Looking back it’s obvious that 2021 was a make-up year for 2020 on the travel front. I might have gotten carried away, and yet we still find ourselves in the middle of a global COVID pandemic. These letters tend to focus on the “big” moments, but it is the small, daily actions and experiences that shape us by building character and habits.This year I seek a balance between the minutiae of daily living and the highlights.
By last Christmas I needed an addendum to the 2020 letter, as the week after sending it the garage door plead no contest in its second and last fight with Lisa and her mini-van. The repairman performed a miracle to put it back together and close the opening from the winter weather then gave us the bad news of a 6-8 week lead time for a new door. It took 13! So much for having a garage during winter.
One day Lisa sent me a video with text about worms in Ditten’s (the previously unnamed kitten) barf, seriously, who knew that was a thing? I still haven’t watched it and from what the kids said, you don’t want to see the video of the little wrigglers, unless you do…let me know. It’s surprising that Ditten is still around after the difficulty she had transitioning to a litter box. For weeks she marked her territory against the neighborhood cat that started a turf way by repeatedly coming in through our cat door. Aluminum foil covering the floor didn’t stop her but we learned that a black light shows pee in the carpet—who knew?
When my sister Laurie invited us last minute to join her family in Hawaii in February we were ready to abandon Ditten, but unsure of the wisdom of trying to travel with a family of 8 during Covid. What could go wrong?, An emergency surgery (see below) and positive Covid test 10 days before departure had us anxiously awaiting our final tests the day before departure but we were all able to go and enjoy some winter sunshine. Do yourself a favor and eat a dozen Malasadas next time you are in Hawaii. I blocked off the front room with a mattress to keep Ditten out and when we returned she was potty trained again.
It didn’t take much coaxing for me to plan one last trip before Natali’s mission, after all the kids’ passports only last 5 years and had been used just once…obviously we needed to go somewhere. I scoured the world for affordable flights (check), good wildlife viewing (check), Spanish speaking (for Natali, check), somewhere I hadn’t been (well I hadn’t been to that part of the Amazon)—Peru was just the place. We had the lodge in the Amazon all to ourselves, if a family party of 18 counts as all to ourselves—Laurie returned the favor by joining our vacation and we brought my mom along too. Our trip included Pink River Dolphins, Uakari, barf (there’s always barf) which led to a remote village clinic visit, Cusco, the Inca Trail, Machu Picchu, and a Rainbow Mountain at 16,000 feet! I got pictures of pretty much everything. Having overdone the family vacations by mid-summer Greg skipped the Dame reunion in Colorado to visit a couple of newly acquired Woodgrain sawmills in North Carolina and Virginia but he did help drive to the reunion in order to visit Mesa Verde enroute. How did it take me so many years to finally visit that gem?
Natali (19) and Lisa did a make-up graduation trip—FL, GA, SC took her state total to 47. The 3rd best email of the year came out of the blue from BYU during the middle of her 2nd semester—she had earned a full tuition scholarship for her sophomore year! The best email came from President Nelson calling her to serve in the Rosario, Argentina mission. Now accustomed to curve balls she took the changes in stride as her Missionary Training Center assignment changed from 3 weeks in Mexico City to learn Spanish to 6 weeks of online study from home. Halfway through she changed from a native English speaker class to a native Spanish speaker class which she loved after the initial intimidation wore off. Of course Argentina’s borders didn’t open in time so she was reassigned to the Eugene, Oregon mission. She loved getting to know, serving, and teaching the people of Yachats and Waldport two small coastal hamlets and they loved her baking skills, smiles, and testimony of Jesus Christ, but the 2ndmost exciting email came in early October and said she’d be off to Argentina on November 18th! Got one last dad hug at the Atlanta airport on her way south after he happened to be there at just the right time. See you all in 13 months!
Mack’s (18) closet could make Imelda Marcos jealous, though he did sell a few of pairs of shoes, 3 of them at a profit in what he called a business venture. As I write he’s kicking a soccer ball against the wall in frustration and boredom because his senior soccer season ended early after 2 upsets in the district tournament. He doesn’t show emotion easily or frequently, but it was obvious how important soccer has been for him when I saw his tears after the final whistle. I might have had wet eyes after he scored his 1st varsity goal. He’ll always remember converting a penalty kick on senior night in front of grandparents—guess the book on penalty kick strategy was effective! He battled through injuries to his shoulder and knee but was an important member of the team playing 5 different positions—pretty much everything but keeper. He did well enough the 1st time he took the ACT (Natali was not happy he matched her best score) that we haven’t convinced him to take it again and is working on college applications…We are already dreading his upcoming graduation and missing his dry sarcasm and one-liners.
Andrew (16) earned street cred for his pain tolerance after we learned he had appendicitis. Of course, he tested positive for COVID before surgery which greatly complicated the process. Andrew’s mouth is usually running and you never know what will come out, but it is frequently entertaining. When someone asked if they could buy just one of his two guinea pigs for sale, his siblings wondered, “Well what if he already has one?” Andrew knew better, “He doesn’t have one, because if he already had one he would know he doesn’t want another one.” We count on Andrew keeping family scripture study real with comments like the one when we discussed chastisement in the scriptures: “My teachers don’t chastise me because they love me, they chastise me because I’m annoying.” Well, we chastise him because we love him. And sometimes we tease him like when things got so bad during COVID in February that he started spotting and tracking animal sightings on Google Earth. He made me look at 27 different pins across the world where he had found various critters. No, he doesn’t get paid for that. Mid-summer his hair started to curl and he transitioned to contacts after getting kicked in the face in the first soccer game of the season. He’s on track to get his driver’s license—by the time he’s 17. Went on his first date to homecoming the weekend after scoring a header to tie a game in the last 5 minutes.
Kate (14) continues to progress on her point shoes in ballet after years of hard work, enjoys the occasional babysitting gig, appreciates when her brothers say hello at the high school, traveled with Lisa to visit Natali for a weekend at college, is thinking about selling her waist-long curly blonde locks, overcame a lot of stressful moments (fish nibbling on her toes in the Amazon, car and altitude sickness on the one-way windy road with no bathroom stops to Rainbow Mountain) to enjoy the new experiences in Peru, but her favorite part was of course playing with cousins…maybe I’ll just drive her to Utah next time😉 Practiced doing the splits with Lily all year until she reached her goal just before Thanksgiving.
Emily (11) has stayed loyal to Perdita rather than giving her affection to Ditten and played nurse for Perdita after she had a massive growth removed from her jaw. Finding a moose this year in Yellowstone after missing last year was a great relief. She was completely surprised when Aunt Beth’s kids knocked on the door the first morning in Hawaii, but wasn’t quite so excited to swim with the sharks. She thoroughly enjoyed Peru except for the day she barfed, decided she likes sloths almost as much as moose, and climbed the 100-foot ladder to the start of the jungle zipline. She completed a school reading challenge (30+ books) and is counting the days until she can attend the temple in January.
Lily (8) was baptized by Mack in March and scored her first goal in spring soccer. Hiked 7 miles of the Inca Trail and brought back a very personal souvenir from Machu Picchu that won’t be thrown away—an inch long scar on her chin after slipping on a wet stone step. Our guide attempted a local remedy with an egg membrane that was fascinating to watch, but ultimately not terribly effective. Fell in love with the baby llamas in Cusco and in the tops of the Andes. She’s adjusted to school without Emily for the first time, but looks forward to being together again during her freshman year—that’s a long time away! Is usually found early Saturday mornings snuggled up on the couch with Mack watching Bayern Munich soccer and cheering on their favorite player Robert Lewandowski who they affectionately call Levanbobski.
Lisa tried half a dozen sample paint colors on the front and back of the house but needs to decide soon because the HOA is tired of our unpainted garage door. After a miscommunication with kids left 2 gallons of milk in the van trunk and then couldn’t figure out why the van stunk. When Greg got home from a work trip 5 days later he found them erupting in the trunk…barf. Chopped her hair off after family pics (it’s gorgeous, trust me), might be missing her oldest, can’t wait to watch Hamilton for her anniversary next week, & developed a passion for family history research and then going to the temple in their behalf—all while reading 90 books (50 more than Greg—but the editor isn’t sure “those” kind of books really count?)
Greg: Now that he and Lisa are both comfortably past 40, no need to type the specific ages. May have successfully repaired the collapsing dock in the backyard but we better wait another year before declaring it a success. Made LOTS of pesto from the basil that Natali planted and tended. Gave away a few, but not many of the 65 perfect peaches from his first ever peach crop. Took Andrew to Bolivia for his delayed 15-year-old trip where they had a dream sighting of a jaguar and added another dozen plus mammals to his list. Ran out of hard drive space on his computer taking pictures during soccer. Finished typing all his old journals, attended his 25-year high school class reunion, and is enjoying the BYU sports renaissance.
On a more personal note (if you can get more personal than barf), the effects of COVID have been felt at work and amongst friends, but having close family members diagnosed with MS and Leukemia have been the hardest health challenges for us this year and reinforced what we all know but often act as though we’ve forgotten—that spending our time and energy with and for our family brings the most lasting happiness. I’m more grateful than ever for faith in a living Savior and Heavenly Father who love us and have a plan to help us return to their presence and a living Prophet to guide us in tumultuous times.
Book ideas: Factory Man, Devil in the Grove, Caste, Restoration: God’s Call to the 21st Century World
Merry Christmas, The Eastons (Greg, Lisa, Natali, Mack, Andrew, Kate, Emily, Lily, Perdita, and Ditten)
