Christmas Letter 2017

Dear Family and Friends,

Best of the best for 2017: I have gotten to know my sister Sue and her husband Mark and my nephew David and niece Julia thanks to Facebook.  Art Shurlock is in his 17^th year with the heart transplant, if you received letters from us in 2000, when Clark was born you know of what I speak. The sad of 2017: my brother Tom (Tucker) passed away and my beloved Sean is deployed. 

When December rolls around, it is always a month with a lot of activity; 4 birthdays and Christmas assure us of that.  Yet, this December, has a hole in it with Sean being deployed, again, to Africa for 4 months Sept – Feb.  While it is not as long as other deployments, it is still a difficult time to be without him.  Fortunately, we are blessed with a lot of friends and busy lives to keep us distracted. 

Sven and Mindy continue to be the most constant members of our extended family here in Germany; providing unconditional love and patience throughout the year.  The residents and medical students who rotate at LRMC also provide a rich tapestry of diversity in our lives and then we are fortunate to have our tight knit Landstuhl hospital family, who are always here for us. 

  Russell and Clark are getting their driver’s licenses: 28 hours of classroom instruction to be followed up by 100 hours of actual behind the wheel time with an instructor.  Hopefully, this will make it safe to be on the roads with them.

Russell, Clark and MJ continue to have tennis lessons and matches, keeping me on the go 4-5 nights / days of the week.  This year Russell is a senior and played for the HS tennis team, winning the 2^nd spot on the varsity team and making it with his doubles partner to the European finals.  While they didn’t make it past the first round of play, it was a real honor to be selected.  Not every team even sent a doubles team to the finals, the competition was fierce and Russel played with sportsmanship and grit, going after every shot.  He also won the coaches award at the end of the season for Most Improved Student-Athlete; it was great to see him achieve in tennis and academics.  Now to finish up the year and on to graduation - 7 Jun.  Doesn’t seem possible!

While, Clark continues to play tennis; his real passion is still on the academic frontier – he has discovered computer programming and is not just using it in the classroom, but also creating programs to do other tasks (mostly related to D&D, so I am not able to explain well).  He is still looking at a future in physics and or math; having gone to 2 physics symposiums this year, (and yes, all of the talks are in German). 

MJ has spent many hours working on drawing utilizing a drawing pad hooked up to a computer, thank you Aunt Jean.  She can never claim that she can’t work hard at something, her art skills have improved tremendously in the past year and I think it will be exciting to see how she integrates art into her future.  She still plays tennis, but not as seriously as the boys do; however, now that she is 5’7” (yes, Mom is the shortest person in the house) her game is improving by leaps and bounds. 

Sean has been picked up for ILE (it is a leadership course and yes, it is impressive he was selected to do it in residence in VA) and will attend that course in Jan – Apr 2019; another 4-month stretch without him, but at least we will have him here for December 2018.

Mayland continues to volunteer through the Red Cross taking care of trainees that come to Landstuhl.  It is a good outlet for the extroverted energy she has pent up. 

This year’s travels were not as diverse or plentiful as in the past, nor were the visitors.  2016 wrapped up with a trip to Rome, Pompeii, and Dubrovnik Croatia with the Eyer family (surg resident from Keesler); Sean came home at the end of January and he and Mayland made a getaway weekend to Würzburg (castle); February we spent a weekend to the Bavarian Alps an skiing and in April we returned, with Sean, to Spain for a week of tennis.  Russell had to head home for school, but the rest of the clan explored southern

France and the cave paintings that are over 14,000 years old.  It was a wonderful week of history!  Russell turned 18 on Cinco de Mayo and had his first Margarita (he likes those; not a fan of wine /beer).  Mayland took 2 trips on her own – in May to visit BFF Elizabeth Sagehorn and her guys!  Having a chance to reconnect was one of the highlights of the year.  There are few people in life that you pick up just where you left off and Elizabeth is one of them.  Thank you to Mrs. Sagehorn for being the most gracious hostess. Then in June she took a girl’s weekend to Marrakesh and got a taste of the African heat; not a big fan, but loved traveling with LRMC friends.  Clark had a class trip to Hamburg and enjoyed the miniature train display, which took hours to get through (Myers –we think you should make a trip just for this!).  July was a return to the states to help Cindy and Rich (Sean’s parents) celebrate their Golden Anniversary.  We gathered with family in VA to help celebrate the 50 years that have gone before and wish them another 50!  It was wonderful seeing Uncle Buddy and meeting Sandy; Aunt Harriet and Uncle Walter made the trip down from MA and Aunt Jean and Uncle Bob came in from NJ and Mayland’s Mother came down from PA.  Of course, Susie, Peter, Janicia and Kevin all made the trip up from Roanoke.  We also had a chance to visit with our dear friends in MD Barbara and Lincoln and MJ was fortunate to discover her friendship with Ariana will be one that stands the test of time.  We must find ways to get those 2 young ladies together again!  Our last trip before Sean deployed was hiking in the forest of Germany/France and castle ruins.  Sept. Sean deployed and only a few short weeks later Cindy and Rich came to visit.  Clark and MJ were their guides and translators for 10 days traveling from Stuttgart to Paris to St Sornin Lavolps, Limousin Region, France.  Russell and Mayland did a quick weekend getaway to Sofia Bulgaria.  We stayed put until Thanksgiving when we had the chance to meet with Bekah Troutman (the kid’s 2^nd cousin) in Paris.  We had a great time enjoying the lights, chocolate and Giselle’s dinner.  Our December trip was back to sun in Palma de Mallorca (Island of Spain) with another surgery resident from Keesler, Chris. 

Ok, so maybe we did travel some, but really, that is not as much as we normally do.    So, we really need family, and friends to come and visit.  Give us a reason to get out and explore even more.  We are blessed beyond measure and grateful for the amazing life we are living.  Our love to one and all, may 2018 bring you more good memories and an opportunity to reconnect with friends and family; to live without regrets.  No one has ever regretted not working more, but some regret missing out on time with those they love; I want to continue my life without regrets when it comes to my relationships.

Love, Peace and Happiness,

 Sean, Mayland, Russell, Clark, and MJ