Every year Jeff and I send out a holiday letter with our cards. I know it is a hokey tradition and I always feel a little self-conscious doing it, but — with some friends with whom I am not in touch often — it’s an important way of sharing news.
My fear is that people get the letter and
a. roll their eyes
b. chortle
c. throw it in the trash
Well, it turns out my frind Gara LaMarche, outgoing head of US Programs for George Soros’ Open Society Institute and incoming head of Atlnatic Philanthropies (and also a longtime activist whom I count as one of my mentors), liked our letter so much he mentioned it in his blog (http://garala.typepad.com/garalog/)! I am relieved.
Forthe record, here it is:
Davis-Jennings 2006
It’s official: we hate summer.
In July 2002, Kevin’s Mom died; in August 2005, Kevin had a nearly fatal heart attack; and on July 18, 2006, we lost Jeff’s Mom Jeanne. Jeanne had gone into the hospital at Easter with what was at first simply severe colitis, but things quickly snowballed. Jeanne suffered a stroke, a heart attack and survived two emergency abdominal surgeries during a three-month ordeal during which we made 13 separate round trips back to Columbus. The final surgery proved too much, and Jeanne lost after a tremendous struggle.
It’s hard to find a silver lining in such a dark cloud. But we are incredibly grateful for how our family and friends rallied around us, with folks like John Geheran, Paul Johansen, Phil Kleweno, Rod Oneglia, and Jon Stryker all making it to Columbus on one day’s notice to participate in Jeanne’s funeral. Literally hundreds of folks sent message or cards of condolence, and we have raised over $10,000 in gifts to a fund we established in her memory in her hometown, the Jeanne M. Davis Fund at the Community Foundation of Greater Buffalo (gifts can still be mailed to: 712 Main Street, Buffalo, NY 14202). We are truly blessed by the quality of people we have as part of our lives.There were many wonderful moments in our year, despite this sadness. We journeyed to Laos and Thailand in March, getting “back on the horse” of international travel following Kevin’s heart attack. In April we celebrated Jeff’s 45 birthday with a surprise party at a cooking school, featuring surprise appearance by his sister Denise and niece Nikki who flew in all the way from California. Kevin got to go to the baseball All-Star game, courtesy of our friend Jim Johnson, in Pittsburgh, and his memoir Mama’s Boy, Preacher’s Son came out in August, occasioning a 15-city tour and reconnection with former students and old friends around the country this fall. In the midst of that, Kevin found time to perform the weddings of our friends Mario Polit & Tonya Jacobs and Paul Johansen & Margot White in September.
But perhaps the best part of our year was the expansion of our family here in New York. First came Ben, a Bernese Mountain Dog from an Ohio farm who flew in to join us on July 28 during the 8th week of his life. Following him next month was Jeff’s niece Jessica and her boyfriend Chris, who moved to NYC and who lived with us until October 1 which, contrary to popular belief, we truly enjoyed (Kevin still misses them, which is odd, since we still see them 3-4 nights a week anyway). At a time of such loss, having family newly arrived in the city has been a great joy to us.
So, as 2006 draws to a close, we give thanks for having a life filled with so many blessings, chief among them having Jeanne Davis as part of our lives. We hope that life has brought you an abundance of blessings in 2006, and has an even greater number ins tore for 2007.