Dear Friends,
For the third year in a row we’ve had a reluctance to begin writing our annual summary of the life of the Camerinos. Last year’s events gave us pause … and hope that life in this world might improve and peaceful events would transpire. In previous years there was war in Iraq, the Ebola virus and Crimea (and before that Bosnia and even the Y2K bug) to give us existential concerns. In 1987, the first year for our computerized letters (there are some typed ones in the more distant past), we did not have such international concerns to worry about.
Thirty years ago we opened with Karen’s work for the Family Life Office of the Diocese of Galveston-Houston, with Pat’s administrative position at Baylor College of Medicine and his ministry as a deacon at Christ the Good Shepherd. Deb was a coordinator at the Convention Center in San Antonio, Ken was working in a Houston psychiatric hospital and Christopher was a teaching assistant in Austin!
Now our kids are married; Deb is enjoying being the Branch Manager of a library in San Antonio; Ken continues with his work as a Correspondence Manager with United Recovery Systems; and Christopher has retired from his school administrative position in The Woodlands. Their spouses (Frank, Tracey and Kelly) continue without significant changes in what they do.
Now it’s time for the following generations: Jordan (with Samantha and Claire) lives in College Station; Dillon (with Caroline and Brantley) resides in Houston; Kirby (with Stephen) is now teaching mathematics in a classroom next to her Mom’s; Kennedy is a neurology nurse at Houston Methodist Hospital (Willowbrook); Christina and Cristian Araujo are the new, proud parents of Elijah David; Thomas and Victoria are planning what their post-school futures might hold; Olivia, Damien, Joseph and Gabriel are continuing with home-schooling. This should account for our eleven grand-children and three (current) great-grand-children.
Pat and Karen now have expired passports and no plans for foreign travel (or travail). We have all those vacation videos, which we’re very happy we made, to help renew those fading memories. If only those aches and pains of eight decades would fade as well. We continue to maintain we made the right choice of moving to our retirement community a dozen years ago. Although we live across the road from Barker Reservoir, which poured flood waters on downtown Houston, our apartment building and grounds were not damaged by Harvey. The surrounding community was not as fortunate as you’ve heard and seen in the news. The Cenacle Retreat House was destroyed; Karen has been forced to cut back her interactions with it. After all these years we have transferred our membership from Christ the Good Shepherd in Spring to Epiphany of the Lord in Katy which is much closer to Eagle’s Trace. In our personal lives, what we do has not changed over the past year, but how fast we do it has slowed down.
If only national and international events would do the same: slow down or even cease to be so vexing. We continue to hope and pray that what was once peaceful (civilized) and normal might return. We wish our focus could be as it was in the “eighties” while we remain happy in our own “eighties” – a focus on life and values that bring tranquility and happiness to all people.
We closed with a wish for peace and happiness in our 1987 letter; we once more offer it with renewed hope — for that’s still left in 2017. (Besides, if Houston can be dusted by snow in December, hope remains viable.)
May you have a blessed Christmas.
Silent Night
Silence – stillness – peace.
Waiting – pondering – listening.
These words greet us in Christmas carols.
They speak of an agricultural time, a time of shepherds, camels and journeys by donkey.
At this time of the year, my heart yearns for silence, for stillness.
The air is filled with traffic noise, machinery, “Jingle Bells” and chatter.
Parties, shopping and busyness surround me.
It is difficult to ponder, to listen in stillness.
And yet — deep in my soul there is a quiet place –
A place of starry nights and the bleating of sheep –
A place where the air is filled with a baby’s cry –
A place of soft voices, lullabies, and joy –
A place of peace.
“Silent night, holy night, all is calm, all is bright.”
If I seek the stillness within and if I listen with every part of my being,
There is Christmas.
Karen Camerino, 2017