Christmas Greetings from the Inland Northwest

Hi there all you who happen on this page and are interested in an update on the Spokas clan residing primarily in Spokane.

I (Phil) was put in charge of the Christmas card this year, so if you happen to see it and are less than impressed with the layout and the design, it only reflects on my lack of design skills and not the rest of the family. I have an affinity for the Christmas Squirrel which was original artwork from my son John a few years ago. The wreath was provided by my daughter Emily, who can draw pretty nice looking cartoon figures. Artist's Allie and Cathy didn't have much of a chance to participate this year and daughter Marian claims to be artistically challenged like the old man (that "old man" would be me.) We need to give a huge shout out of thanks to Catherine Schaeffer Photography for all the awesome shots we've had since coming to Washington.

A number of cool, fun, exciting things have taken place over the past year and I hope to give you a bit of a peek into those in the page below. We did have a few challenging times and sad events, like everyone, and I'll fill you in on those as well. Since many of you know I always want to hear the bad news first, I'll start there.

Cathy's father, Bob, or "Bobo", as most know him, had a major heart attack or attacks in October. Bob is 86 years old and has been suffering from symptoms of dementia for a few years now. One evening in October, he had a pretty rough night that we all thought was due to being sick with the flu. It turns out that these are classic pre-symptoms for a heart attack. Janet (Cathy's mom) and Cathy ended up calling 911 in the morning and his heart arrested on the way to the hospital. The ambulance pulled over and resuscitated him. His heart arrested again when he arrived at the hospital. Needless to say, we didn't think he was going to make it, but he did. We're still not sure how, but he's proven to be a remarkably strong man. He spent several days under, then a few more days awake but not really aware of his surroundings and so on. He was in the hospital for about 3 weeks in total. He was then moved to a rehabilitation facility where he resides today. He's come along remarkably well. Clearly he's not in the same shape he was in prior to the incident, but he is constantly improving. We had him to our place for dinner and a gingerbread house competition last night and he participated. He was pretty tired by the end of it, but he was there and that's saying something.

Janet is hanging in there with the rest of us, and takes daily trips to the center to visit Bob. She is handling all of this with poise and grace, and her and Bob's positive attitudes are what's getting us all through.

In January of last year, we lost our dog Miles Davis to cancer. He was a real trooper to the end, and in spite of my claiming not to be a pet person, it was a true loss even for me. Miles was a great dog and a great friend and I hope to post a bit more on him in the near future.

And now on to the good stuff from last year, more or less in chronological order ...

John participated in most of the senior season of lacrosse for a joint team from Central Valley High School (his high school), University High and a few others. John had some great games despite some health challenges. My favorite moment of the year was when his girlfriend showed up at a game and John promptly won two-face offs, raced down the field, and scored on each one. He then immediately went to the sidelines to throw up. Nice. (For the record, he claims he didn't know she was in the stadium at the time. OK then, moving on...)

John graduated from high school! We went to a very nice ceremony held on the Gonzaga University campus. It was great affair, and a number of pictures were posted. John was challenged having to transition from Elmhurst's York High School to Central Valley High School in Spokane Valley, but he came through with flying colors.

Marian finished her Freshman year at Gonzaga Prep and started her Sophomore year. Over the summer, tryouts were held for the Cheer squad and Marian was accepted onto the team. We enjoyed meeting some new people through the squad, and of course, watching Marian cheer.