2014 YEAR IN REVIEW

Our patio

Dan with Grasshopper

Gizmo-RIP

2013 ended with the death of my longtime dear pet, Gizmo. Having a dog who worshipped you for fifteen years pass on left me aware of the gift of being loved. Love has been part of all the new beginnings in 2014. As Dan and I start our 41st year together, we enjoy seeing our home expand again. 

MyKey, Cece and Justin at Justin's B-Day

Chateau Julian Carmel Valley Wine Tour

Millie after her lesson

This was a year full of changes with Mykey, Margaritte, and Millie moving to Tulsa from Austin in March. Mykey had a job at Youth Services of Tulsa before coming, and Margaritte quickly became employed at the Tulsa Botanical Garden. It was a great process, having them first live with us, Millie start at Channing and taking some movement classes. Mykey & Margaritte got settled in their jobs, All Souls Church, and the Unitarian Universalists Parents community. Mykey is teaching the Our Whole Lives (OWLS) sexuality curriculum, and Margaritte led a four week class on Active Hope.

This year Dan and Claudia took a road trip to Monterey Bay and Santa Fe with great side trips along the way there and back.  Upon their return, Margaritte had a birthday, Mykey and Margaritte had another anniversary, and Mykey turned 30! In September, Mykey and Margaritte bought and moved into a home. It is perfect for them!

Kelly, Ash and Sage

Arthrell-Knezek Home

Everyone here in March

Sage and Ash

Justin continued to work at Seton Healthcare Family as an Improvement Advisor. Kelly is teaching two classes at Austin Community College in both Hospitality Management as well as Wines. She teaches her cooking classes at Central Market in addition to filling in for the wine department from time to time. Sage goes to Preschool two days a week, and Ash is doing great! We had two great visits to Austin and another two meetings in Dallas over the year along with Justin & all joining us in Tulsa three times. Family times are the best times. The year ended with another amazing Christmas holiday.

A Gonzales - Arthrell selfie in June

MyKey on his 30th Birthday

Christmas 2014

THE 7 COURSE ITALIAN CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION 2014

I love that my daughter-in-laws have taken over some of the holiday planning, especially around food. I have been raised with many holiday food habits from my grandparents and parents. I love it when these traditions are put aside for new ideas about food, festivities, and what being a family can mean. I especially like that I am still part of all of these plans. This Christmas the plan included creating a seven course Italian meal designed to operate in stages throughout the day to keep us nourished and energized.

I started early on with two kinds of biscotti for our morning latte’s, both a pistachio and an almond. My dear friend contributed a Pantone, which we toasted for the morning breakfast along with latte’s and yogurt with fruit.  Kelly, our chef in residence, started braising the leg of lamp and prepared the stock for it’s five-hour stewing. Once the leg was sealed, the carrots were roasted in the lamb juices to increase their flavoring for the gingered carrot soup course later at lunch. 

We moved on to some gift opening again with a new tradition. Each family shared its gifts to the other family members at once. The family-to-family sharing was wonderful.  Everyone put up with Cece’s tradition of several “simultaneous openings” which included books for all three grandchildren, towels for all four parents, specialty oils for the couples, etc.

Hunger set in with Margaritte’s getting out the antipasto course with prosciutto, olives, cheeses, crackers, and grapes.  The grandkids were ready and this was perfect. Kelly moved on working on her soup while Cece started the risotto for the lunch course. Kids played with their new toys while the table was set for the lunch course. Soup and risotto were quickly eaten before the energy waned and kids started crashing for a nap.

Fortified by food, the last gifts were unpacked in the living room. A fire station and stuffed chair were assembled while a sled and pickling crack were opened. The light and space of the room also provided energy for all! Naps followed for the kids while the adults started to pick up the papers and sort presents and pieces.

The coup de grace was dinner, shredded lamb, roasted cauliflower and Brussels sprouts, green salad, and Italian pesto bread. While playing a game a few hours later, we remembered we also had cannoli’s waiting for dessert.  A perfect end to a daylong celebration! I can’t wait to find out what the team suggests next time we all get together!

BEING INTENTIONAL

I continue to learn great lessons from my family and friends.  My learning seems to get focused when I notice differences between what others would choose to do, think, and how they might act, than what naturally occurs to me.

As I look on the beginning of a new year, I not only am aware of all my possibilities in the year ahead, but I consider the gifts I have learned from the last year. One of those gifts has come from my youngest son and his wife around the power of intentionality. Their annual New Year’s Day ritual includes a very clear goal setting for direction for the upcoming year. One year they decided to move from Olympia, Washington to Austin, Texas. By February 1^st they had a job for Mykey, started looking for a rent house, had been able to route a pre-planned air flight through Austin, and arrange a move in March in time to start a new job. I was amazed! They made it happen with a little help from all of us.

A few years later, they announced on July 1^st that they had decided to move to Tulsa, OK (our home) in March the following year. They wanted to be able to buy a home, have another child, and establish roots in an affordable community. They started paying off loans, consolidating school debt, and clearing out the clutter as they saved some cash for the move, and slowly said goodbye to Austin.

Margaritte, Millie, MyKey, Turkey Mountain, Mother's Day 2014

They did it again. On January 1^st, our son started interviewing for jobs and had one starting in March.  They packed up their home, moved over a weekend into our upstairs apartment, and began again. It didn’t take long for Margaritte to get a job, Millie to be in a pre-school, and the work on clarifying both where they wanted to live and what they could afford. By September they qualified for the loan they needed, bought a home, moved in and hosted a house warming for friends and family.

Christmas 2014- Uncle Bill in the Ukraine

November 14^th, 2014

From Bill

I'm writing from Ukraine today because it is the 10th anniversary of George Arthrell’s death. I went to Baby Yar to remember.   It is a place in Kiev where the Nazis in WWII murdered 100,000 people. WWII was a war that Dad was in as a Merchant Marine.  It was very stirring of course.

December 24^th, 2014

From Bill

Merry Christmas to All! Happy AME party! I won't be able to communicate on Christmas because I am going to the war zone in Donetsk to give Christmas presents to refugees living in a camp chased out of their homes by Russian terrorists. It will be an exciting adventure and the right thing to do. I'll be safe; don't worry. Claudia, please read to all on Christmas Day. I wish I could be there, but this (Ukraine) is just something I have to do. I love you!

December 30^th, 2014

From Cece

 Justin, Kelly, Sage and Ash are safely back in Austin- Kelly is teaching a cooking class tomorrow night and Justin went back to work today. Mykey headed back to work, Margaritte was sick and Millie came over to be with us today. We took down all the Holiday decorations and started getting the house ready to be back to normal.

On Christmas we opened presents quickly, spent the day with a seven course Italian meal on Christmas, talked about you and you doing such a good job following your bliss in your passions. We all had our Christmas Eve service at All Souls-no John Wolfe and Marlin out sick-no you. It was not as satisfying-although the kids were awesome.

The holiday lights have been great, Dan and I loved taking Sage and Ash to Rhema Bible College to see the lights while Justin & Kelly had a date night out. Sage rang a jingle bell saying “HoHoHo Merry Christmas!” for almost an entire hour. Watching the people’s faces light up as they walked by and look at his face full of joy was truly amazing!

Remember you are loved!

December 30^th, 2014

From Bill

Thank you for your Holiday letter. It sounds like you all had a wonderful Christmas! Sage with "Ho Ho HO" already! Wow. I want to clarify a few things; actually my main objective is NOT to follow my bliss. This time in my life in Ukraine is to do something for someone else.

A nationality that has been oppressed its whole history; a country under blatant attack from Russia; a country riddled with corruption that just enriches the super-rich and leaves 80% in dire poverty. A country that lost 100 protesters to POLICE SNIPERS, A LAND THAT HAD 7 MILLION starve TO DEATH IN A PLANNED FAMINE BY STALIN. Did you know besides the "heavenly 100" that perished at the Maiden that about 30 protesters just disappeared? And, 1,000 were wounded? Imagine if some of the protesters at Kent State just disappeared after May 4.

So I went to Donbas for Christmas. I spend $500 on Christmas presents for refugees from Russian terrorism. It's my second visit to this refugee camp in the war zone I have donated thousands of dollars to Ukraine; even overdrew my checking account. It is also gratifying, exciting, exhilarating being in a country where people have to fight for their freedom and really care a bout democracy. In USA everything is just taken for granted and people are so apathetic. Life is painful here; gritty and real; a dark Dostoyevsky novel. It is deeply rewarding, but terribly lonely. I am not here for me, I am here for them.

December 31^st, 2014

From Cece

Bill, in many ways I feel your life has been for others, not yourself.

 You were there for your parents always.

 You were there at Kent State to represent the need for outrage at actions taken.

 Your poetry reflects seeing the world for others through your eyes.

 You dedicated all the years teaching history to inner city teens opening up the possibility that they feel connected to a greater world than their own.

 I think we all have meaning and purpose to why we are alive-yours has been about responding to the world, caring about others, and loving history-what else is ahead for you?

December 31^st, 2014

From Bill

Thank you for such a tremendous letter.  It was so supportive, and thanks for acknowledging me in such a well-written way for what I have already done.  I really feel appreciated and honored.

Tomorrow and Saturday I will narrate a movie!  It is about the tragic history of Ukraine leading up to the Maiden massacres and the Russian invasion currently in the East.    It's a little hard to communicate the full intention of the motive because of my language barrier with the director.

I will return to America on January 29, 2015, at long last.  By that time I will have spent 4 months of my life in Ukraine.  And I have traveled to many sensational other countries in this part of the world. Then it is really time for me to move on in life.  I have dedicated basically a year of my life to this great land.  And I am not even Ukrainian!  I would like to give one more presentation at Mac's Backs on Ukraine.  I was in the war zone twice and have agonizing pictures of the destruction.  I also went to a refugee camp twice and donated much money, gifts, and chocolates and just spent my last Christmas there.

It will be hard to let of Ukraine because this has been one of the most overwhelming and meaningful experiences of my life. I hope I don't see it was black or white (as I usually do) and can include my support for this nation without it being my total life.