Christmas 2012

Christmas 2012

Merry Christmas from the Blaney Family. 

2012 was a wonderful year for us as we hope it was for all of you. 
 
We did not do a lot of travelling this year but when we did travel it was to the east coast to visit Kathleen.  Cathy, her dad, Erin, Jon, Mary Jo and I flew in to Providence to witness Kathleen’s graduation from Brown University.  She received her master’s degree in Public Health.  We were able to take side trips to Connecticut and Massachusetts in her 1997 van with 150,000 miles on it with no air-conditioning.  Every we time we stopped and got out, the seven of us pouring out of that van reminded me of a circus clown car. 

Later that summer, Cathy went back out to spend some one-on-one time with her.  Cathy drove and Kathleen navigated as they made their way into the heart of NYC.  While there they attended the Broadway musical, “Mamma Mia”

Watching all the news coverage about Hurricane Sandy made me want to jump on a plane and fly east.  So I did and I am grateful that Delta was the only airline flying into Providence the day after the storm.   Before driving back to Wisconsin we took a side trip to Cape Cod and Nantucket.   Kathleen cleaned out her apartment that served her well for two and a half years and we headed west.  We made side trips to visit Yale, Hershey PA, Gettysburg and the NFL Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.   Because of the devastation of the hurricane, we avoided NYC but still spent 3 hours searching for and waiting for gas in New York & New Jersey.  We’ll always remember the people we met at Walgreens.  The area had no gas, no electricity and no heat for days.  Walgreens was being powered by generators and people were huddled around a powerstrip that the store provided so they could recharge their cell phones and laptops.

This year Cathy and I are especially thankful to have two gainfully employed daughters.  Erin continues her work as a bilingual social worker for The Healthy Families Program of Family Services where she works with at-risk infants and first time mothers.  Now well into her second year with Family Services, Erin has fallen in love with many of “her babies” and they with her. 

Kathleen has accepted a position with the AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin as an HIV Nurse Case Manager.  Her duties include clinic time in Green Bay and home visits in the surrounding area. 

Other 2012 highlights include Kathleen’s trip to the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, NC, and Ken receiving an alumni award from his high school.

Cathy continues to teach 2^nd grade in our neighborhood school.  She struggles with the lack of materials, support staff and the increasing needs of her students but continues to make a terrific impact on her student’s lives.

As always, we'd love to hear from you. 

Merry Christmas!

Ken, Cathy, Kathleen and Erin