2016 was a pretty good year. There were hardly any heart attacks. Well, Steve had one, but he’s much better now. Apparently, a lump of “stuff” was floating around his bloodstream and got lodged in an artery. A couple of stents were put in and now he’s exercising more and eating righter. Steve’s still bitter because he’d been checking with his GP to make sure that he was doing all of the right things. His GP said “Don’t worry, everything’s fine.” After the heart attack, his new cardiologist said “No that’s not nearly enough. You have to exercise a lot more.” Whatever you do, don’t ask Steve about it. He’ll never shut up.

Steve also kept himself busy getting his car put back together. He hit a deer in early February. He didn’t hit much of it, but a hoof took out a headlight, a bunch of electronics, the hood, a front quarter panel, and a door. Steve would’ve been happier if this wasn’t just a couple of weeks after his heart attack, but he wasn’t asked. A few months later, Steve met a woman who didn’t know the difference between running a yellow light and running a red light. The main difference is that you don’t T-bone Steve’s car if you only run a yellow light. In both cases, no one was hurt (the deer may argue that point) and the insurance company paid to put Steve’s car back to its former glory.

Corwin’s been working with websites and is starting to get folks to pay him for it. He created a new web site (http://namiofkent.org/) for our local NAMI affiliate. Everyone seems to really like it.

Morgan spent a few months in San Antonio for an internship with a company called USAA. They liked him enough that they offered him a job that starts on 1/9/17. He and Beth plan on moving themselves and their kids the week before.

Pam and Steve went on a Mediterranean cruise in late August. They spent a couple of days in Rome racing from one historical site to another before the ship left. They then spent 7 days hopping across various cities and islands in Greece. They saw a lot more historical sites, danced an awful lot and had a great time.

They also traipsed back and forth to Evansville to visit the grandkids on various occasions throughout the year. They sometimes even saw Morgan, Beth, and Becky while they were there. The least successful trip to Evansville was for thanksgiving. Morgan, Beth, and the grandkids each took turns with various forms of “gastric distress “ (no need to be too graphic). The house was under lockdown. Corwin and Steve drove back to Grand Rapids on Thanksgiving Day. Their Thanksgiving feast was burgers and fries at Steak and Shake. Pam spent a few more days hoping that the quarantine would be lifted. It wasn’t until the following Tuesday.

At the time of writing, the plan is for Pam and Steve to babysit Hazel and Julian in mid-December while Beth, Morgan, and Henry look for a place to move into in San Antonio. After that, they’ll also help with moving in the first week of January.

The above is what Pam and Steve sent out with some of their xmas cards. What follows is stuff that happened since then:

Pam went down to attend the Rickard family reunion. Steve stayed home and worked. Since this was on the weekend before Morgan’s graduation, Pam just stayed in Evansville instead of driving home for one day.

Steve drove down on the day before Morgan’s graduation and found that Pam was throwing up all over the place and had been quarantined in a hotel room. Luckily, Pam was all better by the day of the graduation.

They attended Morgan’s graduation. He graduated summa cum laude (Latin for “way clever”). 

Pam didn’t puke for the rest of the year.