Christmas letters reveal bumps in the road

A look at Lower Valley life through the eyes of a local.

Well, now all of the hoopla over the holidays is over. The tree has

been mulched in these oh so politically correct times. Y2K has come and

gone and as we suspected, the

“millennium” is only a marketing ploy. (Who

really bought the last official Barbie of the millennium, anyway?) It is a time

of endless rain and reflection.

As I pack away the ornaments, I take the time to sit down with one

of life’s simple pleasures. Christmas letters. Oh, I know it is totally un-cool

to like Christmas letters, but I have had only one cool day in my life, anyway.

Christmas letters come in the rush of the holidays … no time to

really enjoy them, so I save mine till it’s all over. I wait until the kids are back

in school and the husband is back at work. Then I make a pot of coffee,

fire up the wood stove and relish the time to catch up with kith and kin.

I read in the paper about all of the awful letters people get. How

little Bobby is running for President and little Suzie is off to the Olympics.

I never get letters like that. I get real life, as we live it. The following

excerpts are from actual letters I have received:

Thanks to all of the kids I’ve made five trips to emergency room.

Brian ran into a metal post knocking out all of his teeth. Mike got a metal sliver

in his eye at work and Ben burned his eyes welding. Bobby felt left out so

he stepped on a nail; Ben could not be outdone by his little brother so he

got hit in the face with a board flying off a table saw. I told him he

still had to be in the Christmas picture.

Christmas letters are an intimate moment with my friends and

family. No matter how often I see these people during the course of the year, I

always learn something new from their letters.

After 2 ½ months of on/off premature labor, and a footling breech

position which was aggravated by a constricting band and necessitated a

classical rather than standard cesarean …

OK, sometimes it is more information than any of us really need, but

the point is, Christmas letters allow us a peek not at mankind at the top of

their game, but a look at how we survive all of the little bumps in the road

of life. Some face bigger bumps than others.

Our drain field was damaged and the septic system

totaled

She was recently rear-ended by a semi truck and lived to tell about it

.

Some tell the tale of those facing the biggest bump of all, the

struggle for life over death.

My health continues to improve, although some days can be more of

a challenge than others. I thank the Lord everyday for my improvement.

Yet, through it all, I am constantly amazed, at how everyone I know

finds a way to laugh at the world and at themselves.

She learned the fine art of growling from her brother. A

growling baby really makes heads turn at the grocery

store

A cup of coffee on a rainy day with all of the letters I have saved over

the years allows me to savor family and friend from years gone by. At the

end of the twentieth century there has been much talk of time capsules. Well, if

I had my way, I would have filled one up with all of the Christmas

letters from years past. You couldn’t find a better snapshot of this American life.

UPDATE:

As was reported in the Dec. 23 edition of this paper, the King

County Council stayed up all night just to impose Surface Water Management

on our fine Valley. I feel the deepest sorrow especially for all of the

farmers who will be taxed for every dirt road on their property and for every

golf course that will pay for every gravel cart path. It would not surprise me

at all if those two businesses account for much of the surface water

solutions out here. Of course the logging and housing development operations

provide most of the damage and they are exempt if it passed as proposed. I

suspect it did.

Then there are we little folks who now get to pay $85 per year (to

start) for experts to point out that water is washing across our property. Not

fix it, mind you, just point it out. I guess the Council’s attitude is that if we

yokels out here do not agree with them, then we cannot make an informed

decision and they better do it for us before time runs out via I-695.

Of course our very own Louise Miller and Brian Derdowski voted

in favor of the ordinance. Department of Natural Resources Director

Kurt Triplett said that fees raised in the Valley would be spent in the Valley,

like this is a novel idea for county government. Previously he had stressed

that SWM will hold meetings annually to assess their effectiveness. For 1.3

million a year, I suggest we all attend.

Kate Russell lives between Carnation and Duvall. You can reach

her at Katemo1@msn.com