This year was even better than the last. There were no heart attacks and only one trip in an ambulance. The ambulance ride was the result of Pam’s birthday present to Steve: sessions with a personal trainer. In one session in April, Steve said to the trainer, Jerkface, that he wasn’t feeling well, that he felt faint, that he was sometimes nauseous. Jerkface gave the classic personal trainer response: “Work harder.” This all ended with Steve bouncing off the floor, wondering about his life choices.
The best guess of the doctors is that this was a dehydration issue and nothing to do with Steve’s tricky ticker. Try telling that to the folks who’re running off to call ambulances.
Anyway, Steve is drinking lots of water and staying the hockey sticks away from Jerkface.

Pam managed to survive the year with no hospital stays or ambulance rides.

Pam and Steve started the year in Evansville to help Morgan, Beth, and the grandkids move to San Antonio. It was a 3 day ride with Morgan in the lead driving the truck, Beth followed with the grandkids in the minivan, and Steve bringing up the rear in the civic. Pam took turns riding shotgun in the minivan and the Civic.

Somewhere between Little Rock and Dallas, as Steve was getting gas for the Civic, he got a call from a Canadian civil servant. The civil servant wanted to talk to Steve about handling his mother’s estate. Steve asked “Her estate? Are you telling me that my mother is dead?”
Apparently, Steve’s mom had died in the previous December. Steve and his mom were never close, so this was a lot less traumatic than it would be for most people. Steve’s mom had estranged herself from her family a long time ago. But it seemed surreal to be a thousand miles from home in a gas station in the middle of nowhere, getting a call from a faceless civil servant about his mother’s demise.

They made 2 more trips to San Antonio in April and August. On those visits, they flew and they didn’t get any more death notices.

Since the move to San Antonio, Hazel started kindergarten and lost her first couple of teeth. Julian and Henry started pre-school and have kept their teeth.

In June, they swung by Toronto. Amongst the usual visiting events, they also dealt with Steve’s mother’s burial plot.

In what has become a regular event, they went on yet another Caribbean cruise. They’d planned to spend a couple of extra days in Puerto Rico. This seemed like a good idea until a couple of hurricanes knocked out power and a lot of other stuff. The two days in a devastated island really whetted their appetites for the luxury of the cruise ship. The week on the cruise ship really made up for the 2 days in devastated Puerto Rico.

At the time of writing, they’re planning on yet another flight to San Antonio for Christmas.