What follows is my Christmas letter/e-mail:

I hope your 2015 has been a good one. I’m keeping this to one page again this year…  {one page as a word doc…with narrow margins at top, bottom and sides.}

2015 has been a bit of a “different” year for me…some good times and some not so good. even on the not so good days I thought of, and did my best to heed Warren Zevon’s advice: enjoy every bite of every sandwich.

The Good:
An excellent spring garden;
A road trip to Jacksonville that allowed me to spend time with a BFF in Atlanta, several days with my dad’s brother as I helped him with dad and his sister’s estate, and some time with Joseph & Caroline;
A road trip to Colorado…loved the deck on the B&B at 10,500 ft and loved strolling the streets of Leadville;
Spent all of September, 33 days in total, in southwest Oregon…took Shelly to Crater Lake, the redwoods, and the southern orygun coast. i’d go to all of them again tomorrow…and the next day;
Dad spent 5 days with me in OR…visited the same places with him as with Shelly. it was a blast;
Saw quite a bit of live music. highlights: Jackson Browne (twice), Elvis Costello, the Rainmakers headlined the summer festival at the Rock House in Reeds Spring;
Listened to lots of music, in B-307 or on roadtrips, some of it from artists I’d either never heard of or listened to before 2015;
Saw some good basketball games, including trips across the state to take Dad to several games;
Had fun posting lots of pictures and chronicling the CO and OR trips on Facebook;
Finally got off the dime and “put myself out there” via a blog.

The Not So Good:
Started the year with Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy, i.e. had to have my gallbladder sucked out….but maybe this should be listed as a “good thing”? (there is a karma component…no room to elaborate here.)
Summer garden was pretty lame;
Fall garden was worse…much worse. not a single brussel sprout or turnip;
Lost another person who was near and dear to me…my Mom’s sister, my Aunt Billie. She always made me smile and laugh;
The Who postponed their show in KC…twice! hope they don’t die before I get old…or see them;
Tried to get Springsteen tickets. Struck out. Scalpers didn’t. Scalpers suck.
Spent a few days in the hospital because of blood clots in my lungs of unknown origin…maybe this should have it’s own category, i.e. the good, the not so good, and the Scary Shit!! I don’t like being on HST (hospital standard time).

I did a decent job of keeping the pledges that I made to myself when I got serious about keeping a journal in late 2012: watch less TV…especially less “news” and talking heads; listen to more music; read more; walk more; keep in touch with people that matter; tell the people who you love that you love them.

I can still do better. It would be easier if I could slow down time. The days and weeks and months pass entirely too quickly. It’s one of the things that I always heard that has turned out to be true. Other stuff…not so much.

After 33 days in Oregon I have been thinking a lot about making another move. I have enjoyed living back in Missouri more than I expected to, but my heart is really in Orygun. The geographic diversity is just one of the many things that draws me to OR. Admittedly the weather in September in orygun is typically as good as it gets…anywhere. And it was great this year, especially at Mike&Judy’s outside Merlin. If we do make the move west, it won’t be before mid- to late-2016. There is family in MO to think about, but i’m hearing too many people call me “sir” these days…so time’s a wasting.

When I was on HST one of my friends reminded me of what Frank Sinatra said: “may you live to be 100 and the last voice you hear be mine.” For some of you reading this, if you hear my voice when you’re 100 I will really be an old geezer. So don’t wait….lets chat in 2016. Txt, e-mail and messaging are nice, but they really don’t compare to or replace interactive communication.

Merry Christmas. Happy New Year. All the best. Keep in touch. Hug the people you love. Be.

steve