Poston Family 2016
2016 – A Year of the Good, the Bad and the “Worthy”
January 2017 – Happy New Year Family and Friends. I know it is very late to be saying that but 2016 was a banner year for the Poston’s. It has been a whirlwind holiday season for us, so for this very “worthy” year, the kids and I worked together to give you the highlights we deemed important and relevant for 2016.
First off, Charisse applied to seven different graduate programs to achieve her “dream” of teaching. Lo and behold, she got all seven acceptance letters. “Worthy” and proud moment for me. In the end, it came down to scholarship and Stanford won. I would have been happy with any program she chose, but she made it easy for me to visit her and Cheyenne at the same time. She began the Stanford Teacher Education Program in June 2016 and will receive her Masters of Education in 2017. Charisse’s big “worthy” moments were her completion of two 5K runs. Huge accomplishment for a lifetime asthmatic. She would have completed three but she got the date wrong on the NYC Turkey Trot, so Mom took her place and completed one this year too! Charisse also reached her 2016 resolution goal of reading at least 24 different books. Huge “worthy” feat.
Cheyenne is in her junior year studying both education & chemistry at Stanford. She spent a “quarter abroad” in Florence, Italy, where she learned Italian “Buon giorno!” and how to eat lots of gelato! She spent six weeks in Belize (by herself) to complete part of her dive master certification and worked as a helper to the dive crew, Belize Underwater. She can guide you in diving the Belize barrier reef and keep you safe. All “worthy” moments. She still had the underwater training to complete, but more on that later. She experienced a hurricane in Belize while there. Scary moment, but she went on some very amazing, life changing dives too! She’s pretty amazing herself.
That leaves Jacob – he graduated with honors from Champion HS in 2016. A “worthy” moment indeed. Exciting moment – his 400 Freestyle Relay team captured first place (by the touch) at the 2016 Texas UIL State Swim Meet. Not only an honor, but a great feat to finish his swim career. During this same weekend, he also received his acceptance to the Cockrell School of Engineering at UT Austin. All good things happen at once. (We like to think so.) We took his friends to Royal Belize for his graduation party. I tell people, we survived and they had fun.
Jensen, Sarah, Walker and Marshall came back to H-Town in October. After almost a year and a half of working in Belize in the hospitality industry, they decided the boys needed socialization with other kids. They had many adventures, made lifelong friends, and learned a lot. Now the boys must learn to wear pants and shoes again. It’s nice to have them back home in Texas.
Travel was the main focus (again) of 2016.We visited Napa – a couple of times, San Diego, went to Jazz fest in New Orleans (and got rained out). There were multiple trips to Belize. The most meaningful (to me) was in mid-December when all three kids visited together at the same time. This was a huge feat to accomplish but we finally did it. We had a great time. During this visit, Cheyenne completed the underwater portion of her dive master certification & is an “official” dive master. Charisse got some much needed “relaxation” and Jacob “spearfished” his way through lion fish in the barrier reef. We did our NYC Thanksgiving, where Charisse prepared us a full meal of turkey and all the sides. It was a spectacular meal; we wish y’all were there to taste it. For Christmas break, Charisse “surprised” us by bringing Harley home. Who is Harley you say? Well that’s what I said. Harley is Charisse’s boyfriend. He is also a teacher in her Stanford program. It was a nice little surprise. In June, the “Poston three” (Charisse, Cheyenne, & Jacob) took a road trip to drive Charisse’s Jetta to Stanford. They stopped and visited the Grand Canyon. Bill, Cheyenne and Katy Goles (who took my place) made it to Oahu & Kauai for our summer trip, since I was not able to travel after my “accident” (More about this later). I recuperated and stayed at home.
This leads to the bad part of 2016. During Jacob’s Belize graduation trip, I had a “small” accident. I slipped on the dive boat and landed on the right side of my body. It winded me, but who’da thought it was that bad? Not me! I went to a hospital in Dangriga for an x-ray (I don’t suggest that) and stayed two more days in Belize, then flew home as planned. I went to my doctor to get pain meds and a new x-ray, only to find out a week later, it was worse than suspected. I had a chest tube put in for a pneumothorax and stayed in the hospital for 10 days (I didn’t know what pneumothorax was then – but I do now). The doctor wouldn’t let me fly, so no Hawaii trip for me (You’re welcome Katy!). The other bad part was Bill slipped and fell while hiking in Kauai, luckily at the end of the trip. He broke his ankle, so we were a “mess” recuperating when he returned. Those were the stressful parts of 2016. Grateful, it was only two things for the bad.
On to the “worthy” portion. (noteworthy, brag worthy, life changing worthy, etc.) I marked many through this letter with “worthy” moment. Bill’s worthy moment was turning the big 5-0 in November. It was a big day and we partied in style. He is still working 24/7 at Kalypso & in Belize. My biggest “worthy” moment came on December 28th when we traveled to Botswana to go on safari. That was my “life changing” event and I can’t wait to go back again. I didn’t know what to expect, but it was all worth it. I wish I could have shared it with my family, but alas school got in the way. There’s always next time! Those who are considering a trip, ask me about it! I’m happy to tell you – GO!
We are blessed with good health and wish you the very best that 2017 will bring! Cheers!! The Poston Family
