Christmas 2001
Hickman Holiday Herald
December 2001 - Volume 25
December 2001 - Volume 25
2001 will go down in the Hickman history books as a year of challenges. With the exception of a few great events, they will be glad to put much of the year behind them.
The year started out with JR home in Singapore to celebrate the New Year, his 21st birthday, Joe and Gerri's 25thwedding anniversary and spend time with family.
The year started out with JR home in Singapore to celebrate the New Year, his 21st birthday, Joe and Gerri's 25thwedding anniversary and spend time with family.
Things started to go awry while the Hickman's were spending some time golfing and playing in Malaysia. One evening, Alexis doubled over in pain and fell to the floor. Being all too familiar with the local hospitals, they tossed Alexis in the car and high-tailed it back to Singapore in record time. Shortly thereafter Alexis had gall bladder surgery...
Only days after Alexis recovered Gerri went in for her routine check-up. The following day they got "the phone call" asking Gerri and Joe to come in to see the doctor. That visit led to a life altering series of events. They now know more than they ever want to know about breast cancer. The good news is that after 11 months of treatments and repeated hospital/doctor visits... Gerri is in remission!
Only days after Alexis recovered Gerri went in for her routine check-up. The following day they got "the phone call" asking Gerri and Joe to come in to see the doctor. That visit led to a life altering series of events. They now know more than they ever want to know about breast cancer. The good news is that after 11 months of treatments and repeated hospital/doctor visits... Gerri is in remission!
Alexis was class president for her final year at Singapore American School and it kept her very busy. Alexis also managed to fit in varsity volleyball, softball and swimming. She managed to maintain a grade point average that got her a scholarship from the American Women's Association of Singapore and helped her get admitted to University of California at Santa Barbara where she started in September. Alexis arrives in Singapore on 13 December to spend Christmas with Mom and Dad.
JR continues working on his degree from California State University Long Beach having recently changed his major from IT to business administration. He is still working in Adventureland at Disneyland and shares a house with 3 other guys in Anaheim. JR made a surprise visit to Singapore to attend Alexis' graduation. He will arrive in Singapore on 3 January for 3 weeks at home. Mom and Dad can't wait to have him home again.
Joe must have felt left out so he spent a short time in the hospital having the implants removed from his ankle. This was the last instalment in the whole leg saga...
To top it all off... The Hickmans were ( indirectly, thank God) affected by the terrible events of 11 September. Joe, Gerri & Alexis were flying from Hong Kong to Los Angeles to set Alexis up at UCSB on the 11th only to be diverted to Honolulu for 3 days. Under normal circumstances this would have been a good thing... but world events did not make it a good time for a holiday. Long story short none of the trip went as planned.
To top it all off... The Hickmans were ( indirectly, thank God) affected by the terrible events of 11 September. Joe, Gerri & Alexis were flying from Hong Kong to Los Angeles to set Alexis up at UCSB on the 11th only to be diverted to Honolulu for 3 days. Under normal circumstances this would have been a good thing... but world events did not make it a good time for a holiday. Long story short none of the trip went as planned.
The Hickman's wish you all the best this holiday season.
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