Merry Christmas!
We hope this finds you well and that you have had
a good year. 2019 was not a “same as ever” year for me. Several life-changing
events for me occurred this year. The first was my Mom’s death in May. While
this was sad and I continue to miss her, it did bring about the reunion of all
my siblings for her memorial service. In June, I lost my job with Lenovo. I had
basically had the same job since 1990 and moved with it from Florida to North
Carolina and from IBM to Lenovo. It was my first time being unemployed, but I
did leave with a generous severance package. I was without a job for a little
over 3 months. I am now back with IBM working in the same department that I
started my career in: mainframe hardware performance. While most of my team is
in Poughkeepsie, NY, I was allowed to stay in Cary. I am very happy with this
new “old” position. I am learning a lot and really like what I am doing and my
new team.
Miriam graduated from high school and is now at North
Carolina State University majoring in Industrial and Systems Engineering. She
was co-captain of her high school robotics team that qualified for nationals in
Houston. They did surprisingly well there ending up 9th out of 67
teams in their division. While in Houston, we enjoyed a visit to the Johnson
Space Center and a nearby Italian restaurant with lots of NASA memorabilia.
Miriam also participated in her final dance recital which included a solo
senior dance. Bethany is in her final year at NC State also majoring in
Industrial and Systems Engineering. She had an internship this summer at
Fidelity. Bethany has also been a teaching assistant at school. During her
short break after her internship, Bethany went backpacking with her parents and
sister.
Carl graduated in December from NC State double majoring
in Communication and Computer Science. He received the Outstanding Student
Award from the Department of Communication and was one of the valedictorians in
the Department of Computer Science. Carl had an internship at IBM this summer. He
is applying to graduate schools to continue his studies. Christian continues to
work at Lenovo. He has enjoyed his various hobbies including buying Eurorack
modules to make electronic music. Leslie-Jean keeps the household running and
provides transportation as needed. She enjoys her weekly Bible study and has
increased her running mileage this year. I increased my running training this
year to prepare for the New York City Marathon which I had entered by winning a
lottery entry. I was doing well until a stress fracture forced me to defer my
entry to 2020.
This year’s trips turned out to be returns to places I
had once lived. In October it was a return to Peoria, Illinois for my 40th
high school reunion. It was great seeing classmates I had not seen in a while. I
also enjoyed a tour of Peoria High School, a Gondola at Avanti’s, and a couple
of nice runs seeing places around town. We also visited Chicago where we
enjoyed an architecture tour river cruise and Chinatown. My next trip was to
Poughkeepsie, New York to spend a week with my new work team. I enjoyed meeting
most for the first time along with a few for the first time in many years. I
also explored the area and saw where I used to live. On the way there, I spent
a day in New York City seeing the “Christmas Spectacular” at Radio City Music
Hall and “To Kill a Mockingbird” on Broadway starring Ed Harris. Both shows
were very good. I have been an Oakland Raiders fan for over 50 years. I had
seen them play in Detroit, Los Angeles, New York and Miami, but never Oakland.
Since the Raiders are moving to Las Vegas, this was the last year to see them
in Oakland. We saw them lose to the Tennessee Titans but really enjoyed the
game and atmosphere. While in the area, we visited Pleasanton where I used to
live, Muir Woods, Chinatown, the Walt Disney Family Museum, and Fisherman’s
Wharf.
This was a year of life-changing events for me. Christmas
is the celebration of a life-changing event for all mankind: the birth of Jesus
Christ. Matthew 1:22-23 tells us of this momentous event fulfilling the
prophecy of Isaiah: “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said
through the prophet: ‘The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a
son, and they will call him Immanuel’ – which means, ‘God with us.’” Not since the
Garden of Eden had God dwelled with mankind and never as one of us. Mankind’s
sin had separated us from God with no way for us to bridge the gap. Fortunately
God bridged the gap for us by sending His son to us in the form of one of us
through the birth of Jesus. That is what we celebrate at Christmas. Jesus lived
a sinless life enabling Him to be the perfect sacrifice for our sins which He
accomplished at Calvary on Good Friday. Jesus arose from the dead three days
later on Easter becoming our forerunner to eternal life with Him in Heaven. We
simply need to accept that we are sinners, believe Jesus is the Son of God, and
accept His free gift of salvation provided through His sacrificial death and
resurrection. This all started in mankind’s history at Christmas with the birth
of Jesus, truly a life-changing event for all mankind.
May you have a very, merry Christmas with a great outlook
for 2020!
Dan for the Colglaziers
