2001
THE SCHLAVER CHRISTMAS CHIMES for 2001
Dear friends,
The seasons change so fast these days that I am finding it hard to keep up with them! Seems like only yesterday that I was picking my last tomatoes and peppers, and only the day before yesterday that I was planting them. Now they’ve all ripened and been eaten, and now I’m ready for another winter, with leaves raked and fireplace burning, and all my plants inside the house to keep me company.
I didn’t travel much beyond the corner of Lincoln and I-Oka Avenues this year, but I was happy to be able to get to Phoenix in April to meet David’s friends there and see his place at Casa Santa Cruz before he had to leave it in July to return to a new job at Notre Dame. Now he is working at the Holy Cross Mission Center at Moreau Seminary, close enough to visit me almost every weekend. He does my laundry (along with his) and some household tasks and cooks some special dishes, making sure I eat the right things!
Since I couldn’t visit Boston this year, Paul came to visit me in July, along with his son Julian (from New York), daughter Lisa (Taunton, Massachusetts), and her three daughters whom I had not yet seen. We had a great reunion. His other son Ben is living in Los Angeles and working with computers. Paul took time off of his consumer-affairs work to make several other trips to Mt. Prospect, helping me with spring cleaning, planting, fall cleanup, and winterizing.
Marcia has moved into a renovated schoolhouse near Dowagiac, Michigan, and works as editor of the Dowagiac and Niles newspapers. Her son Matthew is in his second year at the University of Chicago Law School; Clay and Carrie live in Hoffman Estates, Illinois; Shane is in Boston; and Michelle is in South Bend.
The long-awaited millennium brought me some additional aches and pains, so I move much more slowly and carefully around the house and yard. Not much energy left in these old bones! But I’m happy to be able to stay in my familiar surroundings and amble about. I sleep pretty well, read the morning newspaper, try to take my medicines faithfully, and look forward to my brother-in-law Ralph Coplan’s regular letters and daily phone calls from my children. I enjoy a Jack Daniels as I watch the evening news and a bowl of ice cream before bed. So the days pass and I am grateful for my blessings.
I wish you and yours a Merry Christmas and New Year’s blessings. May the joys of the season fill your home and bring peace to your family!
Peace & Love,
Elizabeth C. Schlaver
400 S. I-Oka Avenue
Mt. Prospect IL 60056
