Stan & Kathleen's annual letter

We’re off our knees, the last floor tile is in place, the tools are washed and we’re waiting to grout. It’s as good a time as any to greet you and take a look back at the past year.

We mourned Kathleen’s 99-year-old mother a year ago Jan. 2. The loss brought many changes to our lives. We buried her next to Pa, not far from James John at Fort Snelling.

Tucson
Then we drove to Arizona with Hoover to see the vacation house we had purchased with brothers Steve and Virgil in Tucson. They had chosen a fine place on the Saddlebrooke golf course and we busied ourselves updating the décor, exploring the area and hitting golf balls. Come visit us there soon. We will go again in mid-January.

We returned to Minnesota in late February. Kathleen had cataract surgery on both eyes. The operations were a success, but it took a long time for her Scandinavian optical makeup to readjust to the sunlight.

Stagnated
Kathleen’s brother, Daniel, lived virtually all his life with his mother, most recently at the Pelham Ave,, St. Paul address. He was ready for a change.

We put his house up for sale, but not before taking a month to empty a mountain of contents that had collected over the decades. Treasures, trash, memorabilia were sorted. Needed repairs challenged our ingenuity. It sold within two weeks and we breathed easier as housing sales everywhere stagnated.

Rent-a-cop
We purchased a condominium on the 10th floor of the old Sears and Roebuck Building on Lake Street. Built in 1927, it stood vacant for a decade and is in the middle of a major revitalization effort in Minneapolis Midtown. Now home to the Allina corporate headquarters and the Midtown Global Market, it remains the largest building in Minneapolis. Dan moved in June 1. It snowed today so he’s taking his daily walk indoors down the hall all the way to the Abbot-Northwestern Hospital cafeteria, three blocks away. Formerly a “troubled neighborhood” the complex is now very safe, with rent-a-cops and cameras everywhere. Even so, when cautious brother Virgil drives in from Eden Prairie, he doesn’t take the “good car.” Come visit us there soon. You’ll be fine.

Indecision
Our 13-year-old Hoover began to fail last spring. We watched in dread, hoping to somehow avoid the final certitude of all cherished pets. We took her to specialists just to be sure, but we had promised to not ask her to suffer for our indecision. So on a Friday morning in June, we all drove together to the back yard of the kindest vet we knew, all the while telling her what a wonderful, faithful, companion she had been. Cradled in our arms under a shady tree, we said goodbye and she was gone. Kathleen still can’t bear to bury the ashes.

Emily Kathleen
The joy of new life came on May Day with the birth of Emily Kathleen to our eldest daughter, Melissa. This wonderful addition to our lives has blessed us in many unexpected ways. As grandparents, we have given ourselves permission to be as obnoxious and doting as we please.

Ever the perfect child, Emmy K spends two days a week with us now. She never cries, wakes up with a smile on her face, and is growing like a weed. Yes. Grandpa changes diapers. Don’t know why that amazes so many folks. The other day Grandma left Grandpa in charge to go buy some fresh bread. She returned with a walker.


Our Girls
Melissa continues to work at GE capital. Marcelline continues to produce art, displayed in a variety of venues. Her son, Maxwell, excels at the new private school he attends in Minneapolis. Jennifer, after a long convalescence following an ambulance/car accident, will be leaving her position as an EMT to follow up an opportunity in Hawaii. Jennifer wasn’t driving the ambulance at the time; her side of the vehicle was hit and she had difficulty walking all summer.


Prairie
Stan and Kathleen drove to western North Dakota in December for the funerals of Stan's cousin Louise and his aunt Hannah. The sad event brought many members of the extended family together in the land where our immigrant grandparents started out. A very moving and worthwhile experience, despite the great distances and desolation of the beautiful prairie country. For a full report, click on December in the Archives section in the far left column of this blog.

Leisure
Stan continues as president of Southwest Newspapers in Shakopee. With duties greatly reduced, he is guiding the transition of a traditional community newspaper group into the realities of the new information age. There’s more time for golf now.

Kathleen joins Stan in many leisure time pursuits. We attended the best Minnesota Twins game of the year, the final regular season game against Chicago. We won, but 55,000 screaming fans stayed put along with the Twins players and watched the big dome TV screens as the league-leading Detroit Tigers allowed the lowly Kansas City Royals to come from behind and hand the division championship to the grateful Twins. The same game saw St. Paul native Joe Mauer (Kathleen's homies -- she used to hang with the Cretin guys) get the hits he needed to become the first American League catcher to win a batting title, besting the New York Yankees’ Derek Jeter.

Kathleen’s on her own when it comes to poker. She enjoys the excitement and friendships generated by No Limit Hold ‘Em and plays a variety of venues, sometimes at her very own homemade table in the basement. Wanna play? Come soon. And bring stakes.

It’s 2007, the year Stan turns 60, and just about time to start the grouting. We hope you’ve had a good year and we look forward to visiting with you soon.

Love to all,

Stan and Kathleen

Notes:

• If you wish to see larger views of the photos above, double-click them.
• That's a favorite outfit Florence is wearing, Kathleen found it for her. Kathleen also enjoys finding clothes for her mother-in-law.
• The bougainvilla is in the backyard of the Tucson house, lovingly tended by Virgil and Steve.
• We filled the dumpster after giving away/selling tons of furniture and etc.
• The condo is on the tenth floor, the unit is roughly in the center of the photo. The yellow awnings shield the shops and restaurants of the Global Market.
• That's Grandpa Claus with the child of wonder.
• Missy, Marcy and Jenny replicate a favorite black-and-white photo taken about 30 years ago. Hoover comforted Jenny in her boot last spring.
• Ken Haugen is surrounded by his children and grandchildren as he sits before his wife's casket in the rural North Dakota cemetary.
• Twins fans suited up for final regular season game.
• Shuffle Up and Deal. Kathleen at one of her events in the green room poker lounge.
  Watch for our upcoming winter vacation adventures at www.Rolfsruds.blogspot.com