Christmas 2004
In case you didn’t know, there is a conspiracy going on. No, I am not talking about the mythical “vast right-wing conspiracy” that you won’t hear Hillary Clinton talking about (now that she’s trying to reinvent herself as a moderate in preparation for 2008), nor am I talking about the often publicized and well-known conspiracy of the hotdog makers and the hotdog bun makers to package their products with differing quantities. No, I am talking about the Evil Retail Genius behind Christmas Lights. Unless you have been living in California the past few years (where only “Winter Festival” lights are allowed), you may have noticed that as soon as you break out last year’s Christmas lights they stop working, or worse, they stop working when you get them on your tree or house. Thanks to the miracles of modern science, Christmas light manufacturers have figured out how to get whole sections of Christmas lights to corrode and fail after being used outdoors or indoors for just one season. This, of course, forces you to throw away the old lights in frustration and replace them with new lights (which will fail again next year). So now you see how their sadistic plan works. But perhaps the redneck folk, who have been made fun of for keeping their Christmas lights up year round, deserve a little more credit. They know that if they take them down, they’ll stop working. Rage, Rage against the failing of the Christmas Lights!
This year has been a year of changes with plenty of good times and some difficult times as well. In February, Grayson started going to a 4-day a week county preschool program as a continuation to his speech and occupational therapy. He really enjoys going to school and loves his teachers. Miss Tricia, Miss Ellen, Miss Cheri, and Nurse Jeniphur have become some of Grayson’s favorite people. This also allows Becky the freedom to go to Kohl’s or Target and actually try something on or to just catch her breath without hearing a constant “Mommy, Mom, Momma, Mommy, ” mantra.
Also in February, we got some bad news when it was discovered that my mom had lung cancer. Fortunately, the cancer was operable and she was able to have a lobe of her right lung removed. As a follow-up (because the chance of recurrence is so high), she was able to participate in a new chemotherapy treatment that was shown to be effective in reducing the chances of the cancer returning. My mom is recovering well from the ordeal and is now getting back into the swing of normal life again.
In May, Becky and I were planning on taking a little vacation this year to Colorado. We had airline tickets, hotel reservations, a rental car, Colorado Rockies tickets, Steam train tickets, and a plan to go see Rocky Mountain National Park. Becky’s parents were all set to keep Grayson for us. But we’d noticed over the course of several weeks that Grayson had become excessively thirsty and had lost several pounds. At first, our doctor thought we were a little paranoid but prior to leaving for our trip we wanted his blood sugar checked so we could rule out diabetes. Unfortunately, the 750+ reading confirmed that Grayson does have type 1 diabetes (also called “juvenile diabetes”). I cancelled the
reservations (that I could) and we instead spent 4 days at Scottish Rite Children’s Hospital getting Grayson’s blood sugar stabilized and learning all about his new condition. Initially, it was a shocking to think that on a normal day he has to get 4 or 5 shots plus his finger pricked 5 or 6 times, but while we were at the hospital we got to meet some children that were facing much more difficult challenges and in the midst of a tough week, we found ourselves counting our blessings.
Certainly things have changed some now - the diaper bag is gone, but just as that went away, we now have a backpack full of glucoshots, snacks, juice boxes, insulin, syringes, alcohol swabs, band aids, meter, test strips, lancets, cool packs, food nutrition books, etc And while we get frustrated at times trying to keep his numbers right, it’s really been easier in many ways than we imagined. If ever there was a 3 year-old that God had prepared for this, it was Grayson. He does so well with his shots and sugar tests. Our biggest problem is keeping him from trying to help too much. He’s definitely in an “I do it by myself” mode with just about everything these days.
In August, we spent a few days with my parents down in Gainesville for a sort of post-chemo birthday celebration for my mom. For Grayson, the highlight was our trip to Wild Waters in Ocala. He just loved going down the small slide, and wading out into the water at the wave pool as well as the giant kiddy-play-area water park. While he played there with his Granny and Grandpa, Becky and I were able to slip away to relive our youth on the bigger slides. As a special treat, my Dad and I got to go to a Devil Ray’s baseball game in St. Petersburg. It turned out to be the best game my Dad and I had ever watched in person as the Rays beat the Red Sox thanks to a grand slam as well as a 9th-inning, game saving play at the plate.
At church (West Ridge) we’ve joined a new small group (home team) that we really like. It was one of those times where we met people and it felt like we’d known them for years. We’ve lived in the northwest area of Georgia for over two and half years and it’s finally starting to feel more like home.
Of course in September and October there were a couple of storms. Actually, there more than just a couple as my aunt, in Stuart, endured two direct hits from Hurricanes Frances and Jeanne. Those hurricanes both affected my parents in Gainesville (especially Frances as it slowly flooded much of the state). Becky’s family got a direct hit in Pensacola from Hurricane Ivan. Our families all made it through the storms with minimal damage (compared to what many suffered). Bec’s dad even managed to spare his frozen shrimp by meeting us in Montgomery, Alabama, to swap his shrimp out for some much needed supplies. In the end, he ended up with some well traveled shrimp that eventually made their way back down to Pensacola when we visited for Thanksgiving.
Speaking of Thanksgiving, we managed to get down to Pensacola just in time for me to be really sick. I spent Thanksgiving morning at an immediate care center (I was just glad they were open) and then getting some prescriptions filled. Fortunately, I made a fairly quick recovery - quick enough to get to see family and friends and enjoy some of Bec’s homemade pumpkin pie. When Becky and Grayson went out to the beach to see the worst of the damage, Grayson had fun crossing the “do not enter” barricades as well as flirting with at least one of the surfer chicks (her boyfriend gave him the evil eye and just told him to “hang loose, dude”).
Well, we have presents to wrap and Grayson is eyeing the “Christmas Socks” (stockings) in hopes that Santa or “Daddy’s Credit Card Pack” (wallet) will soon deliver a “Gold Guitar” (Acoustic Guitar).
If you want to keep tabs on us throughout the year, I am trying to be more faithful about updating our family web-site. We got really vain this year and got our own domain - http://www.wilcoxzone.com. There is main page there for news and photos about us in general, as well as some personal pages that should continue to expand. Be sure to send us an email to let us know what you think.
We hope that this letter finds you well, and we wish you God’s Peace and Blessings for this Christmas and New Year.