I feel cheated that I will never get to see my grandchildren grow up see they do with the life we gave to them. Chances are that my grandchildren and their offspring will live half again as long as our generation. We start out totally helpless. As babies we are all totally dependent on someone else. As far as I can see it’s a random draw.as to who you get for your parent(s) to start you out on the journey called a lifetime (THE DASH). Like Forest Gump said, “life is like a box of chocolates you never know what you’re going to get ”, Like I said before, life is made up of choices and It’s up to you and your mentor(s) to make good choices. ss (getting old). We begin to mature and everything goes downhill. Unfortunately the way we are at the bottom of that hill, is how we’re remembered by our grandchildren. I think that’s a little unfair. Growing old is a painful process. You lose the ability do all of the things that made life fun. Your golf handicap goes up and your bowling average goes down. In my case, for example, first I couldn’t ski anymore, or play golf, or bowl, or dance, or walk, or swim. Back in January of 2014 when I had by-pass surgery, I flat lined twice (my heart stopped) and Jean had to make the decision to resuscitate or not.. Obviously they did or I would not be here today. So the time from that day is a gift. So, as of today I have been the recipient of over two and a half years of extra time. On the other hand, I could live to be a very large burden to those I love. It seems everything comes with a price. The one thing I don’t want is to be a burden to my wife or children. Parkinson’s is starting to get a serious grip on me and the pain in my back and right foot is constant. Pain. But I find the human body is a wonderful thing and over time it learns to ignore a lot of the pain. The real problem is losing the ability to physically manage myself. That would be a terrible price to pay.

In the 21/2 years of extra time I have I have been privileged to see both of my oldest grand-children, Marci and Scott married. And I gained a beautiful grand-daughter in law, Jamie, and wonderful grandson in law, Rob.

Jean and I have enjoyed more in life than we ever dreamed we would. Thanks for the memories.

WHAT WE DID WITH MY EXTRA TIME

Jean and I took a Mexican cruse for our 50th Anniversary. Then our children gave a 50th Anniversary Party in the Colony auditorium. A lot of family and friends from out of town along with our friends at The Colony came helped us celebrate the occasion. It was a blast.

We had two of our annual Newport Beach family weeks during the summer of 2014 and 2016

We also had a great week in Sayulita Mexico in 2015. We rented 2 houses on the beach and took the whole family. It was a wonderful week.

We had a big party for my 80th birthday.

Rick got engaged to his beautiful Eitienne.

We were blessed with the birth of our beautiful first Great-Grandchild Sienna Ros

LOOKING FORWARD

Rick and Eitienne’ wedding

A cruise with the Colony group

IN MEMORY OF FRIENDS

2000

• John Schober

2002

• Pat Winnard
• Bart Bartell

2004

• Harry Farrell

2005

• John St. Dennis

2006

• Ruby Farrell

2015