LAST POST OF THIS BLOG

PLAYING CATCH-UP

My year celebrating becoming three-fourths of a century old was jam-packed with adventures, just as I had hoped for.  

I intended to write a round-up essay in December 2016 but life got complicated.   (I’ll tell you about that at the bottom of this entry.)  So my tenses in this entry are all mixed up: from past, to present, to future.

First I want to backtrack a bit and describe a most wonderful wedding where I cried a lot.   In August my surrogate son, Hoi Pang, married his best friend and long-time partner, Gerry. 

I met Hoi Pang when he was a graduate student in the department where I was the office manager.  We became close friends and, because his real mother lived in Malaysia, I became his U.S. mom.

I missed him a lot when Hoi Pang got his doctorate and moved to Boston to live with Gerry about twenty years ago.  But thanks to their kindness I was able to visit them up there.  When I turned 70 the three of us celebrated my birthday at a gorgeous restaurant on the ocean near Big Sur in California.  The entire trip was my present along with a special outfit to wear.  Isn’t this so very generous and loving of them?  

Here is a little bit about their well-planned wedding.  I could rave on and on about the elegance, beauty and wonderful family and friends I met but will describe two aspects which were so very special to me.

Hoi Pang’s school friend from Malaysia was introduced to me by email because we were to share a room at the Boston waterfront hotel.  Aru is also going to read a selection during the ceremony.  

We help each other with jewelry and alarm clocks in our shared room, eat meals together, take walks, go to an art museum and concert, and take a tourist bus around Boston.  This is such a kindness Hoi Pang gives to both of us.

Both of Us as Tourists

Aru in the Art Museum

Brazilian Group Plays Concert on Harbor's Edge

Aru Capturing the Sunset

Fountain Fun on the Greenway

During the wedding rehearsal I learn the best thing of all.  I will be seated on the front row along with Hoi Pang’s real mother and sister and will be treated like a mother in a special Chinese wedding custom.  I cry then, and during most of the ceremony, and now as I write this.  

Everyone (I am on 2nd row with Hoi Pang's Mother)

 

NON-WEDDING ADVENTURES: 

After I come back from England (via Istanbul), I have several adventures in the woods before the end of the year.  Kathy and I join Forest Watch to see huge trees in the flood plain of Murder Creek in Georgia.

Large River Cane

Right before Christmas, Marguerite and I investigate the swampy area of Congaree National Park in South Carolina.  Here’s a little video about that adventure.  Just click: Congaree National Park.

Reflections of the Swamp Cypress

Marguerite On The 2 Mile Boardwalk

 Two exceptional singing opportunities come up:  Raising money for the Loran Smith Cancer Support Center as part of the 50 Shades of Gray Chorus, and singing with the Athens Symphony Chorus for the annual Christmas Concert.   What a thrill singing with 110 singers and a full orchestra.

50 Shades of Gray Chorus

The empty seat on the first row is mine.  Athens Symphony Chorus and Orchestra.

THE END

January to December 2016 was a bonanza year of adventures as I celebrated turning 75.  This is the end of this blog. 

On November 11, I was diagnosed with wet macular degeneration by a retinal ophthalmologist.  So down some unknown length of road, I will not be able to drive safely.  On top of brain damage from six concussions, it seems time to move to a simpler location — one where I won’t have three acres to manage and can walk to stores and the library.  

So I’ll start a new blog talking about how this situation is developing.  I already have a title for the new blog:  “Just Fine From The Neck Down.”

Thank you so very much for reading these blog entries and writing to me (below) or by email at rwoodel.woodel@gmail.com.