Dear Family and Friends
2015 began and ended with horrific news from Paris, a beloved city for many of us: Charlie Hebdo attack in January and the terrorist attack in November. President Hollande and President Obama met this week to discuss war against ISIS. War. I saw a cartoon recently: “My desire to be well informed is currently at odds with my desire to remain sane.” It’s too true to be funny though. The tragedies at home and around the world are reminders to count our own blessings. We all have “stuff” that we are dealing with, but they pale in comparison to the heartbreak we read about on a daily basis. These thoughts are swirling around in my mind as I begin writing.

So let me start with a topic that always brings a smile to my face: Grandchildren. One of those blessings for sure.  We had all five grandchildren together this past summer.

Jakob is 16 and a junior who loves baseball and skiing.  Zachary is 13 and in 8th grade; he is an avid soccer player and skier.

Raines turns 8 in January and Pax just turned 5. Both of them play soccer and will be skiing for the second year. The best thing was all four cousins were smitten with Greenlea, who turned one in July.

This summer visit with the whole family was certainly a highlight. Some days were spent enjoying Marquette and some, at camp. We attended the Blueberry Festival where we purchased amazing food truck tacos and ate them at the Ore Dock. We dined at the Stein Haus, which Adam declared was now his second favorite German restaurant—high praise indeed.

We spent one entire weekend at camp together. The fridge, cupboards and counters were full of food. My first thought was how are we ever going to eat all this food. Silly me. We had happy hours on the porch, the dock, and the deck. The Oslunds lent us their pontoon boat; the kids dove off the boat while Bill drove it, a rare treat for him. It’s not always easy to get our children and grandchildren together, but when it happens, it’s quite an event.

Shana and Mike moved into a lovely old rowhouse in downtown Philly in August.

They were in the middle of renovations when we visited; we cannot wait to see the finished kitchen. They love their new location; it’s within walking distance of the boys’ schools, favorite coffee shops, and restaurants.

Bill and I were in Philly for Halloween. While they went out trick or treating, Bill and I gave out candy—all three large bags. Halloween Heaven! Shana dressed the family this year as the Lannisters from Game of Thrones. They were spot on!

Mike was one of the keynote speakers at a big data conference in October. We’re all so proud of him. His topic was “Improving Medical Decision Making with Predictive Analytics on Big Data.” We watched him on our computer as he gave the speech live! (love technology).

Her entire family (which includes Scotti, Zack & Greenlea) grace the pages of her website in beautiful photos taken by Mike and others. Christmas will be spent with Mike’s family; they’ll arrive here December 28.

Scotti and Zack are into their second year as parents and making the necessary adjustments that a little toddler brings. Dinners at restaurants are a little more challenging as Greenlea is walking and likes nothing better than being able to “wok” whenever and wherever.

Scotti decided not to return to teaching this past fall so she could be home with Greenlea. She worked out of her home all summer and into the fall doing makeup for brides and bridal attendants. She was booked every weekend; sometimes doing makeup for as many as 13 women.

She continues to work on Shana’s blog, focusing on makeup trends and tips while also posting about fashion. Zack continues to hone his skills as a master craftsman. He is so good at what he does. Shana and I both love the shelving units he made for us; Zack says it’s a perk of having him for a son-in-law. Amen! Watching Greenlea grow up has been a joy. When Scotti needs time to work on her posts for The Mom Edit, I arrive at her door to play with Greenlea, and my heart just melts when she calls my name, “Nana!”

She calls Bill “Bop” for Bapa. She loves her Bop!

 

We read books, play with her toys and listen to “All the Single Ladies” at least twice. She sees my phone and immediately goes ”oh oh oh.” It was the only song I had on my phone, and we wanted to dance. What can I say? It’s so sad that Scotti & Zack no longer enjoy that song. The three of them flew out to Lake Havasu to spend a week with us during the two months we wintered there. They loved the lifestyle of swimming in the pool, happy hours at four, and walking to the many restaurants so much that they both declared they wanted to retire as well.

Lake Havasu was great. I didn’t whine once about the temps, which were often in the 90s. We flew out so we didn’t have a car, but Jim and Ann Golden made sure that we always had a ride and made their car available to us. It’s great to have such good friends who really made our experience there so wonderful.

The resort complex allowed me to leave our apartment for yoga or join the group for water aerobics knowing that Bill was safe and sound upstairs. When we joined the group for cocktails on the deck at four, he could choose to join us and/or leave when he wanted. We spent a few days with Bill’s sister Janice and Patrick in Sun City, and they joined us in Lake Havasu during Scotti and Zack’s visit.

Bill’s sister Donna and brother Robb visited for a few days as well. Lake Havasu is a U.P. destination as over 300 attended the Yooper picnic.

As many of you may already know, one of the side effects of Bill’s Lewy Body Dementia is really low blood pressure and dizzy spells. (On the upside, the man can have as much salt and caffeine as he wants. Doctor’s orders.) But from time-to-time, Bill will fall. So far he’s been pretty lucky and hasn’t broken anything, but I’ll admit it looks very dramatic to an outside observer. However, for us, it’s our reality. Never was this disparity more apparent than on our last flight back from Lake Havasu. The flight was fairly long, and when Bill stood up to let me out, he immediately fell backwards. Luckily, the two guys on either side of him had very quick reflexes and helped him back to his feet. Bill was fine (unless you count his wounded pride) – and as I mentioned before, this kind of thing is our daily reality. In any case, when I returned to my seat, there was zero chance that Bill was willing to stand up and let me back in. So I did what any self-respecting retiree would do: I crawled over his legs. Several minutes later a flight attendant came to check on Bill, wanting to make sure he was OK after his fall. Bill assured her that he was fine, and I explained (as best I could in the middle of a busy airplane) about Bill’s low blood pressure and Parkinsonisms, etc. Unfortunately, we made a tactical error because she ended up looking even more concerned and insisted that Bill have oxygen. We exchanged a glance – um. Okay. Fine. We agreed, and found ourselves sitting in first class! (Apologies to the woman booted out of her first class seat.) After 20 minutes, we return to our seats and all is well. However, the flight attendant is back again with a message from The Captain: he wants Bill to be checked out once we land in Chicago. Good grief. We go back and forth, but she is very firm. Once again Bill and I exchange glances and decide to go along. Our flight continues uneventfully, and just as we’re about to land, the Captain comes over the loudspeaker, “Sorry, folks. We have a medical emergency on board. Everyone is required to remain seated until the passenger is taken care of. Everyone must remain seated.” Bill and I look around, wondering who might be having the medical emergency. As I look around the plane filled with perfectly healthy people….my heart starts to sink. “Oh, no” I think. “They can’t possibly be talking about us.” Oh, yes. They were indeed. Upon landing in Chicago, four EMTs rush onto the plane, carrying a long, stiff board, intent on strapping Bill down. Bill took one look and politely told them where to stuff their board (j/k). They compromised by escorting him off the plane (but I don’t think his feet ever touched the ground). After all of this back-and-forth, the rest of us were finally allowed to disembark, but by now, many of the other passengers were at risk of missing their flights and it felt like chaos. I found myself wrestling our two suitcases from the overhead bin alone (Hey EMTS – a little help, here?), and when I finally found Bill, the EMTs were clustered around him, ready to embark on a little trip to the hospital. At this point, I had had enough. “This man, I said, “is fine. And he’s coming with me. We have a plane to catch!!” I’m sure they must have thought I was a very uncaring spouse, but enough is enough. They made me sign a document stating that we were “refusing medical treatment” (eyeroll) and they let us go on our merry way. Happily, we landed in Marquette without incident.

We made another trip to the Mayo Clinic this year to see a new neurologist that Bill really likes. Last year I spoke about a trip to the Mayo Clinic regarding a benign thyroid nodule that Bill had. I happened to read the doctor’s summary of that visit recently and came across this statement, “I have reviewed the news with Mr. Ostwald and his daughter.” Did I giggle? You bet. We do date night on Friday nights, which includes our friends and/or Scotti & Zack.

Bill did physical therapy for his back, which in turn helped his posture. We now do a series of exercises everyday that I swear help him in a number of ways—all that fresh blood getting circulated to the brain. The kids see him slowing down; I think I’m too close to him to see the kinds of changes they see. Or perhaps I don’t want to see them. He is here. We laugh together, we still dance to Unchained Melody whenever or wherever we hear it, and we enjoy our family and friends. And I thank God for our family and friends. To quote Michael J. Fox, “Family (and friends) is not an important thing; it’s everything.”

With tons of love, Tina and Bill

Here are some photos of special people, events, and memories from 2015; all in all a pretty good year!!

Remembering also: Sharon Bjork, Jim & Lois Godell, Booya Koski, Blayne Andresen, Buck Nystrom’s wife Joan, and Brett Lunney.