Have you noticed; it seems that the older you get, the
faster time flies by. It seems so long
since I have written anything here – and, strange as it is to say; I really
miss you guys!
So, now that it’s mid-April of 2014, I will ease into the
“New Year” by summarizing my 2013, which turned out to be an important
year. I’ll just hit some highlights, by
quarter – so my year will appear to “fly by” for you as well.
1Q/2013:
We opened the New Year with a fun trip to beautiful Santa
Fe, New Mexico. Our great friends, the
Broussard’s, oldest son, Andy, was getting married in the romantic Loretta
Chapel. We enjoyed the wonderful
ceremony and great social time with the Broussard’s, their family, and friends. I was even able to get a day of skiing in on
the day of the wedding. The snow and
slopes were great too!
In February, I participated in a mini-triathlon with my two
sisters, in Duncan Oklahoma. Thankfully,
it was an indoor venue. We all did great
on the 300m swim, 8 mile bike-ride, and 5k run – I was even able to win first
place in my age group.
2Q/2013:
The biggest news in 2Q was my participation in a 7 day
Mission Trip to Nicaragua, where I got to practice my Spanish, work on some
building projects and participate in Vacation Bible School for over 500 kids,
in two locations. We were able to go
swimming in the Pacific Ocean one day, and I was able to help one of the
Mission-trippers, who got a little too far into the ocean, get safely back to
the beach.
3Q/2013:
This was huge! Susan
and I were so happy and proud to welcome our first two grandchildren into the
world. Beckett Ryan Ratcliff was born on
July 16th, in Ft. Worth Texas.
Troy Allen Tanner was born seven weeks later, in Newport Beach,
California on September 2. 
We were so excited for the expansion of these two wonderful
young families. We have been lucky
enough to see and visit both of these precious boys often, since their births.
Lastly, we went on a wonderful trip to the beautiful, and
incredibly friendly, Notre Dame campus for a football game. Even better, the Sooners won 35-21, making
the trip even better!
4Q/2013:
After flying out to California to meet Troy in Southern
California, we flew back out in late October, to northern California for a trip
to the Napa Valley, a quick tour of the Stanford campus in Palo Alto, and a
benefit concert with Neil Young, Heart, Diana Krall, and Crosby, Stills, Nash,
& Young. Now if that’s not checking
things off a “Bucket-list” kinda trip, I don’t know what is!
We ended the year with all of the kids (and most
importantly, both grandsons) at our house, for a wonderful family Christmas in
Oklahoma.
Okay, I have to cheat and add that Oklahoma beating Alabama
in the Sugar Bowl was either the best possible way to end 2013 or the greatest imaginable
way to enter 2014. Either way, we loved
it. Could the Sooners make a run at the
2014 “Final Four”? Only time will tell!
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