HAPPY HOLIDAYS ALL!!!
Well it’s time for that good old year in review letter and who are we to deny you of the literary equivalent of a prostate exam... or mammogram depending upon your particular biology? So here goes...
2020 sucked
What? Are you still looking for more? Ok
—ps—
Here’s a few details.....
All I remember about the first part of the year, is that it was going to be the roaring 20’s and we were all fired up about it....
We did make a trip to Perry for the BRR Ride and Amanda was the champ as she made the whole distance. Jim had an adrenaline imbalance and probably ended his cycling career....but maybe there will be future tandem efforts.
Then Covid...but in other news for the first part of the year. We moved. I’m not providing the new address because the IRS and FBI are sneaky and some of you will cave under “questionable” interrogation attempts like “Rumor has it you’ve stopped beating your spouse...is that true?” Or Do you think I look fat in this? Well we moved into a small but functional house with a large and what will be a nice functional outdoor space in a year or two. Let’s just say the place has potential. When exactly did we move? Well the day our Governor declared that no one who wasn’t an essential worker going to work wasn’t supposed to be out in public. So that created a bit of a headache as we weren’t sure the U-Haul guy was going to let us drive the truck off the lot after spending an hour going through the no-contact rental process which included taking pictures of the vehicle and a license and sending in a stool sample from a three-legged elephant wearing a mask. Anyway we took all of our stuff on a cross-town outing and piled it all in here.... Someday we will get it sorted out and if not we have a fire pit now just saying...
Amazingly the only thing that sustained damage in the move was our dryer and as it turned out our dryer wouldn’t fit in the utility room space anyway. Now we have an economy size dryer which we bought from the same people who brought you the fun-sized candy bar... but life goes on.
On the “livelihood” front Mel continues to provide smiling customer service at Meijer which is Michigan’s version of a store like Wal-Mart but far cleaner and with fewer YouTube videos. Amanda is still the best emergency worker in her part of the state and her soon to be Hubby, Caleb is out there keeping the streets/roads/and homes safe for all citizens. They weathered a bout of the “rona” and are two of the front-line folks you keep hearing deserve your thanks.... So give them thanks and a little more pay which is the thanks that keeps on thanking.
Jon started a retail job at a national retailer that we won’t mention except that a clue would be you will have no problem parking because all the stores have B?G L?t?....
Breanna is still doing her design and costuming small businesses and has switched from a fabric store side job to Amazon. Working in the world’s largest shipping company has given her body a workout and don’t tell anyone but she is starting to have a few muscles appear here and there. If she sticks with it—and that’s a 50/50 deal—it will soon be called “Branazon”
In addition what am I doing these days, “as little as possible”? Well writing a blog and creating a couple of podcasts. The blog is two years and 18,000 + reads old and the podcasts combined have topped 2000 downloads (including. The D-Dub Shoutout featuring Donny from the River City also known as my brother).. Check us out on nearly every podcast provider including Pandora, Spotify , ITunes and if you adjust your aluminum hat just right you can get it there too.
In travel and tragedy ...
Breanna made a good trip to Cali and made it back before the rona shut that down. Amanda and Caleb went out to the coast camping with friends and had a great time. They didn’t see bigfoot and has anyone seen bigfoot lately or have all those mysterious creatures been under quarantine for a few years... as soon as we solve the mystery /curse of Oak Island we’ll let you know on the bigfoot thing unless we get abducted by some of those ancient aliens.
Mel and Jim have made a couple trips to Iowa and that about wraps up the big travel stuff unless you count walking. Oh and on the walking front...Just last week Jim made his annual walking goal and that isn’t remarkable except for the fact that in June he was the recipient of a kiss from a Chrysler SUV that is. Actually it was a Yukon and luckily while the vehicle was going 25 mph my guardian angels were flying 30 and so what happened was...
Well what happens when you get hit buy a car...you make sure you find your hat get up and walk ten blocks home ) so what if you end up in the ER later—they don’t x-ray down far enough so you wind up walking on a broken leg for the summer etc..etc...).
in short I have some damage to my shoulder ending my pro basketball prospects but all in all life goes on in that regard too.
Since other people like to feature their pets...it wouldn’t seem right to finish up without a word or two about ours... Isis —yes we have a pet named Isis...because we named it before the terrorists became popular is our big black 10 year-old Lab puppy who needs to slow down and quit whining (which makes her just like 80% of the politicians we had to endure all year. To round off the line up or should I say “oval?” We welcomed Breanna‘s latest pet chicken. Before you get all strange....ask yourself...does my pet make breakfast every day?” Rosalina will hop up and fly just high enough to grab your food so if you stop by don’t hold anything you are eating too low.
So that’s about all you can handle in a year that has been a little more than any of us wants to remember. But if you want to remember anything from this year try this...We care about all of you. We will keep moving forward and help you move forward into a better year next year. We still know that life is not fair and that there will be no whining. Mostly we know that going into 2021 there are a lot of questions life will bring and as always “Love is the Answer”. And Love is (almost) All you Need
Peace and Joy Be With You
The Whalens
