beast, and Captain, were honored with the
distinction of being two of the most useful guests by transporting other
guests as well as loads of wedding essentials. In December, the Beast made for
a comfortable drive to Florida.
As a new year begins, we are reminded (well at least ABN is)
of past New Year resolutions. They were usually the typical ones, get more
exercise, lose weight, eat healthier, get organized, and the list went on. As
we continue on our journey to age richly, that has changed a bit.
No longer are they resolutions, but more like goals. Eating
well is not about losing weight but trying not to gain, instead of calories, we are
focused on sodium and sugar intake, exercise means keeping mobile and instead
of organizing, we plan to continue the decluttering. As we all know (okay some of
you may be in denial) we will continue to age as long as we breath and there is
nothing we can do about it, but we do have a bit of control on how we age. And
that, friends, is our goal for 2026.
