Editor’s Note – Yesterday on Coach Jeff’s Blog, we reviewed stories 6-10 during the first part of our year-end retrospective. Today, we’ll count down the top five Gary Stories of 2014 as well as the honorable mentions. We’ll start with those.
Honorable Mention Stories:
Paul’s job (at Fox Den), personal health, gatherings and get-togethers with family, movies and television shows we’ve enjoyed. Also of note: We’ve really enjoyed lots of time on the internet. With Holly, in France early in the year and in Arizona the second part of the year, Skype was a valuable tool for us. We even enjoyed a special Thanksgiving Day Skype Session. We’ve also shared a number of cute online videos – many of them featuring cats – this year including this family favorite.
Now…on with the countdown.
5. Success in the Workplace –
Both Lisa and I had great years at work. We both work with great teams and we have the opportunity to do interesting things and make a difference.
She does this in the classroom and with her students; I work with a great team of talented young professionals and I work for a team of dedicated and knowledgeable leaders. We both feel blessed to serve in these positions and we look forward to more great things in 2015.
4. Arizona –
Holly spent the fall semester as a grad student and graduate teaching assistant at the University of Arizona. In August, the four of us headed to the desert and enjoyed visiting a place unlike any we have been before. Blue skies. Mountains everywhere. A few tumbleweeds. Lots of cacti!
3. Successful Selection –
My service on the PNC at our church concluded with the successful selection of our new minister. The Rev. Matt Nieman came to Farragut Presbyterian Church this summer. The selection has been universally hailed as a tremendous success. Matt, Jenni, Jacob and Joey arrived this summer from Nebraska and couldn’t be a better fit for our church.
Note – This has been such an amazing year for us, really, any of the Top 5 could have been considered for the Number One slot. In fact, in past years, many of these could have been the winner.
This year I had two excellent selections that I could easily argue for Number One. Do you choose a very special family vacation – the first time three of us had set foot on European soil? Do you go with a personal quest…to honor a special lady and recognize her role in family history?
Maybe you go with both…the choice for #1 Gary Story of the Year…a tie.
1A. Oh Mary –
I’ve written a number of blog posts over the last few years about my quest to learn about my great grandmother, Mary Valentine Carpenter. To recap her story, she was taking care of a neighbor who had been diagnosed with tuberculosis and she, too, contracted the disease. She died, all too young, at the age of 25 and left behind a grieving husband and a small daughter (my grandmother).
My research brought me to the Pittman Cemetery in Marshall County, MS (just southeast of Memphis) where she was buried in an unmarked grave. I reached out to the community via a Letter to the Editor in the local newspaper, The South Reporter. I received a tremendous response from the kind and generous citizens.
In October, a family contingent – my dad and mom, my sister, Holly, Lisa and I went to Marshall County and our new friends joined us as we laid a marker for Mary. It was a powerful day. Lots of emotion.
Two postscripts to the story. First: after we returned home from MS, I started looking for songs about Mary and I ran across this poignant Neil Diamond song from 2005 titled “Oh Mary.” It really spoke to the emotions of our family quest. “Haunting” was the word Lisa used to describe this beautiful tribute. And she’s right.
Second: Not long after we returned from our October trip to MS, a distant relative found a picture of a woman believed to be Mary and sent it to us. From all indications, we think it is her. What a wonderful gift!
And what a wonderful story to be the #1 Gary Story for 2014…one of the two, that is.
1B. European Vacation –
Any time a family flies across ‘the big pond’ for the first time and sees all the iconic sights of London and Paris, it simply has to be the #1 story for the year.
Big Ben. Yes. Arc de Triomphe. Mais oui. Buckingham Palace. Check. Champs Elysees. Bien sur! Harrods. Of course.
Louvre. St. Paul’s. Notre Dame. Westminster Abbey. Musee’ D’orsay.
Well, you get the idea. From May 8-May 15, we explored these two venerable cities and got a wonderful taste of each. And, yes, we did take the opportunity to visit the most iconic spot of all.
Our other #1 Gary Story for 2014.
So…there you have it – the Top 10 Gary Stories for 2014
Thanks to all of you loyal readers of Coach Jeff’s Blog for tuning into the blog this year. I am looking forward to a great 2015 with lots of new ideas for fun and excellent blogging. To all of you, happy holidays and great wishes for a Happy New Year!
JG
Originally posted 12/23/2014
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