Our heartfelt greetings to our friends and family.

It was a very good year.  Or so it seemed.  It was my first year of retirement from United Airlines.  Pat continued her job as home health-care nurse to a young girl with numerous congenital abnormalities.  I rode my motorcycle to Florida, and later back to Washington.  I had the special honor to travel to Taiwan to speak to the graduating class of my high school alma matter, Morrison Academy. My brother, Sam, and I kayaked the rugged Broken Islands on the west coast of Vancouver Island and made friends with fellow kayakers.  Pat took trips to visit our children in California and attended the wedding shower of our lovely new daughter-in-law, Irene.  We hosted friends Leonardo and Ercilia from Switzerland.  Many of you have read write-ups of these adventures on my website at www.jali.net .  

However, in the first week of September, we lost our son, Brian, to suicide, and five days later celebrated Eric and Irene's wedding.  This impossibly conflicted set of events is still more than we can grasp.  I won't reiterate the details now, as most of you have read them at: www.jali.net/brian .

They say that when the chips are down, you know who your friends are.  We are blessed with many good friends.  I used to think that sending someone an email or card at a time of hardship was a perfunctory matter of courtesy.  So many of you reached out to us, even traveled to be with us, and I can tell you that far from being perfunctory, those gestures brought us great comfort and support.  Many of you shared your hearts and experiences, and that was very helpful.  Many of you admitted that you did not know what to say at a time like this, and even that honesty told us of your love and concern.  Many of you were praying for us, and I am certain that your intercession played a vital role in getting us through the last four months.

Christmas was good.  Irene couldn't get the time off, but Eric and Carla joined us for a week.  We really needed that time as a family.  Daily phone calls were not enough.  It felt so good to be together, and we relaxed in one another's company.  We had fun.  We laughed as we remembered Brian's sly and often creative sense of humor and recounted experience after experience.  

For four months, each of us has spent days and hours going through the necessary agony of trying to recount in intricate detail what had happened in the last weeks and hours of Brian's life.  One is compelled to try to understand why something so tragic occurred. We had each formulated opinions as to what had happened, and it was very helpful to be able to compare these in detail.  We were in agreement about most things, and in the other areas we came to realize that there are details about which we will never know answers.  However, the experience of comparing notes brought a good deal of closure.  Carla and Eric both showed an increased ability to focus on what lies ahead, and I think that Pat and I have been able to think about other things as well.  We will always love Brian and miss him, but, perhaps the intensity of our grieving  is diminishing.  Over time, I expect that this experience will become part of the fabric of our lives, hopefully giving us some understanding and compassion for others who walk this journey.  

It helped that this Christmas we were surrounded by family.  Ed and Dorothy (my sister) came from Germany for three weeks.  Most of their children now live here in Anacortes and have families, so we had many family gatherings through December.  Mike and Kathy (Pat's brother) joined us Christmas day with Jean and Ryan, their adult children, along with my parents, and it was a warm time of enjoying one another's company.

And so, we say goodbye to 2007 and look forward to a new year.  We believe that God is sovereign, and we have faith that in time we will view the events of this year with better clarity.  Thanks again for standing by us.

With Love and Appreciation,

Don and Pat Webster

Links:

Don's Website: www.jali.net 

A Wedding and a Funeral, our story immediately following Brian's passing: www.jali.net/brian

Brian Webster's Website, pictures and memorabilia: Brian Webster's Website

Email Addresses:

Don:  websterdr@yahoo.com

Pat: patwebrn@yahoo.com

Carla: cwebster@stanford.edu

Eric: erkwebster@hotmail.com

Irene: irenehung@gmail.com