I guess the timeliness of this “Christmas” letter is a reflection of how 2012 stretched us beyond the comfort of schedules, time and sensibility. I was especially geared to fill in the gap from missing last year’s letter due to an untimely virus and resulting bell’s palsy that threw me off my game. Life keeps speeding up at the Edling compound, as you can see from the size of my boys, the color or lack thereof in Steve’s hair, and the “wisdom” lines that have settled on my face. What a wild ride the world has been on…making my life in crazy-town, seem awesome in comparison. So here is what we’ve been up to….
Steve is as innovative as ever in our practice. He has been doing graduate work in blood-born illnesses, metabolic diseases, peripheral neuropathy and other nerve related pathologies. Frustrated by the constraints healthcare puts on trying to find the cause for pathology instead of just offering symptom relief, has fired him up to work with other doctors who feel the same way he does and explore solutions that offer hope where so many have just given up. So far, he’s had great success and he’s excited to bring this dimension to his practice. He is also working with ARP, or accelerated recovery performance (google it, too hard to explain) and has great results with treating injured athletes. He is also excited to work with the Osceola football team, as the team doctor, as well as work with special teams. He still trains, but since he turned 50 this year, is trying to be smart about his training…well sometimes anyway…his moaning after a workout has grown exponentially lately…
Connor is a senior this year…wow did that go by fast. He is looking forward toward college and has narrowed down his choices to the University of Minnesota and DePaul University in Chicago. He is still passionate about computers and wants to study digital media, computer game creation and programming. Besides reveling in geekdom, he still plays trumpet and the euphonium in the marching, symphonic and jazz bands. Last summer, he worked at Wild Mountain as a life guard and beyond having the first tan of his life, he saved enough money for a car, one he spent months looking for and finally found a 1992 Lexus in pristine condition, that seems to still be costing us money.
Riley is a sophomore, and has finally begun to hit his athletic prime. He is a three season athlete, but like his father, has fallen in love with football. He started on JV for both football and basketball this year, and plans on putting his baseball cleats aside for track to improve his running skill for football. He played mostly tight end, outside linebacker and occasionally wide receiver (which he would like to do more often). The highlights of his year so far have been winning the game in literally the last second both in football and basketball! He may be my quiet kid, but never when he is in the midst of a game. Beyond that, his phone is rarely out of his hands, except for when he is behind the wheel…yes, another driver. I shudder whenever the insurance bill is due.
As for me, I’m still trying to make sense of the world and blog about it. I’m still at our clinic, with many irons in the fire…I sometimes feel like those carnival acts that try to spin too many plates and not have them come crashing to the ground. I try to focus on the fact that we are all still here, in the face of so much loss, struggle and tragedy that has happened this year, and pray that every step we all take this next year will lead us to a better future.
Wishing you all the best of everything for the coming year!
The Flood/Edling clan
