Happy Holidays to Family & Friends of Bob Meldau

This year I am posting a letter on my blog to tell you how things are going for me and my family. Then I will send out digital cards via email with my blog address. I am just learning how to post text and photos on a blog. I am also learning how to visit with my family on the East Coast using a web cam, Skype, and the internet. It is fun & free.

Life is good and I look forward to being 80 years old in February. I exercise regularly, eat fairly well, and take medicine to control depression, blood pressure, GERD, and cholesterol. My biggest problem is falls which injure my rotor cuffs. (My friend Frank used to say we should get the medical stuff out of the way so we can discuss more important things). December has been busy.

I finished an excellent 12 week NAMI (National Alliance Mentally Ill) class on mental illness for family members. We studied all aspects of brain disease including how to better understand our loved ones and how to cope better with the stresses we have. Depression and anxiety are fairly common in my family.

Next, I gave about ten talks at the Monarch Butterfly at the grove in Pismo Beach. Twice there were local reporters there to record part of my talks on video. The audience varied from two to over sixty people. One couple was there from South Africa. We get about 60 thousand visitors a years. My cousin Dick helped start docent activity at the grove in the early 1980’s. My friends Ernie and Hilda Glenesk are leaders in the current docent activities.

Finally, I started tutoring students learning English two mornings a week. My hearing and language skills are limited so I use The Rosetta Stone computer program.

Santa Maria, Nov-07, Bob, Jane, Joan, Dean, Barbara, Alicia. Jason is missing.

Jane and I continue to enjoy each other’s company often. Friday we usually go out to breakfast, have dinner at her home, and then get frozen yogurt for dessert. She still struggles with atrial fibrillation about twice a week. However, she is able to walk around the park and exercise at the gym regularly. She still cooks great dinners.

Barbara and I see each other for Chi Gong exercises and dinner once or twice a week. We also enjoy visiting the beach in my motor home about twice a month. Barbara likes her home and her job helping handicapped students at the local community college. Alicia just moved to Long Beach to continue studies to be a nurse. She is looking forward to living in a big city. Jason is doing better. He still lives with Barbara and works part time for a company that has some health care benefits for part time workers.

Joan and Dean enjoy working and living near San Francisco. Joan counsels diabetic patients in two hospitals, speaking Spanish much of the time. She has done a great job of collecting genealogy info on the Meldau and Hooper families. She recently found the Meldau connection from Germany to the United States. Dean is most happy since he went into business for himself as a bankruptcy lawyer about three years ago. His web address is http://www.sanfranbk.com/index.html

Ron and Jenny’s family continues to grow. My second great grand child, Reuben James Cummings arrived last month. My first great grand child, Eliza Mae Meldau-Morrison, is about a year and a half old. All of Ron’s family now lives in South Carolina or Virginia except Robby. He is now back at BYU after two years on a LDS mission in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

South Carolina, Jul-08, Abby, Amy, Eliza Mae, Robby, Ron, Katy, and Jenny. SC Missing: Steve & Aaron.

Jenny graduated this month with a Master’s Degree in nursing from the University of South Carolina. She is now a Nurse-Practitioner in a clinic at the Children’s Hospital in Columbia. We are proud of her. Abby is in high school and does well in soccer, cross country, and writing as did her siblings. Ron continues as a computer analyst for SCANA, a South Carolina gas and electric utility. Mostly, he solves computer network and security problems.

Katy and Aaron live in Alexandria, VA. Aaron finished law school earlier this year and now works on President Bush’s speech writing team at the White House. Katy and the rest of our family (or a least most of us) were glad to see Barack Obama elected president. Katy is a consultant now and works out of her home office illustrating children’s books. I find Katy’s blog at "http://meldau-cummings.blogspot.com/" most interesting. She writes and post videos on a number of subjects.

Amy’s blog at ttp://meldaumorrison.blogspot.com/ gives us many photos of Eliza Mae plus experiences of a first time mom. Amy works on weekend evenings for a mental illness clinic. Her husband Steve is a graphics illustrator like Katy. They live in Charlottesville, VA.

I still enjoy taking my motor home to the beach. Last June, Barbara and I visited Ron’s family while they were in Encinitas (near San Diego) We also enjoyed visits with Carole, and Pam. In August we enjoyed a wonderful visit in Santa Maria from Laurie and her family. They now live in Leander, TX near Dave, Laurie's brother.