Family Newsletter Decades Ago

1986-2014

I’ve shared a lot of musings this past year with only a couple more thoughts (thankfully!) as 2013 winds down.  One is the subject of this letter and the last will be shared closer to New Year’s Day.  This letter is about the 1986 family newsletter.

You may remember that during the summer of 1986 our family started writing a monthly newsletter.  I found some of the issues while sorting through Karen’s mementos.  It was titled “The Family Tradition”, published once a month with rotating editors.  Karen, Doug and I were editors on these issues, with contributions from many others including Mom.

We were living in Grass Valley at the time, along with 70 houseplants!  One edition reports Grandma stayed for two weeks as Mom went with Dad on the truck.  They travelled to Oregon, Idaho, Colorado (to see Wayne), New Mexico (where Jack was working at the time), and Texas, ending up in Los Angeles for a grandchild’s birth.  Grandma “reported” once on observations of her life.  Dennis & Lorraine were putting in new cabinets, Doug was working at Brogdex & drawing family cartoons, and Dad was just beginning to have sugar level problems.  Other “key” events were Daniel and Matt’s pre-school attendance, Eric and Jannette going to Hawaii and Anna learning to ride a bike.

The newsletter didn’t continue after that summer as life just happened.  The point is that both then and now, we were and still are, seeking ways to stay connected and informed about each other’s lives.  Our efforts are far from perfect.  But whether it’s through Facebook postings, Skype, email, phone calls, videos, parties, holidays together, family trees etc. we’re still trying to be as much of a family as realistically possible given the complexities of life as we’ve come to know it.

We’ve come to know that we’ve made mistakes, said and written things we regret, let time get away from us, lost our health and vigor to some degree, been hurt, been broke, been disappointed, dazed and confused and lost some very dear ones along the way.  However, we’re still swinging the bat and hopefully using the time we have left on this planet to try and add some degree of meaning to our relationships with each other.

So much has happened in the years since 1986 it takes your breath away.  Yet some things remain the same.  Deep down there’s still an emotional response that happens when our thoughts turn to each other that affects us whether we want it to or not.  For me, I want my heart to continue to stir when y’all come to mind and I hope you do to when you think of me.  You did in 1986 – I have it in writing!  Now, what can we do in 2014?