Christmas Letter 2022

 

“Time, mystical time, cuttin’ me open, 

then healin’ me fine.”

--Taylor Swift

 

Christmastime 2022

Dear loved ones,

 

            It seemed appropriate to begin our Christmas letter with a Taylor Swift lyric for the second year in a row because, well, I’ve been obsessed with her music this past year. That lyric from Invisible String has really resonated with me this year. I mean that in a good way. As I type this year’s letter, a lot of things seem to be healing. This past year saw remarkable growth in many ways. I won’t get into too much detail, but I am grateful for a therapist, Stephanie, who at one point or another, counseled all six of us. I’m so very thankful for where my family is at right now. This past Mother’s Day, two years after his death, we finally had an opportunity to have a memorial service for my Uncle John. Then, on August 21, I had the most remarkable opportunity to spend the day in Hollywood with six people I love dearly, spreading John’s ashes in memorable places. Although grief lingers, things like that can be a sweet elixir. There are other ways time seems to be healing things. May marked a year post-back-surgery for Chrisy. Even her multiple sclerosis, although always lurking, did not exact any unbearable tolls this past year.

            In fact, it has been a year of great change and celebrations! Wes, now 24, got married on November 12^th! The wedding was beautiful. His wife is Makenna and she is pictured here in our Christmas card this year. Makenna and Wes met at our church, TerraNova. We couldn’t be happier. She is a dream daughter-in-law. We have known her and her family, The Kaspers, for almost two decades! Wes and Makenna are now living in Costa Mesa, about 30 minutes away from us. Wes graduated this past May with his Masters in New Testament from Talbot School of Theology! I’m very happy that both Wes and Makenna volunteer in the high school ministry at TerraNova Church because I get to see them on Sundays.

            Zoey, now 20, graduated from Irvine Valley College this past May! Zoey earned two Associate of Arts degrees from IVC as well as a CSU General Education Breadth transfer certificate. She was able to earn all this in exactly two years since high school graduation. It was especially nice to attend her IVC commencement because her high school ceremony was a casualty of the pandemic. Zoey is also working at Lazy Dog Restaurant while she attends Cal State University, Fullerton. She’s living at home with us where she spends pretty much all her time either studying or taking care of her and her sister’s dogs.

            Speaking of Kasey, she’s now 18, and also had a huge accomplishment this year as she graduated from high school in June! Not only is this an obvious huge milestone for her, but it is for us as well as she is our last child to graduate from high school. As Chrisy put her senior portrait into Kasey’s special kindergarten through 12^th grade frame, and placed it back on the wall next to her three siblings, we knew it was the end of an era for us too. Kasey finished high school in an epic manner, with a 4.8 GPA! Kasey is now attending UC Davis. We moved her into the dorms in September. She is currently on the pre-veterinary medicine track and has one quarter behind her.

            As you would imagine we held a huge graduation party in June, combining Kasey’s, Zoey’s, and Wes’ accomplishments. Unfortunately, Max couldn’t make it as he was still in Boston.

            Max, now 26, had temporarily moved back in with us after finishing PA school last year. As I told you last year, he quickly got hired at Boston Medical Center, which is right next to where he went to school. He stayed with us until February 15^th of this year, just one day after Zoey’s birthday so he could be with her. Then he made the long drive back to Boston. Max is now learning his way around the busy Emergency Department at BMC. He has been dating Elena, someone we’ve been blessed enough to spend time with, and she’s truly wonderful.

            I wanted to mention something about my work here. In 2021, my longtime partner, Frank, retired. After that I spent an entire school year on my own. It was the first time since 2010 I hadn’t worked with Frank. Of course, as a teacher, it’s normal to work alone, but I had gotten into a rhythm with him, especially since we had started the HEART class together. Yet, this also seems to be something time healed. I ended up being able to teach summer school with Frank this year. More recently, Frank’s replacement was hired and we’re finding our groove. A similar thing happened at church too. I’m now in my 18^th year of doing Junior High Ministry and I still find it very meaningful and I am having fun with my new ministry-partner, Jolee. Time marches on and there are constant ebbs and flows of “death and rebirth” occurring all the time.

As mentioned above, Kasey’s dog, Mocha, and Zoey’s dog, Harley, are home with us; thus, Kasey misses them dearly. It’s been a huge adjustment for everyone. In fact, everyone misses the dogs. The dogs miss them too. When Kasey, Wes, Makenna, Max, or Elena, come over, Harley and Mocha go absolutely nuts. It’s hard to believe it’s been two years since we got them. They were our pandemic dogs and now even that strange time in 2020 seems to be something else that time has healed.

I guess that brings us back full circle to the song at the beginning of the letter. The song, “Invisible String,” was on folklore and was released during the heart of the pandemic too. I had the blues then, but as the song says, “Time, wondrous time, gave me the blues, and then purple pink skies.” I’m learning to live with all the colors.

May this holiday season find you well.

Sincerely,

-The Lynds-

Doah & Chrisy