February 23, 2011

Fibonacci 53. George Washington's Birthday Letter

                     Our Annual Letter
1    I/
1    haven't/
2    sent my/
3    Christmas cards yet,/
5    nor mailed New Year's; Dr./
8    Martin Luther King, Jr., Day; Valentine's Day; nor/
13  Lunar Year of the Rabbit cards. And yet I hate to let the/
21  seasons pass without saying to friends that 2010 was a stony road, with my father's death and my illness; but that/
34   I am now well, and so are Michael and our Labrador mix, Koko. Laramie is ebullient. She's the Chihuahua/Jack Russell we adopted -- she was found wandering down the roughest thoroughfare in town --/
55   to walk me and comfort me during radiation.  Now I'm healthy enough to walk both dogs at once; and I have a purple bicycle that so far I've fallen off of only once. We have primary and secondary health insurance.  I won the Louisville chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists award for best essay.  In/
89   spite of her vascular dementia, my mother is doing well in the care center where she's lived since Daddy died.  My brothers visit often, taking flowers or candy or her cat named Cat.
             My late sister's younger son and his wife are expecting a baby this summer, and everyone is thrilled, including Mother (this she remembers).  My daughters remain smart and beautiful.  Bradley is in the Navy, stationed in Hawaii. Devin graduates this June. My friend Lizzie graduates next year; her brother sat out football due to injuries but is/
144   hearty again.  Michael took family leave to care for me and, in December, was promoted and given a spiffy company vehicle.
          I write a poem daily based on the Fibonacci Sequence, a kind of fractal (any group of numbers that add back into themselves).  The number of words per line is as follows: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, etc. I've been told the sequence ends at 21, but ask me if I care.
           I won a ribbon for photography in the state fair, and I make art every day. Small art to put in the mail to strangers around the globe. Semi-abstract quilts. Large collages to hang on walls. Altars to the planet, made from junk and wood dragged home from dumps./

          On this George Washington's birthday, we wish you health, happiness, and sufficient wealth to purchase fine wooden false teeth if needed.
                                                       Love to all, Michael and Mary Jo

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