2011 Personal Year-in-Review

This is a recap of personal events that took place in my life this year, in addition to the ones listed in the previous blogs regarding my first two weeks of vacation and my return to school.

My 10^th anniversary of working at Acme took place on June 12.  I received a service pin shortly afterwards.  Many changes were taking place, including an expanded cake center and floral department.  A mass hiring took place during the spring and summer, with some more people hired in the fall.  Seeing all the kids come in is an interesting experience.  They probably all wonder how I ever made it there 10 years.   I try to give them the advice of a more experienced person. 

I made a ton of new friends, my two best being Max Hennis and Megan Kozak.  I would say Max has a similar personality to mine.  We’re both laid back most of the time, but when we don’t like something, we get fired up and tell it like it is, although he swears more than I do.  His parents remind me of mine and we both think that Matt D is a pretty cool dude.  Megan is about the nicest person you’ll ever meet.  You couldn’t pay her to say something bad about someone and seems to be constantly happy.  We hired a few older people too and they are good to talk to as well.  Some good people left too, like Teresa, Jen, and Chris.  Teresa had a baby girl, Jen married former co-worker Kyle, and Chris left for college.

Matt, Max, Justin (girlfriend Megan), Todd, Dayne, and a few others started meeting out at Griffith’s Pool this summer.  We had a blast out there and I want to keep it going a few more summers. I went to Max’s graduation party and was glad to be there for that special moment in his life.  We played a fun game of corn hole too.  Megan, Yuki, and I got together once for a movie, but Yuki’s leaving for school, so Megan and I will have to find a new movie buddy or two.

A few good people I knew died this year.  In March, our neighbor, Mrs. Kaludy, passed away at age 83.  Soon afterwards her husband moved to a retirement center.  They were good neighbors and I miss seeing them when I go outside, even though they only lived there four years.  In November, Grandpa Muffet’s first cousin, Juanita Thomas, passed away at age 81 after a few months of illness.  I knew her well from St. Andrew’s and she was a nice lady to talk to and was good to our family.  Stephanie’s (BHS friend) dad also died this year and while I didn’t know him, I felt bad for her since her family’s had some bad luck the last few years.

Father Tarsis retired from St. Andrew’s at year’s end.  A lunch was held to honor him and his wife on Dec. 11, followed by the annual Christmas party at his home on Dec. 18 (I got to catch up with old friend Paul C. while I was there).  His last service was Christmas weekend.  I’ll miss seeing Father Tarsis at church, but I plan to remain friends with him as long as we’re both alive.  Scott and I continued to usher once a month.  We almost always meet for lunch after church, either at Thano’s, Green Diamond, or with his parents at Taco Bell.

I try to get to Barberton football and boys basketball games when my work and school schedule allow.  I usually sit with family friend Jim, but I got to catch up with old friends BJ, Sean, and Josh at the Greynolds Holiday Classic on Dec. 30.  I hadn’t seen BJ and Sean in several years, but Josh and I get together on occasion at Magics sporting events and attended a U Akron basketball game at the JAR in February.

I want to give a shout out to some people who graduated, married, and had children this year.  Cousin Jamie graduated from Norton High School and Megan (BHS friend) got her master’s from UA.  They both had graduation parties the same day and they were both fun.  I got to catch up with people at both.  Liz (BHS friend) got married and while we haven’t seen each other in ages, I try to keep up with her blogs.  Cousins Rachel and Ron had a baby, Parker, in September.  A few hours later, our longtime friends Beth and Tony had a baby, Drew.  It was too ironic!  A few others who had babies were BHS friend Brett and his wife Susan (daughter Emma), Cousin Stacy and Matt (daughter Julia), and Cousin Lisa (daughter Caysen).  I’ve seen one of the four babies so far.

The Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday season went on as usual, spending Thanksgiving at Grandma Maybin and Susie’s house (Uncle Tom’s mom and sister) and Christmas at Aunt Kathy’s house.  We also got together a few others times, including Labor Day weekend, when we celebrated Grandma Maybin’s 90^th birthday at Green Diamond, and Cousin Ellie’s 1^st birthday at Aunt Kathy’s house.