Christmas 2025

I hope this letter finds you in good health and happy. I hope your 2025 has been good. Ours has been mostly good. I think I'm going to tell about the unhappy items first to get them out of the way.

The biggest unhappy event of the year was the death of my dear friend Sarah Benson Ohmann. We had met when I worked at GE Aerospace when I first graduated from college. When I left the company we lost contact for awhile but then reconnected about 10 years ago and I would visit her whenever I went to Florida. I am still unclear on what actually killed her but she had a brain bleed that though they treated was apparently not resolved. She died on January 8 just about a week after I saw her in the nursing home in late December. She was in her 70s, way too young.

 

Lee was almost scammed. He got a call that was supposedly from the police and they demanded he pay some court costs or they would come arrest him. Thankfully, he called me before he gave them any money. It was definitely a scam because once he refused to comply nothing happened. But it was a stressful experience for both of us. It really makes me angry that people will try to deceive people and steal from them. 

 

Our health has been good. My semi-annual dermatologist appointments haven't found any more problems. The fluorouracil cream that I used to treat the cancer they found late last year did the job. My left knee has been a bit cranky. In fact, during July it was so bad I took the elevator constantly on our cruise which I almost never do. I have been wearing a sleeve on it most of the time and it hasn't gotten that bad again.

 

Meade started to use a Freestyle Libre 3 Continuous Glucose Monitor in May. It has made a tremendous difference in how he eats and exercises. In fact, when he went to the doctor in September his A1C was 5.7, down from 7.7 six months before. But he still needs to take his trulicity, xigduo and insulin. We weren't able to get the CGM for free from Medicare, I think because he doesn't use a endocrinologist. But we are getting them for only $37 out of pocket every 15 days which is well worth it considering how much better his blood sugar is now.  We no longer do 12 minute walks every 2 hours now we walk (or pedal on our stationary bikes) when his blood sugar is too high.

 

We had to get our air conditioner replaced this spring. A bummer for sure because of how much it costs but thankfully we are in good shape financially so it was not a problem. 

 

We had two snow storms last winter in February. They weren't nearly as bad as the one we had a few years ago. I am glad that snow storms occur so rarely that they are worth mentioning. Meade and I both agree we don't want to live any further north where it would snow more regularly. 

 

Luckily, when I went to Chicago via train to visit my friend Carly Beth Goode and her husband Andrew in early March, it only snowed a little bit. It was a great trip. 

 

I really liked taking the train though it was definitely nicer on the trip south in a roomette versus a seat on the way up. I stayed at the Palmer House in downtown Chicago which is a really beautiful hotel. 

 

Carly Beth and I went to Shedd's Aquarium, Adler Planetarium, Lincoln Park Zoo, Lincoln Park Conservatory, Cloud Gate, Cultural Center and Pullman National Historical Park. Andrew joined us for a Chicago Architecture tour of Chicago Icons and a Chicago Blackhawks game. 

I am going to try and go to all of the NHL stadiums, so one more off my list. Also on the list of places visited were the Chicago Library, the Rookery, the Navy Pier where I went on the Flyover, the Centennial Wheel and a Shoreline sightseeing cruise. I also went to the Chicago Architecture Center. 

 

I ate well at a variety of restaurants. I think my favorite was the pizza pot pie at Chicago Pizza and Oven Grinder. I really like Chicago and I plan to go again sometime during football season because I would also like to visit all of the NFL stadiums. 

 

I have continued to serve at Heartland Hands food bank on Tuesdays and at the Desoto Dream Center tutoring kids on Thursday. I have also participated in some of the other events and tasks available at the Dream Center.  

 

I continue to do my yoga, tai chi and gratitude journal. I also read through the whole Bible again this year but this time with the Bible Recap podcast (https://www.thebiblerecap.com). I highly recommend it, it explained things that I had always wondered about. I really think all of these things are great for my mental and spiritual health.
 

I have been going to the movie theatre almost every week on Tuesdays after serving at the Heartland Hands food bank. I have also started watching a movie on Netflix with Lee every week or so. He watches from Orlando and I watch from Hernando. We text any comments during the movie.

 

Meade did National Novel Writing month (NaNoWriMo) again this November. It means writing 50,000 words of a new story during the month. He has done it 3 or 4 times in the past but hadn't done it in awhile. He did it even though the organization that sponsored it closed in March. He made it part of his continuing novel which is now over 2.500,000 words. (Thank goodness for Scrivener, it handles such a massive project flawlessly). He has also been playing Factorio a construction and management simulation. We have both been using CoPilot (Microsoft's artificial intelligence companion). Meade likes to discuss story ideas  with it (but avoided those discussions during NaNoWriMo) while I use it for all sorts of different things (financial, medical, trips).

 

This has not been a good year for our sports teams. UCF didn't even win enough games to be bowl eligible. My NFL Titans have only 2 wins and Meade's Dolphins are just barely holding on to a possible (and unlikely) playoff appearance. Our NHL Predators are at the bottom of their division but the season is only about 35% over so we still have hope. Both Meade and I are doing well with our fantasy hockey. We have been been first or second place all season. We aren't doing quite as good in fantasy football. It is week 14 and he is in 3rd while I am 5th in our 8 person league. My brother-in-law David is in first.

 

I have made my quarterly trips to Florida. The Christmas trip last year was after my newsletter so I will include it here. While there, I took James to Sea World. I used to work there when I was in high school, needless to say it is very different. We had fun.  I also got to see some friends Sheri and Mike and Ian Berren, Kathy Moschella and Kathy Rhodes Sanz. We also had a family get together for my birthday which was really nice. I got to meet my brother Marcus' girlfriend Debbie for the first time. She is very nice. Lee and I went to Tampa for a NHL Lightning game. I had made my Mom a shutterfly album "This is your life". It was a big hit, which was nice. While I was there Mom had a car accident. Her car was totaled when it got pushed into a railroad crossing pole. Thankfully, she wasn't hurt just some bruises. She got a reasonable insurance settlement and got a new Ford Trailblazer which she really likes.

 

The second trip was in April. The highlights were taking James to putt putt and Wonderworks. I had my first laser tag experience there and not unexpectedly didn't do well. LOL We enjoyed it. I also had my first acupuncturist appointment. It was interesting. It didn't hurt but I don't know that it really made any difference so I don't know if I will do it again or not. I probably will if I have some real pain problems. The whole family came over for dinner one day. I took Mom to Melting Pot for a delayed birthday celebration. Once again Kathy Rhodes Sanz came over, I also met Syed Riaz for lunch. 

 

The third trip was in  July. On the way down I stopped in Birmingham to go to the Civil Rights Institute. My small group colead's husband gave me a guided tour of it. It was very interesting and much bigger than I expected. I got to see Kathy Moschella again. We have been meeting at the Cooper's Hawk in the Waterford Town Center. It has really tasty food. 

 

The highlight of this trip was an 8 day Carnival cruise that went to Bonaire, Aruba and Celebration Key. It was with my Mom, James and Lee. It was on the Vista which we had never been on before. It has a IMAX theatre and a Skyride. The Skyride is a self pedaled bike above the decks. My Mom got a suite and it was REALLY nice. James and I went on a snorkeling shore excursion at Aruba that was very nice. As usual the food and entertainment were all very good. The only bad thing was that Lee, James and I were supposed to have a shore excursion at Celebration Key. But because this was the grand opening of Celebration Key they had some speeches, fireworks and stuff that ended up delaying everything so much that we skipped the shore excursion and just stayed at the pool area which was VERY nice. They refunded us the shore excursion fee so it turned out fine though Lee got a pretty bad sunburn.

The fourth Florida trip was in October. I had arranged a surprise visit from my cousin Denise which went really well. I had brunch with Kathy Moschella again, I spent the night at Lee's house so we could binge watch Dexter Resurrection. We also put together the glass display case I had gotten for him for his birthday. 

 

I took James to Universal Park's Epic Universe for 2 days. We stayed at the Terra Luna hotel. It is really nice and has an enormous pool and hot tub. They have a really neat system for the lockers that are used for the roller coasters. They use facial recognition to open them. They also use the facial recognition for the express pass entry at each ride. I can't decide if I liked the Frankenstein Experiment: Monsters Unchained or the Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry rides the best. They were both very cool. We stayed late the second day to see what the park looked like when it was lit up. I'm glad we did because it was really pretty. 

 

We also made four trips to Huntsville this year.  We go there for Meade's doctor appointments but while there I usually get a massage and I arrange lunch with my friends that I worked with in Huntsville. I love seeing them. Sometimes nobody can make it like this February or only one like in June while other times there are lots of people like in March and September. I am just happy to see whoever can make it. I have also been meeting my friend Elizabeth for dinner.

 

In May we went to Tupelo for a few days. I went to the Tupelo Buffalo Park. I have been wanting to go for years. It was ok but I don't think it was as good as the drive through park in Como, MS or the Harmony Park in Huntsville. Unfortunately, Harmony Park closed in May 2023. 

 

Happily I was very pleased with the Toyota plant tour. It was very interesting and I really enjoyed it. I will probably go again in a few years because they said it is always changing. 

 

Lee and I met in Atlanta in September for Dragoncon. We had gone before in 2018 and Lee wanted to go again. This time we stayed in a Home2 that was closer to the hotels with events in it. I had tried to get us in one of those hotels but they were booked up. I went to a bunch of different Star Trek panels. I also went to a Mikey17 and Harry Dresden panel. We went to the Georgia Aquarium DragonCon night time event but it was disappointing because it was SO crowded and a lot of the tanks you couldn't see the creatures because it was dark. While in Atlanta, we went on a comedy bus tour of Atlanta. It was fun and the tour guide Niki was great.  I also got to meet up with my friend Ben from Huntsville which I really enjoyed.

     

In November I met my brother-in-law David in Nashville for three days. I got to meet his wife of 10 years, Christina, for the first time. She is great. We went to a Tennessee Titans and Nashville Predators game. Unfortunately, both of which we lost. But it was still fun. We also got to eat at some really good restaurants. Christina and I went to the Musicians Hall of Fame which was good and had a fabulous cinnamon roll at the Marsh house restaurant in the Thompson hotel. 

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13).

If you haven't invited Jesus into your heart I would ask you to please consider it. I truly believe that it is the most important decision you can make. If you want to talk about it I would be happy to (407-342-4101) but it would probably be best if you check out my church's services. (www.churchofthehighlands.com). Please give this some serious thought. God Bless.

Hope everyone has a blessed and happy holiday season and 2026.