Great Loss
There are times in life when we ask “why” and other times when we say “why not”. After surviving triple heart valve surgery, Dad was preparing to explore the possibilities remaining in his life, asking “why not” retire, “why not” travel and “why not” celebrate the blessings he’s received and those yet to be realized. Unfortunately, his plans and our hopes were cut short on Friday, October 21, 2011 as he passed quickly from a pulmonary embolism in Rancho Mirage, CA.
In keeping with Dad’s wishes, we did not have a formal funeral. Instead, he we had a celebratory event with family and friends, filled with all his favorite things. We shared fond memories of our time with him including a dinner celebration at his favorite restaurant serving all his favorite foods. Dad will be remembered for his sense of humor, his laugh and the gentle way in which he touched even the most insignificant acquaintance. Memorial gifts in his honor can be made to the American Heart Association.
Dad’s year was not without highlights. He and Nancy were having their best year ever in real estate in the California desert as he was preparing to transition into retirement. In preparation for a life of travel and leisure, he asked me to join him on a road trip across country. We were unable to make a trip of that length work logistically, but were determined to do something. On Wednesday June 29th we left Palm Desert, CA in Dad’s Lexus on a 2,256 mile journey through California and Nevada that would take us up the California Coast, through Gold Country, exploring Ghost Towns, enjoying Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks with time in Las Vegas to document much of dad’s life (video being processed) before returning to Palm Desert.
We laughed, we talked, we reflected, we got lost and we had an absolute blast. During my 48 years that was the most time I’ve ever spent with my father, just the two of us. We shared a very special experience, one I will treasure forever but even more important we rekindled and nurtured a relationship we both treasured – he became my best friend again! I started writing a book about the experience, someday you’ll see it on the NY Times best seller list!
I’m filling out Dad’s portion of the family web site and would love to include any photos you have of him. Please scan them (at the highest resolution, I may want to print some) and send them to me at [email protected] with a brief description of the occasion and the date, as well as the identity of others in the photos. You can view your submission and the submissions of others at www.DickBarron.com.
Great Changes
I gave it my best shot, learned a bunch about myself and don’t regret a single moment of the experience but have decided that the next right thing for me is to get a job. My “retirement” and foray into the world of the entrepreneur have given me the time and the opportunity to grow personally, help Anita with her non-profit efforts, take the trip with Dad and enjoy some much needed “time off”. If you’re interested in helping me land a new position, download my brochure and check out my Linkedinprofile. I’ve still got some money in the retraining account created for me by P&G as part of my severance package, so regardless of learning new skills at the hands of an employer, I’ll be challenging myself to build new skills personally.
In the spring I started promoting a 90 Day Health Challenge, called the Body by Vi Challenge, and am in the best shape of my life (Anita’s close as well). Many of you received my October “Love Your Scale” newsletter. The publication ran into a bit of a snag but will return when the time is right. If you’re interested in making 2012 your best health year EVER, visit www.LoveYourScale.com and let me know what you think. Hard to not like losing weight (and keeping it off), getting fit, winning cash and prizes totaling $10,000,000 while drinking a shake that tastes like cake (I’ll send a sample if you’re skeptical) – yum ! My favorite recipes are the peanut butter cup (chocolate almond milk and peanut butter), which tastes like a Reeses Cup, and the orange dream which tastes like a creamsicle.
Great Achievements
Anita started her non-profit Pet Alliance in 2006 to create programs supporting animals and their advocates. Since before the formation of Pet Alliance she has talked about making our community part of the No-Kill Nation. All of that talk culminated in 2011 as Anita and Pet Alliance hosted the Great Shelters Conference in Cincinnati. The conference was attended by over 130 rescuers, shelter workers and animal advocates and featured Nathan Winograd, the founder of the No Kill Advocacy Center.Great Shelters will launch in 2012, making statistics from open admission animal shelters across the country visible and providing the tools to achieve No Kill in every community. Speaking of which, Anita is also leading an initiative called No-Kill Tri-State to promote the saving of more shelter animals in every one of the Cincinnati area open admission animal shelters.
And if that isn’t enough, a redesign of the MicroChip USA web site is underway to allow her to expand the Pet Alliance low-cost pet micro chipping program beyond the pilot in Cincinnati and Spay Ohio continues to assist 1,000’s MONTHLY with low-cost referrals for spay/neuter services. She also received a grant from PETCO and is using the money to launch a new program to address colony cats at apartment complexes. The program will be piloted in Columbus and in Cincinnati in 2012, results to follow. Anita’s one busy lady and you haven’t even heard about all the individual animals and rescuers she works with to continue saving the lives of pets right here in our own backyard!
I’m serving as the Area Governor for 6 Toastmasters clubs. In addition to serving the clubs and their members, the role gives me a chance to speak twice at each of the 6 clubs. My first speech is a story about my great grandfather Joseph Trojanowski. My goal is to complete my Advanced Communicator Silver and my Competent Leader awards before the end of my term in June 2012. I also presented at the District 40 conference in May and submitted a proposal to give the same presentation at the Toastmasters International Conference in Orlando next year. Keep your mouse pointed to my You Tube channel for future speech videos.
Great Escapes
We were fortunate to see and do much this year outside the realm of our little city of Amelia. In January I traveled east for the 1st annual Barron Pizza Party hosted atKendra and Eric’s. I took the southern route and spent the night with Kevin and Tina on my way to DC and enjoyed a day at the Air and Space Museum with the Guidry’s afterwards. Then in February Anita and I traveled back to Pagosa Springs to celebrate our 9th wedding anniversary. We made the choice to exit in the middle of the night to get over the pass before a big storm dumped on us and closed the pass (just what we went to experience but on the wrong day) which is where I came up with the speech idea for my winning Toastmasters speech the following weekend.
In March I traveled to Anita’s hometown of Albany, GA to borrow her granddaddy Leon for a woodworking project. We stayed with Leon last Christmas and I helped himbake pies for the holidays. He said we worked well together so I asked if I could come down and get some coaching for a wood working project. We worked 10 days straight (and didn’t finish) before I headed further south to visit Mia and Anna on their Spring Break. We enjoyed time together at the zoo and the Blues festival before I returned home. Dad called during my ride home asking me to come pick him up for a drive across country, ultimately creating the 2011 Road Warrior Trip. During my trip to California in June I enjoyed a long weekend with Mom while my nephew Andrew was also visiting. We visited the La Brea Tar Pits, strolled along the beach at Heisler Park, enjoyed the sun, the pool and family at Keith and Terri Albrecht’s and raced go-carts before heading to the desert to leave on my trip with Dad. After which I met Anita in Orlando for the ViSalus National Convention. Not sure I want to spend a month on the road again anytime soon!
Do you recall I set a new depth record scuba diving last year in Lake Huron at 126 feet? During that trip I was the only one on the boat that was not certified for decompression diving, which I remedied this year. I completed courses in Decompression Diving, Advanced Nitrox and Helitrox with Rick Kruzel of Great Lakes Technical Diving as prep for certification dives on the Dunderberg and a new depth record of 152 feet!
We took our annual pilgrimage to DC again this year for the No Kill Conference where I celebrated my 30 year high school reunion. Anita came home early to continue the last minute preparation for the Great Shelters conference so I enjoyed time with friends, family and the Hessenauer’s. I got to attend John and Patti’s son Sam’s high school graduation, an interesting reminder of what was to occur the following day. John did most of the work for the event and served as grill master. Those who attended had a great time, wish we could find an excuse to celebrate like this with great friends every year!
What do you give a guy that dives to 152 feet in cold water exploring 100+ year old wrecks for his birthday – a flying lesson! It took many attempts to get me in the cockpit on a nice day but I finally piloted a Cesna 172S off the runway at the Clermont County Airport. Anita joined me and my flight instructor for our adventure from Amelia to Kings Island and back. We even flew over the house to get a birds eye view of our estate. Thanx Anita, a very thoughtful gift but I think I’ll stick to scuba diving (for now).
We’re rarely blessed with visitors but this year saw visits from Corey Minion, his friend Linda Eisenberg and Eric McAfee on their way back and forth to a Halloween show in St. Louis and Randy Ledbetter, a friend of Dad’s who stopped in to discuss co-authoring a book with me about Dad’s life. We’ve got lots to see and do in Cincinnati. I hope you’ll consider visiting.
Sweet Home
2011 was a year of transformations at the Barron residence. We’ve had an on-going debate about vinyl siding, which was decided in favor of a fresh coat of paint. The project included new gutters, shutters, outdoor lights, door hardware and storm doors front and back (yet to be installed). In addition, we hauled 30 yards of top soilaround back to fill-in and level areas that had washed away after the driveway projects years ago. We got some help from our friend Mel Mittermiller at the final instant to get the seed and the straw down before the rain started – thanx Mel! The areas are going to need reseeding in the spring but made a big improvement in drainage of the yard and will look great after the grass fillsin next year. Our aching backs will be glad we did it!
We also fired the lawn service and started doing yard work together. It’s fun spending time outside maintaining our home with Anita. I’ll typically weed whack and run the mower around the perimeter, then she takes over with the mower so I’m able to handle other tasks around the yard and in the green space. Then we’ll tackle projects that require collaboration or 4 hands to complete. I liked coming home to a well manicured yard when we had the service, but because the yard was already mowed we never seemed to make the time to get to the rest of the yard and the overall look deteriorated.
As I’m writing this we’re in the midst of the largest purge of recent years. We’re going through files and folders dating back from the beginning of time (well, our marriage in 2002 anyway). We took 6 large lawn and leaf bags to the curb Sunday night for the trash man to haul away and Anita’s telling me she doesn’t want to leave for Christmas until she can see the floor in her office and the top of her desk – go girl, go!
Sweet Ones
It’s hard to keep up with all the changes going on inside the family, there’s so much to report. Kendra, Eric and A.J. are enjoying camping and boating when they can get away. A.J. switched schools and is no longer studying French; he’s getting introduced to Spanish in the 3rd grade. He’s learning to play the guitar, enjoys racing RC cars and loves playing with his dog D.J. Kevin’s son Will is in scouting, loves to build things and celebrated his first communion. His daughter Grace is all girl, enjoying painting her nails and texting her friends on her new cell phone while his oldest Andrew just started a new private school and is enjoying playing sports and searching for a girl friend.Kevin’s still with Trafficland (one more year to make it profitable). Mom took her trip to Central America where she worked in an eye clinic in La Libertod El Salvador before visiting her sponsored daughter Jordany Rivera in Nicarauga. She continues to be active in her church in Laguna Beach and just returned from a trip to Cancun with her siblings to celebrate their speed limit birthdays.
Mia and Anna are enjoying life in Jacksonville. Mia recently joined the weight lifting team at school and Anna is now over 5 feet tall! I’m looking forward to seeing them during our trip south for Christmas.
We’ve still got 6 kitties – Beaver, Wolly, Sphinx, Simba, Misty and Diva. They’ve each got their own unique personality and we love them all. Life with 6 cats is interesting, there’s always one doing something that gets them in trouble. The 16 year old kitties (Beaver, Wolly and Sphinx) are beginning to slow down but they put up a fight and hold their ground when challenged by the youngster Diva.
Sweet Sorrow
Time to wrap this up and get back to packing for our trip south for Christmas. Anita and I are blessed to have one another and to benefit from your love and friendship. We’re unclear what 2012 holds in terms of a new career but are confident we’ll grow together through the experience. We’ve scheduled a couples retreat in February and are planning to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary in Calgary (if there’s no snow in Calgary we’re in big trouble).
May you be blessed with health, happiness, peace of mind and a sense of love and well being in 2012. You’re very important to us and we’re grateful you’re sharing your time and your lives with us. Please stay in touch via email, via facebook, on the phone and through your cards and letters during the holiday – we read and enjoy them all.
With All Our Love,
and 