2015 -- A Blessed Year for the Palermos

As I look back on 2015 I realize how blessed we are once again.  Each month has been filled with friends and experiences that are wonderful to look back upon.

January and February were filled with caring for a long time friend, Gwen Charest, as she struggled with and lost to multiple health problems.

GWEN CHAREST 

   My more recent friends, who for the most part did not even know her, pitched in to help us pack up Gwen's house and prepare her to move to a senior living place that she never got to see.  Truly we are thankful for all these wonderful friends.

Beginning with our annual ski trip to Utah in February, life raced onward to summer:

ALTA SKI RESORT

SNOWING AT DEER VALLEY UTAH

   We were guests of our friend Donna Goldstein as she read Haftora, a short reading from the Prophets that follows the reading from the Law,in her synagogue.

BETH EL SYNAGOGUE

   Chick had some "clean up" knee surgery in March and began recovery while I embarked on my first mission trip to Haiti with University Presbyterian Church of Chapel Hill-- another life changing experience.

RURAL HAITI

   Then for 42 days from May to July 4th we traveled on a "Canyon" tour of the west in our camper, Snoopy, visiting friends in Alabama and Arizona along the way.  Highlights of the trip included Vicksburg, Palo Dura Canyon, Tx, the Grand Canyon, Arizona, of course the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone, Bighorn Canyon, Wyoming, Rocky Mountain National Park, a space museum in Hutchinson, Kansas, and rivers and parks and caves in Arkansas, Missouri, and Alabama.  We hiked almost every day, I took a million pictures and created a blog, and Chick fished in every lake and stream we could find.

MUSEUM - HUTCHINSON, KANSAS

   July was our time for resting and it was filled with tennis for me, golf and fishing for Chick, and of course Chick's volunteer work with Habitat and with Project Healing Waters, veterans who teach disabled veterans to fly fish. 

   In early August, Chick once again headed to 'nowhere' in Alaska above the Bering Sea to fish for trout and salmon.  He returned home with 50 pounds of fresh and smoked salmon which he caught in just the first 2 1/2 days.  After that he had to release everything he caught.  

  August 29th 2015 marks the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Chick and I spent more than 150 days over 3 years helping to rebuild the town of D'iberville, MS and made several long time friends there.  This summer the Gulf Coast held Katrina memorial celebrations. Lori Pistor, a friend who also spent a lot of time there and I returned to enjoy the fun and see the amazing recovery and growth of D'iberville in 10 years.  It has gone from small town to leading city on the Gulf.

MISS WENDY (left) and MISS ABBEY 2008 -- D'iberville, MS

  About that time I began participating in a "book writing" class/club. This has started me down a path I am loving.  I am writing a book to contain stories about my Mother and those around her. I am learning so much about my family and the times I can hardly believe it. This will take some time to complete but I am loving it.

   This has been a year for unusual events--I hosted a table at a benefit tea, inviting my friends to join me. I have been teased quite a bit since having "tea" doesn't generally fit my personality, but it was great fun.

FRIENDS AT THE TEA

  About the same time the "Calling Chords" ladies singing group resumed after a 5 year hiatus, and we are again bringing song and laughter to folks in retirement homes.  One of my favorite things to do.

   Traditionally we go to Townsend, Tennessee beside the Great Smoky Mountain National Park to celebrate the autumn colors, my sister's birthday, and the Tennessee-Alabama football game.  This year was no exception and we were blessed with hitting the peak of the colors.  There is nothing more beautiful to me than hiking in "my mountains" in the fall.

   The week before Thanksgiving, my friend Pat Gunter and I led a Medical Mission team from our church to Haiti where we held a family clinic for a week.  We were called to do this after experiencing that Haiti trip earlier this year.  Both our medical team and the Haitians are beautiful people and we are all hoping to lead another group back to Haiti in 2016.  It is an amazing experience.

MEDICAL MISSION TEAM AND TRANSLATORS

   After having to clean out my friend Gwen's house, I realized my house is full of stuff I no longer need and that perhaps someone could use.  A very big example of that is BOOKS... I cannot part with a book unless I know it is going to someone who will appreciate it.  With that in mind, I again turned to my friends to see if they would like to also give away some books.  In about six weeks I collected over 1000 books which Chick and I took to Sunbright, Tennessee, a small town in Appalachia, to be given away as part of a Christmas project, the remainder to be made available through the year to residents of this rural community.   We managed to squeeze that trip in between Thanksgiving, which we spent at my sister's in Charlotte, and Christmas, which we also spent in Charlotte.

In between all the "formal" activities this year, Chick and I have been enjoying our friends and favoite pastimes...golf, tennis, choir, band, the Vets- Healing Waters, fishing at Clearwater lake, building houses and playhouses at Habitat, helping at the church, and simply taking walks with friends.

  It has been a beautiful year, and as I started out saying, a "Blessed Year for the Palermos".  I hope yours has been as blessed and may we all enjoy even more in 2016.