Dear Friends,
Long ago, the King of England was taken with a cold and the royal physician determined that it would be good if a bottle of whiskey were placed by the King’s bedside so he could take a little as needed to ease his discomfort. It was thus decreed and a bottle placed nightly at the king’s bedside. In due time the king recovered, completed his reign, died, and was succeeded by kings and queens for two centuries, during which time the bottle was faithfully replaced nightly at the Royal bedside. Finally, in the mid-20th century, Prince Philip discontinued the practice which had continued for two hundred years simply because no one had been told to stop. This is a good description of the Kelley Family Christmas letter. In the beginning there seemed to be a need to communicate information regarding the children. But they are mostly grown by now and lead lives distressingly like adults. About the only rationale’ I can come up with for continuing to write is that this may be a kind of public service, since many people have a suspicion that the lives of others are somehow more interesting than their own. This letter is my small contribution to putting that suspicion to rest, at least in the case of our family.
Karen finished high school this year. Or was that DJ? It’s all very confusing. As many of you know, DJ was homeschooled and the burden of this was mostly borne by Karen. As we were coming down the homestretch in the Spring Semester, Deej was taking a class at the local college which was required for him to graduate. This was the first class in 4 years in which we could not monitor his actual daily progress and the fragmentary information we could glean was not encouraging. Then came the excruciatingly quiet days after the final exam as we waited for Deej’s grade to arrive in the mail. This was like the iconic scene at the end of the movie “Apollo 13” where the astronauts, hurtling earthward in their crippled spacecraft, are out of communication as they experience fiery re-entry. Will they survive or will they crater? Then the envelope finally arrived and...he got a “B!” (cue orchestra crescendo) We had a mighty graduation celebration for DJ which doubled as Karen’s retirement party from her career as an educator.
DJ is now a first year student at Glendale Community College. He participates in the college group at church and plays drums for church services on occasion. Meanwhile, he is also in a band named “Abigail.” Their velocity is “fast” and their volume is measured on the Richter Scale. And that’s just their “Unplugged” album! At present there are no girls in his life except his mother. While Karen was with me in Japan for a month DJ got a glimpse of the future. He lived rent-free in a house stocked with microwaveable food, had a low-emissions car, a CostCo card and medical care, all paid for by someone else, thus preparing him for the coming reality of life in California. The global financial crisis is hitting the freelance dog-walking world especially hard so his economic forecast is being revised downward.
As for Karen, I have enjoyed watching her read a book for pleasure, cook food that interests her, sew for fun, have coffee with friends, and find her way back into other activities she had put aside while we had kids to deal with. She toured with me in Japan and Korea for a month this year and it was reminiscent of our carefree pre-kid days except with very different food. We both continue to enjoy helping out at church where we can and spending time with the people we have come to love so much here in California. We have now been married 32 years, a new record for both of us.
Those who know me know that I dislike home maintenance chores of any kind. When a light switch breaks I assume that is a sign from God telling me not to go in that room when it’s dark. There is evidence that I am descended from nomads who simply moved rather than having to clean up the bones and trash around their teepees. Anyway, after procrastinating on painting the house for a couple years, shame finally got the better of my aversion. There was further motivation in the form of a terse comment from Pastor Jack, to the effect that he would help me. In due time (and with the help of many kindhearted friends) the house was painted and we even had some fun along the way. Now, about the light switch...
Last summer when gas approached $4 per gallon we knew driving 7,500 miles to Michigan and back was probably not going to be an option. The Kelley family sent a token representative (me) to the traditional Michigan Summer on the lake and that was that. I celebrated my auspicious birthday (08/08/08) playing the trombone in my daughter’s basement and traumatizing her cats.
In November, while sitting in a Starbucks in Tokyo a guy I’d previously seen there a few times struck up a conversation with me, asking what I did there in Japan. When I told him I was an orchestra conductor he responded, “You hide it well.” This is a comment that seems best not to over-analyze, I find. But since I was disguised as a guy who had just gotten out of bed and wanted to be left alone to read his paper and drink his coffee I could understand where he was coming from. I just finished my 6th annual orchestra tour (Japan/Korea) for Disney and we’re looking to possibly add China in ‘09. Kompai!!!
Daughter Kate and #1 Son in Law Greg have been married 3 years and are thriving in Lansing, Michigan. Kate will graduate from Michigan State this Spring. Greg is on staff at Trinity Church. My parents are still active, living in Northern Michigan in the summer and Florida in the winter.
You will note that despite the mess we seem to be making of things that the sun continues to rise as scheduled, the stars move in their courses, the seasons progress. God provides seed for the sower, rain in its season, and feeds the birds of the air. His common grace is heralded daily by those who are not too distracted to see it. We may mess up but God never does and this is a time to take comfort in that. “At the right time” God sent His Son to live among us so that we might live forever with Him. Thank God for His marvelous gift!
Grace and Peace,
Brad, Karen and DJ Kelley
