AN actual update & CHristmas letter to friends and family
Training for Gasparilla and Nashville going well. I’m currently following the Hal Higdon Advanced I plan….. let’s hope I can do everything it tells me… if so, PR’s await…
Work rocks. TOns of new stuff to learn…
here is a copy of the update from the year—- my apologies if you did not get it in the card!!
December 13, 2005
Dear Friends and Family:
As many of you know, 2005 has been a very interesting year for the us – filled with lots of exciting good stuff and some stuff that we’d rather just forget about and move on.
Leslie’s dad passed away on Christmas Eve 2004. She’s had a really hard time in the beginning dealing with it, but once the grievance steps kicked in, she felt as if a huge weight was released from her shoulders. The emotion kicks in every now and then, but that is a way of moving on with life.
Leslie is still with BayCare, except that she transferred to a new hospital in Plant City, FL. Small town, small hospital – with a feel very much a that is family-like. With this move, we moved to Plant City (last minute stuff coming along really well). The commute is 5 minutes long, so no complaints there. There is a running club with the local Y, a lake to do long runs on (5K – 3.1 mile – loops) about ¼ mile from home; the Y has spinning classes for Leslie, walking groups for Dave, volleyball on Sunday afternoons. With all this, Leslie is learning lots of stuff in the lab – from processing to running charts around to learning all sorts of cool stuff. The pathologists are still here, and nearby, so it wasn’t really leaving anything, just moving on to bigger and better things.
Dave got his notary public license a few months ago and has been doing some mobile notary work on and off. He’s building a small business out of it, but will be looking for work in the many industrial parks close to home in Plant City. Just to keep him out of trouble. Its been quite a year for him – he was in the hospital for 5 days in August with pneumonia. Leslie was extremely upset through all this, there was a few moments when she was scared to death that he would not make it through the ordeal. Folks made sure that she was reassured that he’d be fine, and all were praying for him that things would be OK.. Prayers did help and he came through really well. Last month, he had cataract surgery in his left eye (vision from 20/200 to 20/30) with the other eye scheduled for January 6. To say the first surgery changed his life is an understatement; the second eye done will make things even better…
Vacations for next year are in the works—- or at least just one or two of them… we are going to be in Nashville at the end of April so that Leslie can run in the Country Music Marathon… then a few days in the mountains of TN. Following that is Shore Leave in MD and there will be, of course, trips to MA and CA to see family and friends out there.
Other than that, life continues to be good for us; we are both happy, healthy and doing well. We miss all of our friends from outside the area, but do love spending time with the folks from within the state.
Hope everyone has a great holiday, filled with nothing but the best – health, love and happiness!!
Love to all of you!
Dave & Leslie