1. I knew that in today's CdA Press, Dave Oliveria was going to feature this blog and my daily Three Beautiful Things and the Woolum family in his weekly Huckleberries column. It was fun to look up the article first thing this morning, to enjoy it, and to let others know where to go to read it. I realized that some might want to read it but might hit a paywall, so I copied and pasted the article into this blog post. Want to read it? Just scroll down and you'll see it.
2. Today marks Debbie's and my 24th wedding anniversary. It was fun remembering back to 1997. Adrienne, Patrick, and Molly flew to be with family in Chicagoland and Debbie and I took off from Eugene on Dec. 23rd, spent the night in Spokane with friends, and then drove to CdA and exchanged vows at the Hitching Post Lakeside Chapel in CdA. After our brief ceremony, we drove to Kellogg and honeymooned in my childhood home. Mom hosted us. We ate dinners and exchanged gifts with Mom, Christy, Everett, and Carol and Paul's family.
It's astonishing to look back at that Christmas Eve and look at all that has happened in the intervening twenty-four years. I certainly didn't think on our wedding day that twenty years later, in 2017, we would we living in the very house where we spent our first night of marriage.
3. Debbie's birthday was on Tuesday. Mine is coming up on Monday. Our anniversary is today. We have family get togethers planned for Christmas Day and the day after Christmas.
We decided to have one party tonight to commemorate the birthdays and the anniversaries. Debbie prepared hors d'oeuvres and mulled white wine, Diane T. brought a delicious charcuterie board, Carol and family brought nuts and bolts, Christy baked a delicious pie, and, along with Liz M., we all joined together and snacked, enjoyed another's company, and celebrated this busy time of family events to be happy about.
Huckleberries: 3 blessings + family dinner = happy life
By D. F. Oliveria
December 24, 2021
Bill Woolum awakens each morning with visions of silver linings dancing in his head -- in triplicate.
Since November 2006, the retired college instructor has found "Three Beautiful Things" daily to spotlight his blog, kellogg bloggin' (kelloggbloggin.blogspot.com).
Gonzaga basketball. Photography. Retirement. Beer. Books. Movies. Music. Episcopal worship experiences. Joys of teaching. Living back East. Moving back to Kellogg.
In 2017, he glimpsed a "grave beauty" in the death of his beloved mother, as grievous as it was.
The "Three Beautiful Things" feature has become "a very good habit," Bill tells Huckleberries.
"It has helped shape my day-to-day attitude about my life and my habits of observation and contemplation," Bill said. "The fact that I' writing about these things first thing (almost) every morning sharpens my attention."
Bill blogs under the pseudonym Raymond Pert, in honor of his father.
Raymond "Pert" Woolum toiled for three decades in Bunker Hill's zinc plant, retiring in 1982 when the company shut. His mother, Mary, was an elementary school teacher who helped launch the Talented and Gifted program for Kellogg School District.
His mother's failing helped reunite Bill with his two sisters in Kellogg.
After teaching a Lane Community College in Eugene, Ore., and moving with wife, Debbie, to a Washington, D.C. suburb, Bill spent stretches of time visiting his ailing mother. Bill and Debbie now live in the family home, purchased in 1962. Sister Christy resides next door. Carol is five minutes away.
Their weekly family dinners provide regular fodder for kellogg bloggin'.
"Family dinner," Bill said, "keeps us in close touch with each other, gives us a chance to try out different recipes, expands our cocktail possibilities, and (reminds us) that we are blessed to be living in Kellogg at the same time."
The daily blogging doubles as a journal, especially as Bill ages and has "more and more days and years to lose track of."
It's also therapeutic.
Two years before he started Kellogg Bloggin', Bill was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease. In 2015 he was placed on a transplant list. Two years ago, his kidney doctor was surprised that he wasn't receiving dialysis. Or hasn't received a transplant.
Bill believes his search for the positive in mundane things has improved his mental health and stabilized his kidneys. And who's to say differently?
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