Aloha Menehunes and friends of Menehunes and Mele Kalikimaka,

It’s hard to believe that I’m turning 67 AND getting ready for an inspection, but I am. HQ JROTC has an inspection scheduled for 11 January 2013 and that’s the main reason that this will be an “eChristmas”. The cards we send this year will be New Year cards.

We are both enjoying the holiday company of our daughter, Sarah, her husband, Jacques, and our grandson, Johannes Jacob Steyn, aka “Nino”. This couldn’t be a happier Christmas. Our mission, of course, is to persuade them that there is no other viable place to live in the world except the island of O’ahu, so we’re going full court press to show them as many amazing things as we can on this tiny rock in the middle of the vast Pacific …. and there ARE a lot of neat things here. We hope they’ll decide to move here along with our son, Nathan and his bride, Sundi. If wishes were horses ...... but, you never know. It could work!

I have been struggling with “knee rehab”. Osteoarthritis, plus too many triathlons, too many mountains, too many parachute jumps and a bad case of old age, have all conspired to eat the cartilage and the shock absorber (meniscus) out of my left knee. So, after many shots and an operation, I’m on the Nordic, the bike, weights and in the pool to build the knee back up. It looks like a knee replacement is a distinct possibility. Adapt, improvise and soldier on. This is not an insurmountable challenge, but it IS a challenge. Although I’ve had to radically adapt my exercise protocol, I was able to compete in all the North Shore swimming races including the 2.3 North Shore Challenge which took 2 hours and 16 minutes this year. It was the current!! Now I’m going into biathlons as the swimmer. Gotta find a runner …..

Mary stopped teaching this year, but is contemplating a return as a volunteer. Her teacher colleagues are trying to woo her back to teaching English to newly arrived students from all over the world. Her time at Salt Lake Elementary was enjoyable to her AND to the students and I’m hoping she’ll go back because she has a real talent for teaching and the students were like a second family.

Junior ROTC continues to occupy my time and what a blessing it it. Being able to teach aero, WX, nav, history, geography and flying AND get paid for it is an old man’s dream. The field trips are fantastic even though there are occasional hiccups like 27 hours of constant rain during the overnight Punahou Adventure Challenge. There’s nothing like a flooded tent at 3AM to stimulate your love of the great outdoors. Even so, trips to Maui, Colorado and Aviation Camp on the North Shore keep life interesting. In the past 9 years, I’ve been able to fly over 900 students and I recently soloed a 16 year old sophomore who hopes to get his Private Pilot License on his 17th birthday.

Apologies for resorting to an electronic Christmas card, but the inspection, Sarah’s visit and old age have forced me to find ways to put more than 5 pounds of stuff into the proverbial 5 pound bag. More later and best wishes to all for a happy and holy Christmas and a safe and prosperous New Year.

Vic and Mary