2021 Christmas letter

 

Dear Family and Friends,

    On 22 June Sean walked down the steps from doing a workout saying “if your chest hurt like mine does I would be calling an ambulance.” While he was able to walk out to the ambulance, they were not able to make the 20-minute drive to Eisenhower (military hospital where he works) but had to turn the opposite direction with lights and sirens blaring to take him to the hospital 4 minutes away, where Mayland works – Augusta University. They were doing chest compressions while wheeling him into the emergency room, used the defibrillator, and needed two shots of epinephrine to get a pulse and then rushed him to the cath lab to put a stent in his left anterior descending (LAD) artery. The placing of the stent was successful, and he was only in the hospital for four days, but those 4 days were long and exhausting. 

     Our military family was amazing, in contact, showing up, and really helping – even those who were 12 hours away still connected and supported. We will be forever grateful for the friendships we have through the military. 

    For MJ, the focus for the summer of 2021 was visiting colleges and making a rank list. Fortunately, the college tour had been completed by the 15th of June. The list had two Boston colleges at the top, Northeastern and Lesley Univ., followed by George Mason and then Drexel. While MJ really loved the Northeastern campus, when applying to the schools it became clear that Lesley was the perfect fit with their amazing art school. We are thrilled that MJ will be starting Lesley Univ. in September of 2022 after graduating from Westtown in June of 2022. 

    Clark continues to progress toward getting

his degree in Math from Kaiserslautern Technical University. He passed the written exams, but the first oral exam was a lot more than expected. Fortunately, the Germany University system expects students to struggle the first time and have a system in place for retaking the oral exam, but still progressing through the rest of the curriculum. After a wonderful visit to Germany this Christmas as a family, we know he understands what studying really means and will finish his BS/MS by 2024. 

     Russell will be finishing his diploma in welding this summer and we are very excited for him to start on this new journey of being a skilled welder. 

     We were thrilled to welcome a few people into our home this year. Mayland’s nephew David into our home during the Master’s golf tournament where he worked with the Golf Channel TV crew. Our dear friend Tod Winston for a brief but lovely visit and Sean’s parents during his recovery and for Thanksgiving. 

     Christmas was spent in Europe where we saw many of our friends in both Germany and Paris. We know how truly fortunate we are to be together. Here is to 2022 being more normal. 

 Love, Peace and Happiness, 

 Sean, Mayland, Russell, Clark and MJ