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A Very Merry Christmas
2005

It's been a helluva year, and assuming there are no more surprises between now and December 31st, I think we can call this a wrap. Am I glad it's over? You betcha, but I wouldn't have missed it for the world.

There is a balance sheet somewhere that lists all the bad things in one column and all the good things in another. I don't worry about the individual entries but I can feel the grand total. It feels like I'm way ahead of things this year, when all's said and done.


Only a few categories are of prime importance.

Family:
All are well now (details to follow), and happy. Nobody is mad at anybody and we're all looking forward to spending time with each other this Christmas.

Marcus had a banner year - Samantha moved back to Ottawa to be with him, and he got the Mustang he's always wanted. If he takes care of his significant other even half as well as he does his car, she's one lucky lady. 		Shauna is taking a few more courses at U of T, while deciding whether to continue on into grad school or hit the job market for a while. Healthwise she's doing better than she had been, following a diagnosis of hyperthyroidism.


Tarryn is steam-rolling her courses at Ottawa U and is gearing up for a semester in Spain during her fourth year. She landed a FSWEP (Federal Student Work Experience Program) job at the Canadian Transportation Agency and is getting a first-hand glimpse at how the civil service works (or doesn't). 		Nate has undertaken his second-year courses at Carleton with somewhat more seriousness than he did last year. This is a good thing. He helps out at John's office when there is assembly work to be done.
Despite continuing vision problems, John has had a very successful year with his photography. Along with awards from his local photo club, in November he was the first-place winner of a CAPA (Canadian Assoc. for Photographic Art) national photo contest and was rewarded with $2500 worth of equipment. He's on the executive of the RA Photo Club as a result of his efforts to modernize their website and judging system. You can view some of his work at http://johnelliott.ca. He continues to curl twice a week and weekends are often taken up with photographing various sporting events - kayaking, marathon, gymnastics, etc. Busy, busy.

My poetry chapbook was launched in early October at the International Writers Festival here in Ottawa. Unfortunately for me, I was unable to attend due to the side-effects of my one chemo treatment. Tarryn filled in for me, though, and from all accounts did an admirable job reading some of my poems and conveying my thanks. It's a wee book, but it has its very own ISBN number so I guess I can now say that I'm published. It's available, in a limited edition, at the Bywords website.

Friends:
A circle of dear people have been super-kind to me and us and we are immensely grateful. The year also shortened my Christmas card list by two names: Chrissie Feltham, a friend of my parents with whom I've never lost touch and who generously shared long-remembered recipes with me, and Vera Mauger, mother of a childhood friend (Stella, our thoughts are with you). But in the miraculous way that the universe works, I've added at least two new names to the list.

Health:
The year started with John still having eye problems stemming from last September's shingles. 48+ eye appointments, eye drops made from his own blood, and many vials of steroid drops later, he finally feels confident that he'll beat this thing one day. His vision has improved from 20/400 to 20/40; he can read license plates now without squinting.

I had gall bladder surgery in March to eliminate, once and for all, the terrible attacks I was having whenever I even looked at a piece of cheddar. Recovery was swift and relatively easy and I can now eat even cheese dip with impunity.

In April we cancelled a planned house-hunting trip to Newfoundland when we couldn't make up our mind where we wanted this house to be. It was a fortuitous cancellation because shortly thereafter I was diagnosed with breast cancer which would not have been found if I'd gone ahead with the trip. The good news is that it was found early and the prognosis is excellent. Following surgery, an aborted attempt at chemotherapy (terrible side effects made the treatment too risky for me) and now radiation, I'm finally rounding the corner into the sunlight again.

I'm ever so grateful for the early diagnosis and wonder how I deserve to be so lucky. That old saw about a silver lining is true once again. My experience convinced my cousin, Cindy, to get her first-ever mammogram. And it was lucky she did because she too is now moving through the treatments for early-stage breast cancer. If it took my having to have cancer in order to find hers, it was all worth it.


Bottom line, I'm very happy with the way things are. It would be nice if I could say that the experience brought out my creative side, made me write like a demon, with poems and stories and novels spilling from my fingers like marbles from a sack. Maybe next year, when it has cooked a little longer. After all, it took thousands of years for life to emerge from the primordial ooze.

I heard last night that at one Ottawa high school, kids have been told they are not allowed to wish each other Merry Christmas. How sad is this! I'd like to personally go to the school and shout it from the rooftop. To each and every one of them - and to all of you -

A merry, joyous, happy, peaceful, snuggly, comfy, yummy, thankful and sharing Christmas!! And to the principal of that high school - Merry this!

From:

Norma & John
Marcus, Shauna, Tarryn & Nate
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