Dear family and friends,
Happy
Holidays! I got the chance to meet the Barry family a few weeks ago and now
they are letting me write their Christmas card this year. What an awesome
family and what an honor! I am the Carnival Dream cruise ship and I hosted the
Barry family (minus their little Claire) for a whole week. What a fun family
and man can they eat! But, I am being told enough small-talk, talk about the
kids….
Jackson: He is still in middle school but now
doing middle school sports. He decided to do Cross Country and even convinced
his parents to train with him. Then quit training and watched his Dad limp home
each night and apply ice to his knees. But he still did cross country and did
great and had fun running with his friends. Now, he is doing middle school
basketball and loving that as well. He is taking 1 HS credit course, so
technically his HS career has begun at age 11. Wow! He also got a cell phone
this year and seemed to do okay on the cruise without it working. He must not
be too addicted to it yet.
Abby: I know Abby as the “Water Slide Lover” as she
went down my waterslides over 70 times in one week. She even went down it over
25 times in just one morning! She is at the Hartford school this year and doing
very well. She goes to school by day and plans lessons for the little Barry
kids by night. She doesn’t sleep much, sometimes being the last to go to bed
each night. She loves to read and write and make any craft possible. She does
not like to clean up though and her disorganization seems to be the key reason
her father is balding at an increasing rate. We have not seen the carpet in her
room since she moved to the basement, but assume there is carpet under the
clothes. She does stay busy with softball during the summer and running her version
of school for the kids, but I am not sure they like having Abby as a teacher.
Quinn: I heard that it was a good thing
that the cruise didn’t have many young girls on board as they tell me that
Quinn is girl-crazy. His father hears from all the elementary teachers how
friendly Quinn is, especially to the girls. He is always smiling. Unless he is
crying. In other words, he is emotional. He has interest in acting and his
parents are going to look into children’s theater for him. His mother says he
gets his “drama” from his father. His father wildly disagrees. But like the
others, Quinn enjoys school and really enjoys baseball. He learned that he is a
“lefty” batter this year much to his Dad’s liking. Animals, stuffed and real,
are also on Quinn’s long list of things in life he loves.
Sullivan:
Sully was the youngest of the Barry kids on this cruise. He smiled the ENTIRE
trip. Literally every second of the trip he smiled. I was told he smiled
throughout the entire 17-hour drive to New Orleans as well. Not only did a
movie titled “Sully” come out this year, but Sully started school this year as
well. While parents were worried he may not be ready and he may be the one they
got calls about, Sully adapted to school very well and loves learning. He loves
“Playdoh” center and playing with his new friends. He has yet to get into
sports or acting, but he seems to be pretty busy just being “cute” anyway. He
continues to flash his blue eyes, his dimples, and his curly hair that everyone
loves.
Claire:
I did not get to meet her, but heard a lot about her. Her parents talked about
her Every. Single. Day. She is now 2 ½ years old and full of energy. She has
VERY curly hair and a smile that goes on forever. She is really started to get
expressive by adding eye-rolling, angry stare, and “whatcha talkin’ about”
looks to her expression arsenal. She goes to Courtney’s house every day for
daycare. Courtney got to go on the cruise with the Barrys, but not Claire.
Pretty sure Claire missed Courtney possibly more than her parents. Claire loves
Courtney and has done several sleep overs at her house. To her, “Tort-ney” is
the best! Plus, Tort-ney has a couple babies and another girl who go to daycare
as well, so Claire has all sorts of friends to play with every day. Best part about
Claire? She is potty-trained and sleeps 10 hours a night. Her parents
absolutely love both of these things about her. Almost makes them want another
child. Joking!
Well,
what about the parents. The ones who paid for this great trip aboard me all week.
Well, they are unique. The father drank wine every night and seems to really
like his wine! He is in his 9th year as a middle school counselor
and 16th year as an educator, probably why he likes wine! This was
his first vacation during the school year since his Honeymoon (also a cruise). He stays very busy with his job as pre-teens
and teens going through puberty still seems to be a tough thing to do! He ran
his first (and last) 5K this year. He wasn’t sure he could do it, but with the
encouragement from his wife, he did it. Twelve food and beer trucks surrounding
the finish line also helped encourage him to finish. As for Reagan, well, it
has been a year of transformation for her. She just completed her first year at
Unity Point Clinic in Indianola and loves her new job and location. She had
many patients follow her and many new patients start up. Probably because she
is very good at her job. She has also transformed physically this past year and
ran her 1st (of many?) 5Ks. She looks great, feels great, and
continues to somehow balance her new work and helping raise 5 very active kids
(and about a dozen pets) at home. She was definitely the group leader on the
cruise, a trip she planned and spearheaded which her husband was very grateful
for. He can’t even plan his fantasy team lineup this year!
I
enjoyed getting to know the Barrys during the week they were on board. In fact,
I enjoy getting to know everyone who gets on board. Over 100,000 people of all
different nationalities, races, and religions board me every year. I hear a lot
about how differences seem to be dividing people more and more these days, but
I think these differences are what makes us special. We need to celebrate these
differences and in order to do that, we need to understand and appreciate these
differences. I seem to remember the “What Would Jesus Do?” bracelets that were
so popular. Jesus was pretty well known for loving all people, no matter their
nationality, race, religion, etc. Maybe this Christmas is a good time for us to
remember those bracelets and ask ourselves “What would Jesus do?” And maybe
this is the time we start learning more about others and celebrating our
differences rather than driving more wedges between each other. Merry Christmas
and Happy Holidays to everyone and may 2017 be a year of celebrations for your
and families and friends!
Merry Christmas and God Bless this Holiday season!
The Barrys (Ben, Reagan, Jackson, Abigail, Quinn,
Sullivan, Claire) and our pets. We’ve added 3 kittens and a Tom cat who he partially
adopted this past year.
