What Was and What Should Never Have Been

2021 What Was and What Should Never Have Been

 

Season’s Greetings from balmy suburban Tulsa.  Like clockwork, or that damned Mariah Carey Christmas song, we dutifully offer our holiday communiqué and festive family photo.  You’ve likely heard this before, but 2021 hasn’t been like ordinary years.  Since we don’t have a physical address, we’re relying on our IP address to spread the word of joy and prosperity though our understanding of either is a big foggy at the moment.

We’ll start this year’s recap with the in-vogue topic, COVID status.  We all got it.  Simultaneously.  In February.  During the snow.  Kristen got the worst of it, Sloane barely felt it, and Steve didn’t know he had it until he was over it. 

2021 was the year we finally took on the daunting task of remodeling our home of the past eighteen years to sell.  The old Wilson Place was given a full makeover, with construction beginning in earnest early in the year.  During the snow.  While we all had COVID.

Nick Easter played Eldin Bernecky to Kristen’s Murphy Brown, and became an honorary member of the family.  There are not enough accolades to describe the job Nick did, and Kristen should also be lauded for her role as project manager.  We’d be remiss without lauding the Eastern Bloc window installation team.  Between distance learning, work from home, Zoom calls, and a major renovation, our small house was a lot smaller for much of the late spring and winter.

The project was completed by early summer, and three days later the house sold.  This was great news.  The unfortunate aspect of a seller’s market is finding a place to go.  In the interim, Kristen’s parents graciously offered to be our billet family.  Occupying the second story of the house lent an All in the Family aesthetic to our housing situation.  The little girl was back home with the overeducated, underachieving, and opinionated Meathead. 

Our annual vacation took us to Yellowstone National Park, which was spectacular.  We saw parts of Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming.  We also spent enough time at DFW to qualify for absentee ballots.  In Idaho we stayed in St. Anthony, in the middle of Napoleon Dynamite territory.  Though we were tantalizingly close to the Dunes, there were no ATVs and no one broke his or her coccyx.  

It’s really impossible to overrate Yellowstone.  It is the most postcard ready place I’ve been since San Francisco.  Plus, with Yellowstone, we didn’t have to crop out the denizens defecating on the sidewalks. The wonders of nature were abundant, and the weather was a beautiful reprieve from the July heat.  The three of us had a wonderful time and can’t wait to go back.

After seeing five years of language immersion flushed in mindless bouillabaisse of distance learning, mandatory days off, and abbreviated Zoom calls, we decided we’d had enough of Tulsa Public Schools (like countless others) and transferred Sloane to Jenks.  After a difficult goodbye and summer of recurring trepidation, her transition was seamless, and she loves her new school home.  Kristen of course, is proud to have a Trojan daughter.

Sloane’s obsession with volleyball has only intensified in the last year.  She rarely goes anywhere without a ball, and is often in full uniform—pads included, and always ready to play.  She has just started practicing with her new team and will begin a busy tournament season in early January.  Sloane loves her teammates and her coach, and continues to play with confidence while improving constantly.

 

In the autumn we found the perfect house.  Optimal location, great space, ideal price point, air conditioning unit the size of a refrigerator.  We made an offer, but the seller selected another buyer.  Shortly thereafter, that deal was off, and our offer was accepted.  It was meant to be.  Happiness and excitement reigned.  Plans were made.  The new address was committed to memory.  Territorial squabbles broke out. 

A week before closing, the seller went AWOL.  Her representation changed from real estate to legal.  After unsuccessfully trying to deter us, she found a loophole and was able to torpedo the contract with impunity.  Suddenly we were back to step one.  The high hopes of Christmas in our new home plummeted like Congress’s approval rating.  Buying a home is difficult enough and is only exacerbated when your seller is on the spectrum.

Steve addressed this on Facebook at the time.  Because, as when Bud kicked Sissy to the curb early in Urban Cowboy, her only choice was to shack up with the antagonist.  He tried to handle it with all the dignity a jilted bride could, though it was like having my parole overturned as I was claiming my watch, belt, and wallet.

Prior to Thanksgiving, we took a road trip to Austin, Texas.  The agenda was two-fold.  We’d go see the Longhorns Volleyball Team play Oklahoma Friday night then stay for the football game against Kansas the following day.  This was arranged in August in the heat of the All Gas No Brakes craze and burnt orange enthusiasm.  By November, the volleyball team had done its part, but the football team had made our tickets virtually worthless.  Still, this was Kansas.  There was no way we were losing to Kanas.

Our first experience at Gregory Gymnasium was electric—a packed to the rafters, enthusiastic sea of burnt orange and a sweep over Oklahoma.  Sloane saw big time volleyball in person and learned “Texas Fight” and “The Eyes of Texas.”  After the game, she posed for photos with her two favorite players. Even the outnumbered but commendably loyal OU fan Kristen got to visit with one of the Oklahoma players.

Saturday was a perfect autumn day.  Lunch at Matt’s El Rancho, a stroll across campus to Bevo Boulevard and into DKR for a crisp evening under the lights.  Four hours later, the unthinkable had happened.  Texas lost to Kansas.  In football.  At home.  The long drive back Sunday was made palatable by a stop at the el dorado of the south, Buc-ee’s.  Like Yellowstone, it’s impossible to overrate Buc-ee’s.

Sadly, there was a casualty in all the excitement of the year.  We lost Shadow the parakeet this fall to undetermined causes.  Between his taste for loud music and his talkative nature, Shadow had quite the personality and is truly missed.

2021 was nothing if not eventful, but like most people, we’re ready to flip the calendar and see what 2022 holds.  To all our friends and family, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a genuine new year.  Not just an extension of the previous one.

Steve, Kristen, Sloane, Ashton, Silver, Mo