The Pattinson Times, Christmas 2018

Greetings to all of our friends and family around the world.  We hope that 2018 leaves you with many happy memories and optimism for 2019.
Tony and I have been transitioning our practice to a new location, with a new partner this year and look forward to being settled in.  So far the move has been reasonably smooth except for the communications companies failing to communicate, creating a lag in our internet and phones.  We've become so reliant on technology that it is difficult to remember how we provided patient care without it!  However, when the going gets tough, children of the 50's pick up a pencil and paper (when we can find one).
Lil took provincial gold for swimming her breaststroke on her high school team this year and while she did get to provincials for cross-country and track, did not do as well as she had hoped.  However, it would seem that Mom is winning the long time debate with Dad:  is she a swimmer or a runner?  She shot up in height and now raids my closet mostly for running shoes.  The month she turned 15, she began working at our favourite restaurant, The Pomegranate, and inhales her weight in Chinese food at the end of each shift.  I am ill prepared to help her with her math homework this year, so her friend (a boy from a very nice family) is tutoring her (with parental supervision).

Grace is annoyingly successful at school and seems to bring home a string of A's without any evidence of homework.  When we donated our grand piano this year, she enthusiastically switched to playing the keyboard.  We're not sure if she's going to be a rocker, a church organist or a pathologist or all of the above.  She has continued with the dive team and had the honour of attending the Ontario Summer Games in August, arriving home with 3 bronze medals.  I took her to a competition in Ottawa last January and we visited the Parliament buildings and museums.  My travel karma should have predicted that on our way home we would be stranded on the train for 20 hours due to a derailment up the tracks and I'm pretty determined to never set foot on a train again without taking along 6 meals, my own heat source and a portable potty.

We did have an awesome Orlando family holiday this year with my sister Annie and her family meeting us, as well as Mandy and her partner Robin joining in the fun.  The kids and cousins went to Universal Studio to visit Harry Potter, and most evenings were spent eating, drinking and catching up with the family that we don't get to see nearly enough.  Plans are in the works to do it all again in 2019.

We had summer visitors as well when Tony's cousin Norma and husband David made their way down to Windsor.  But the real adventure began when David encountered pneumococcus and his pneumonia earned him an experience in our local ER, an extra week of "holiday" with us, and a bottle of vitamin D for the road.

However, the dogs were over the moon with the extra attention from their new friends and we think Norma and David may have converted to schnauzer fans.  I am expecting that a canine adoption is imminent.

We completed the post flood basement repairs in March and have not experienced any other natural disasters this year.  Thanks to global warming and a generous serving of sewer backup in to the vegetable garden, I had my best tomato growing year ever.  Salsa anyone?

Ollie and Sophie are as crazy as ever, and I've already experienced my winter face-plant in the muck when Ollie went into warp speed on a walk.  However, they earn their weight in cookies each day for the fun and comfort they provide us and the squirrel population.

We celebrated 30 years together, and 28 years married this year.  We spent our anniversary as we do many days watching our kids compete in sporting events.  This photo was our attempt to capture a "couple" moment, which speaks volumes about our life together, with no regrets.

We did manage to have a couple's weekend in Guelph while Lil was at the University of Guelph cross country training camp, and spent it eating, drinking and behaving in a way that is unbecoming of people our age.  Again no regrets.

So here is to a happy, balanced and fun filled 2019.  Please keep us on your radar, and drop by Windsor any time for a piece of the action!

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year!

Love, Tony, Mary, Lily, Grace, Sophie and Ollie