Christmas 2025

Merry Christmas 2025!

We’re officially eager for 2025 to be finished and have hope that 2026 will be amazing. 
 

2025 started strong with multiple out-of-state Goodmans descending on Florida! First was a day trip to Orlando to visit with Uncle Bill, Aunt Rose and Shelly and Jon who were in town supporting the Fighting Illini (we enjoyed extra-large pancakes at Hash House A Go Go and sundaes from Ghirardelli at Disney Springs). Later that same week we connected with Rich and Angela Goodman who had a rental house in Tampa for their multi-week vacation. We enjoyed a surprise visit from their daughter Emily, too!
 

Later in January, Michelle and Dave traveled to Palm Desert and stayed with Linda where we played lots of Train dominoes and checked a few things off the home projects list in addition to loading up on donuts from a favorite shop near his mom. The main purpose of the trip was to surprise Michelle’s childhood friend Stephanie and celebrate Steph’s milestone birthday.  We had a relaxing week that included an art festival, a Palm Springs virtual scavenger hunt, a driving tour of celebrity homes and lots of yummy food.
 

In February we celebrated a new branch on the family tree when Faith and Victor welcomed sweet baby Nayeli.  And in March, the G3 Glass Studio received a major upgrade with the assistance of Katherine and Peter. The “Mr. Cool” air conditioner and 4 new power circuits were installed with the expert guidance of Peter and countless trips to Lowes. Mr. Cool makes it possible to work year-round without dripping sweat on the glass. We’re so grateful he shared his expertise!
 

In early March, we celebrated Sharyl’s 85th birthday and then she began a 4 ½ month healthcare journey.  All the grand kids and great grandkids came to love on her in June and we said our final goodbyes in July.  Advocating and caregiving quickly became Michelle’s full-time job, so in April she gave notice and resigned from her part-time job at Shriners.
 

In mid-August, we helped Karl settle at a beautiful independent living apartment where he meets up with the other veterans for BBQ once a month but is still close by for frequent visits. 
 

The other big summer project was moving Linda from Palm Desert to Orland Park, IL!  Katherine, Peter and Dave were the “pack-out team”, while Susan and Sharon were the “receiving team” and in just six days, with lots of preparation and planning, the Palm Desert home was carefully packed and loaded in the trailer and then Peter to drove it to Illinois where Sharon and Susan helped Linda get settled.  We’re happy that Linda is close enough for Susan to help and that she’s enjoying all that her new home has to offer.
 

And since August, Michelle’s new full-time job is working through 85 years of stuff in Karl and Sharyl’s home.  There have been a few day-trips to Disney World and one trip to Atlanta to cheer Mike at a dance competition.
 

We were a party of 11 for Thanksgiving – almost all of Kif’s family came again this year (Victor stayed in Iowa to work his first responder job).  And, oh darn, bad weather in Chicago meant Faith and Baby Nayeli had to stay an extra day!  We had so much fun playing games and laughing – Lauren and Jonny’s daughter, Abigail, is a shark at Flip 7 and Train dominoes!
 

Eden had their two-year work anniversary as an IT service desk associate with Parallon this year. They provide tech support to HCA's doctors, nurses, office staff, and the occasional confused patient with the wrong number. Customer reviews of Eden tend to mention their admirable patience, overall technological prowess, and vigorous typing speed that can be heard through their microphone.

It has been a year of music and friendship for Eden!  In April, Eden attended the 2025 Pokémon Atlanta Regional Championships with friends to spectate. They had a lovely time watching the matches, explaining niche game mechanics to their friends, and obtaining plushies for their collection and for Michael, who unfortunately was sick and unable to attend.
 

Eden had been missing playing in an orchestral setting so on Easter they played viola with the church orchestra. The music director was thrilled to have a reasonably skilled violist for free – Dave and Mike attended and Michelle and Sharyl watched the service online!
 

Continuing the MUSIC theme, Eden enjoyed lots of concerts in 2025.  In May, Eden and David saw the comedy rock group Ninja Sex Party and their electro-funk opening/backing band TWRP live in concert in St. Pete. While they were waiting in line for the VIP early entry and Q&A, fellow concert-goers upon learning Eden and David's relation made many comments on the theme of "Your Dad is the coolest!" to which Eden proudly agreed.  Ghost in Tampa in July, and Eden’s favorite band, the Toxhards in Atlanta in November with Mike.
 

In June, Eden moved into a new apartment in Gainesville with their best friend Paige. They have been enjoying the process of slowly accumulating furniture and décor to make it feel like home.

Later in November, Eden visited their partner Maureen at Mississippi State University, where she is earning her masters in Anthropology focused on bioarcheology. They attended the Mountain, Swamp, and Beach Forensic Anthropology conference hosted by MSU. Eden was psyched to support Maureen during her poster presentation on septic arthritis, and they both had a blast listening to the presentations with topics ranging from forensic toxicology to a literary analysis of "Murder She Wrote" from the lens of a forensic anthropologist.
 

Looking to the future, after Christmas Eden plans to road trip with Paige to Savannah GA to meet up with Maureen to have fun and catch up!
 

Mike is still working in retirement benefits consulting at Aon and this year he was granted his Enrolled Actuary (EA) designation by the Internal Revenue Service. The application included him submitting a 25-page resume of all the work he has done on pension plans! Now that he finally has the credential, he can sign off on major government filings for pension plans. He also just sat for another actuarial exam about the Design of Retirement Plans; we’ll hear if he passed soon, fingers crossed! HE PASSED – one of only 50 who sat in November and passed. Now he only has one exam left. WOOHOO!

Mike also participated in Atlanta’s Peachtree Road Race on July 4th. He managed to run the 10k in under an hour!  Mike is still coaching fencing at Georgia Tech and they performed very well at the Collegiate Club Fencing Championships in epee. Men’s epee got 6th and women’s epee got 3rd. The team also earned 2nd overall in the men’s events and 2nd overall for the whole event.  He’s also made a connection with a fencing group in Tampa so he brought his gear over Thanksgiving and will again at Christmas.

Mike participated in the Fred Astaire Dance Studio’s Summer Jam dance competition in August. This was his first time competing in the Silver category (there is a bronze, silver, and gold level with sub-categories for each). In classic dancing-at-a-local-dance-event fashion, he was the only one doing silver so he won first in both the smooth and rhythm multi-dance events and won “Top Male Silver Student” (AKA “Only Male Silver Student”). Regardless, he’s very satisfied with his performance and has recently started to learn the Viennese Waltz, too.

After Christmas, Mike’s planning to meet up with his college buddies for a fun reunion in Central FL.

Dave had multiple guest artists visit the fused glass art studio where he helped introduce the craft and help bring their artistic creations to life. At the Florida State Fair, Dave entered both the novice leatherworking and fused glass categories and with the help of Mary Spence of Shallow Water Designs (leather studio), he received a 1st and 2nd place in leather and a 3rd in glass.
 

HCA acquired a hospital in Fort Myers and that kept Dave busy with the day-1 event in February and medical record system conversion over the summer. Over 100 IT staff and leaders participated in this project and Dave was the key contact for much of the activity. Fortunately, hurricane season was quiet for FL and the damaged Largo hospital from last year completed the final repairs after nearly a full year of work.
 

We are very hopeful for 2026!  Hopefully we’ll finishing prepping the Anderson home and get it sold, plus we’re booked on a 7-night cruise in the Bahamas with Tami and Chris in March.  And anyone who wants to book our guest room – we’d love to see you!