Dear Friend,
This is a periodic
holiday letter coming a month after the recent holidays have come and
gone. I know that I haven’t
touched base with many of you in years.
I was prompted by a wonderful late holiday letter from my friend, Polley
McClure – thank you Polley. I
wanted to write back to Polley and then thought that there were so many of you
that I wanted to touch base with, that I would do a semi-mass mailing. I added the letter to my to-do list in
the order that was going to work for me,
and I am now up to the writing.
In front of letter writing was:
Finish quilt top 1
Finish quilt top 2
Build a sewing machine cover for sister
Next on list is:
Write this letter
Write reports for church committee
Start on a new quilt – a 100 block wonder
I started quilt tops one
and two at two different classes last summer. Several projects intervened and the tops were put away until
after the holidays. I told my
sister I would make her a quilted cover for her sewing machine three years ago,
and she reminded me again, so I put that on the list. Good to have these three items checked off. Of course, I need to ‘quilt’ tops 1 and
2. When I return from Florida, I
will put #2 on my long arm machine, but I think I will send #1 off to someone
who is a professional ‘quilter’. I
love the piecing part of this work, and I am happy to do easy long arm
quilting, but I have this #1 piece and another piece at home that I just can’t
imagine finishing.
Now you know how I like
to spend my time. I am in Florida
– on St. George Island – which is a barrier island off the “Forgotten Coast” –
the Florida panhandle. It is 60 or
so degrees here – while it is 9 degrees in Pittsburgh. I am here with my friend, Beth, from
Rochester NY. This is the third
year we have rented a house on St. George Island – and this year we did it for
two months instead of one. A month
is gone already – the days pass too quickly. We look out the front window at the Gulf of Mexico – can see
the sunrise and the sunset over the Gulf.
Most days, the horizon is so straight and clear. I understand why our ancestors thought
that if they sailed in one direction they would sail off the end of the
earth.
I turned 79 in December
– the beginning of my 80th year. I figure that I am meant to celebrate this 80th
year – and I am practicing waking every morning with joy and thanksgiving. My siblings and I have long outlived
our family history – me with most reasonable health as well as the means to
live in comfort. For this I am
grateful.
When I am not hanging out
on this sand dune in Florida, I am living near daughter and her children and
son and his children have been living with me in my Pittsburgh home. Artist daughter, Julie, is currently
teaching at the Waldorf School of Pittsburgh (art, woodworking, handwork as
well as subbing in the middle school – she has learned geometry as the result
of needing to teach it to middle
school students). Julie is making
some art in her off hours as well as vegetable gardening when weather
permits. (Biodynamic gardening is
one of her interests). Her most
recent project has been “gourd birds” – the gourds coming from her garden. Her web page is well outdated, but you
can see the gourds and other of her art on her facebook page – Julie Stunden. The birds are delightful.
Son James graduated from
nursing school last June – with a two year RN degree. (He had been a firefighter for years, but suffered a severe
injury and couldn’t continue that work; he was also an advanced practice
paramedic). Got his degree and
passed his exams just as the two major health care systems in Pittsburgh became
engaged in a war – both are also insurance carriers – and it has been awful. It meant that jobs went away. For the last couple of months he has
been a substitute school nurse – and has really enjoyed that, and just this
past week he started in one of the very big hospitals – a level one trauma
center – as a nurse in the Emergency Department. Hallelujah!! He
is also signed up to start school on-line at Western Governor’s University in
March – to get his BSN. Some of
our children mature more slowly.
Two grand daughters
started college this fall.
Maeve (belongs to Julie) is
taking trips to NYC to march for causes and is taking classes such as world
religions and world politics. Ali,
left school-away-from-home after one semester to come back and be with father
and boyfriend, but has a 16 unit program at community college for this semester
– heavy in the biological sciences.
Two grandsons are in high school (11th and 10th
grades) and one grandson is in middle school at the Waldorf School. All are moving forward nicely. The 11th grader, Jaxon
(belongs to son), is an electric bass player, a guitar player and a writer of
music that I don’t understand. The
10th grader, Liam
(belongs to daughter), got a bass for Christmas and is receiving lessons
from the 11th grader – a formalized process that seems to be working
well. He is also making progress toward his black belt. The 7th grader, Gaven (belongs to son) initiated a
petition to the school bus company to keep their bus driver this year – and his
petition, much to everyone’s surprise including the driver’s, was
successful.
All beloved nephews and
niece and grand nephews visited for either Thanksgiving or Christmas. It was a special year that way as all
adults had been (and still are ) a very big part of my life.
And that’s the immediate
family update. There are no
spouses in the Pittsburgh picture.
Julie and James are spouse free at this time.
I left work at the
University of Wisconsin nine years ago this coming summer. I can’t believe it has been so
long. Friends there who I thought
were young have retired since I left.
Children who were very little are well grown. These years have gone so fast. I have been working for MOR Associates as a leadership coach
since retirement from the University, part time – sometimes a bigger part of
the time than at other times. This
past summer, I indicated that I really needed to not work that much any more,
so, while I am not completely retired, I am working much less than I had
been. I have enjoyed the
leadership coaching, and feel really good about having been able to work with
folks to think through and implement how they could do their work (and
sometimes their lives) differently.
Needing to be part of
something bigger than just me, though, I joined the local Unitarian Church, and
can’t just be a member, but have this thing about being a leader. So, I have been privileged and
frustrated to be on some important committees. I have made many new friends in Pittsburgh, mostly through
the church, and some through the quilting community.
What’s next? I am expecting my son and his family to
leave my house in the near future – a job with a paycheck should let him do
that. Then I need to figure out
how to live the next part of my life.
I don’t want a two-story house anymore. I don’t want a walk that needs to be shoveled. While I love my garden, I really can’t
bend down to take care of it easily.
All of this says I need to leave my house behind. So, that’s the next thing under
consideration. I have read Atul
Gawande’s book, Being Mortal, and he poses interesting questions about
how to live this late phase of life.
I’m thinking about some of the options he presents, options that
Pittsburgh presents, options that will work for me
This island in Florida
has presented me the opportunity to have my nails manicured. They are a bright pink. I even had a one-foot pedicure and my
toenails are green with a flower on the big toe. Life is good for me.
My wishes for you are that your life is also good- that you experience
joy on a daily basis. My wishes
for the world are more complex. I
guess the clearest one is that the killing stop and that “respect for the interdependent
web of all existence of which we
are a part” is taught to and owned by every human being. I won’t see this. I hope my grandchildren and your
grandchildren do.
So I end with one of my
favorite quotes – from Jeremiah was a bullfrog – “Joy to the world, all
the boys and girls now, joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea, joy to you and
me”.
Annie
Annie Stunden 1112 Mifflin Ave Pittsburgh PA 15218-1313
In my room on St. George
Island
Rags is my traveling
companion
Quilt top #1
“Starbursts”
Quilt top #2 –
“Progress, not perfection”
Sunrise and Horizon –
view from north side of Gulf of Mexico
