2017

Christmas eve will find me

Where the lovelight gleams

As another year draws to a close, I find myself with the pleasurable task of sharing with friends and family the high-and-low points of the year.

As many of you know, 2016 drew to a close with visiting for the first time (well, the first time that I had left the airport, at least) my fifth continent – Asia. Well, 2016 brought me to my sixth continent. With my visit to Buenos Aires, Argentina I checked-off my sixth continent – South America. The only one I have yet to visit is Antarctica.

Argentina was amazing! The food, the wines, the people… And I discovered that I had remembered far more Spanish than I thought I had. But it was still good that we had an interpreter with us. Unfortunately, while in South America I also had some bad experiences. Apparently, I sat near someone on the plane down that had Chicken Pox or Shingles. Because I was diagnosed with shingles while I was down there. It was NOT pleasant!

But what was VERY pleasant this year was the wedding of my niece, Sarah. In May, I headed to Springfield, Missouri to celebrate with the happy couple and the combined family. I was honored to be asked to serve as the wedding photographer and so, in early May I packed the cameras into the car and headed east.

The venue (the Hosta Garden at the local botanical gardens) was lovely and even though we had heavy storms pretty-much all weekend, the weather cooperated giving the happy couple a lovely day for their nuptials.

May also brought-about a big change for me, personally. Those of you who do not follow me on Facebook may not have heard this yet, but on 30 May 2017 I had a Sleeve Gastrectomy. I’d been diagnosed with arthritis in both my hips last year and a course of Stem-Cell Therapy, while very helpful in the short-term did not relieve the pain in the long term. After talking to my doctor, he agreed with me that while there was no guarantee that losing weight would help alleviate the pain of the arthritis, it could also not hurt.

I am at six months since the surgery as I write this and as of my last weigh-in, I’ve lost 75 pounds. I am feeling a LOT better—and things are looking up…

As they were in August when a friend of mine and I packed-up my camera gear and headed to Glendo, Wyoming to view the total solar eclipse.

I mean, how often does one get to sit directly under the path of a total solar eclipse? It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and even though we averaged only 12 miles-per-hour on the way home, given the opportunity to do it again, I would do it in a heartbeat!

Work has been busy all year as I am working on high-profile project preparing a product offering for a large Canadian client. Personally, I continue to spend a lot of time with friends and family—not as much as I would like, sometimes…

The end of the year will see delivery deadlines for my project and a little personal travel. I will be headed to Minnesota for a quick trip to see my step-mom and to visit Family. It should be fun! So, as the old song says:

I’ll be home for Christmas

If only in my dreams!

Merry Christmas, all!

Don Bergquist – December 25, 2017 – Lakewood, Colorado, USA