Christmas 1998

The Adventures of BJ and Tony Morris

Christmas 1998

It has been too long since we have heard from you. We want to know how you are! Okay, we’ll tell you how we are and all about our adventures first, then you can write back and tell us about yours!

We have both had changes in our jobs this year. Tony has remained at Delta, but changed departments a few times. This year, he has been in Inflight, Flight Operations, and is currently on loan to Delta Technology working on the Year 2000 project. He is carrying a pager now (he says, “So they can page me in case the year 2000 comes early”). He has really enjoyed being back in the geeky world of technology. I am still with Worldspan and have been a Project Manager in the Coverage department since February. The Coverage department never closes. They let me work weekdays though, so thats good. I am not at the Galleria anymore, so thats bad. But I get to carpool with Tony again, so thats ~~good~~ ~~bad~~ good.

The most important event that has ever happened to anyone in the history of the world was my 40^th birthday in July! It was very well advertised. My friend JeRie made me 30 buttons touting how many shopping days were left until my birthday! In addition to all of the attention, I was showered with gifts and parties (complete with surprise guests from my past - including Elvis) all month long. The president of our company even got in on the fun by calling to wish me a happy birthday. Tony awarded me the coveted title of “Miss Taken for Old”.

We continue to add trips to our travelogue. This year, we made 4 trips to visit our money in St. Louis, our favorite gambling destination. A train takes you right from the airport to the gambling boats. We love to play blackjack. I like it mainly because the tables all say BJ on them!

We have almost gotten too old to ski. When you get too old to ski, it doesn’t mean you are afraid you’ll break a hip, it means you are now too lazy to lug the equipment around. My friends and I borrowed some children to take skiing in January so they could carry our equipment. I took my nephew, Jonathan. He was in awe of the mountains in Salt Lake City. He saw the snow up real close & did some unintentional helicopter like maneuvers. My favorite line from the trip was after we toured the Morman Tabernacle where he kept calling the missionaries “nuns”. He indignantly told me that other religions besides just the Jews have nuns. Tony & I went back to Salt Lake in February & skied a couple of days, but a snow storm made us cut the trip short. Non-revs start getting nervous about cancelled flights and closed airports during snow storms. We made it out just before the airport closed for 2 days.

I always like to follow a ski trip up with a beach vacation. Our annual trek to Braves Spring Training in West Palm Beach was not hindered by the fact that the Braves have moved their training camp to Orlando. We weren’t really there for the baseball anyway. A group of eleven of us went to Del Rey Beach and had a wonderful time.

I took two business trips in April. One was to Minneapolis & Kansas City to meet with two of Worldspan’s owners, TWA & Northwest. The other, I conveniently scheduled to a User’s Group meeting in Denver around the same time that my friend Angel (who lived in Denver at the time) was due to have her baby. Little Anna was born shortly before I arrived & I got to spend the week holding & rocking her. Older brother Jake, then almost 2, was glad to let me hold Anna so he could command his parent’s attention.

Tony & I decided to practice for retirement, so twice this year we rented motor homes. In April, we picked up a home in Oakland and drove it down the coast of California. We stopped in Halfmoon Bay, and Monterrey before we turned inland to Paso Robles, Las Vegas, Zion Canyon, Grand Canyon, Sedona, and finally Phoenix. In August, we motor homed from Idaho Falls to Palisades, Ogden, Bryce Canyon, Lake Powell, and Sedona before meeting friends in Phoenix. We think we are going to like retirement. We had a few problems with the rentals though. In the last one, the refrigerator didn’t work, so we cleverly decided to use it as an ice box. This worked well until we rounded a curve and the weight of the ice block pushed the door open and the ice fell on the container of sour cream exploding it all over the motor home. Tony has been shopping for motor homes. He went to Sacramento in September and we went to Dallas in November to look at some used homes. While in Dallas, we got to visit with Brad (a former Delta buddy) and his family.

I did a couple of family vacations this year. In May, my parents, my sister, my niece, and I spent two days in Orlando at Universal Studios. My parents tried to resist our offers to rent wheel chairs, but when they finally gave in, we learned that families with wheel chairs get to go to the front of the lines!

In July, I got to try kayaking for the first time when my sister’s family invited me to join them on their vacation to St. Simon’s Island. U.S. holidays are good times to stand-by for flights to Europe. For the 4^th of July, six of us went to Cologne, Germany. For Thanksgiving, Tony & I went to Shannon, Ireland. We strapped on backpacks and did a walking vacation. We learned that the B & B’s are just a little too far apart in the section we visited. The first day, we got lost in the Burren and had to be rescued by a farmer. We estimate that we walked about 22 miles (9 hours) that day. The rest of the trip we averaged 8-10 miles a day of hobbling on bloody stumps.

I am worried about my golf game. I have moved up another division. I am now in the 3^rd from the last flight at the Delta Ladies’ Golf Tournament. I really can’t be expected to compete with women who actually play golf! Of course there was no trophy for me this year at the Indian Wells tournament in Palm Springs, California in September. Everyone was dazzled by my outfit at the cocktail party though. I wore an evening gown, a tiara, and a sash with my self-proclaimed title, “Mrs. Every Putt”. Later, I appeared at the pool in my conservative swimsuit, pumps and my “Miss Behaving” sash. I also won the prize for the best dressed at the Worldspan tournament at Sawgrass in Jacksonville, Florida in August.

We’ve had another fun year. Hope you have too. Merry Christmas and may God bless you throughout the new year!