So, what has happened since 2014? I retired in 2009 and we moved to Scottsdale in 2011 and have been living a pretty ordinary life since then: going to Costco, playing a lot of golf, etc—probably a lot like the rest of the class. No major earthshaking events and everything has been pretty smooth. I am not reshaping the world or doing anything of significance like some of our classmates. In 2015 I qualified to play in the USGA Senior Amateur golf tournament in New Jersey but played really poorly. That was the acme of my golf career although I have played in a couple of national tournaments since then without doing much better. Nearing age 78, my golf game is deteriorating---perhaps others are having similar issues? Later that year, we spent a month in Scandinavia looking for signs of Valorie's ancestors. It was three weeks of going through Norwegian church graveyards looking at headstones for anyone named Herbranson, but no luck. But we got to visit St. Petersburg that summer---we never even thought about visiting Russia before that! What a mess! No wonder the Russians revolted in 1917. In early 2018 my mother died at age 96 which sadly led to an estrangement with my brother. In 2019 Valorie and I spent six weeks in Scotland and Ireland, looking for my Craig and Gorman ancestors. Again, we were completely unsuccessful. But we played 36 beautiful golf courses and had a lovely time! In 2020 Covid hit hard, and having to stay in Scottsdale all summer wasn't as thrilling as it may sound, so we decided not to repeat that. We started looking for cooler summer weather near our daughter and three grandchildren who live in Charlotte, NC. In early 2021 we bought a condo in Sugar Mountain, NC sight unseen (don't ever do that!). It was a fun, round condo that is surrounded by trees, which gave us a summer view of (you guessed it) tree leaves. Sugar Mountain is a small ski area with one of the most beautiful short municipal golf courses I have ever seen! It's in Appalachia, near Boone and Appalachian State U, so we thought we should buy an older car to try to fit in. A 2003 Kia Sorento seemed just right, and we bought it sight unseen over the internet (did I mention don't ever do that?). That Kia was so rusted out that the previous owner had completely removed the parking brake assembly so the car would drive. Once we got to Sugar Mountain, we were confronted with Ferraris, Lamborghinis, and Mercedes as well as rusty pickup trucks because the Sugar Mountain/Banner Elk area is home to nine of the most exclusive summer country clubs in the South. Who knew? After enduring a half summer of loud weekend parties in the other condos, we bought a house nearby and sold the condo. That house is now our summer residence and Charlotte has become our second home base as we sold two Hawaii houses and re-invested the money in Charlotte houses and condos. In September 2021, Valorie got to cross off her #1 bucket list when we spent two weeks in Kenya and Tanzania. I was skeptical about going but it was life changing. We visited a Masai village and met the chief who insisted on renewing out wedding vows since we were in our 50th anniversary year! It wasn't Catholic but who cares! We make two or three trips to Kauai each year and mostly work on our house in Poipu. I stopped surfing because I gained too much weight during Covid and can hardly do a push up on dry land, let alone push up and stand up on a moving surfboard. This summer our daughter and her family will join us in Kauai. Afterward, we fly to Scotland for three weeks of golf and sightseeing, then down to Venice for a few nights and a cruise to the Croatia coast. My health has been good for the past ten years; Valorie not so much. We both caught Covid several times but had very mild cases. Valorie has a chronic bronchial condition that we are working hard to eliminate. She has had pneumonia, valley fever and numerous bouts of bronchitis. When we were in Sugar Mountain last winter, she decided to go skiing again and completely tore her ACL and MCL. Luckily our son-in-law is an orthopedic surgeon and one of his partners put her back together again, but the recovery was a full nine months. Let me take a minute to brag about our son and his family. Bryan and Sarah have been married for almost 19 years and have two boys, Cale and Dane. Bryan sold his investment advisory business and became a Maricopa County Sheriff Deputy. In May 2016 he was shot during a drunk driving arrest. Luckily, the two bullets were in his leg and buttocks (think Forrest Gump!) and he has mostly healed. While he was recovering, he decided to learn to play guitar. Our grandson Cale has ADHD badly and has always had difficulty going to sleep. Bryan found that Cale fell asleep faster when he was practicing plunking his guitar. It was the randomness of the plunking that calmed Cale down. Bryan then did some research and ended up publishing a guitar CD entitled "ADHD LULLABY". He finished the first year #8 on the Billboard charts in his small category and is currently about to get a gold record for it! Since I have a tin ear this is astounding. He took medical retirement from the sheriff's office and is now back in the investment advisory business at Almega Wealth Management. Our daughter, Natalie, has been married for almost 16 years and lives in Chalotte with her husband, two sons and one daughter. The kids run her ragged with year-round soccer and baseball. Little Lauren runs the house and will become president someday. I will miss seeing everyone and invite anyone to come visit us when in Scottsdale, Poipu or North Carolina. We have extra rooms. Buzz Wisda |
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