Ned Luce

Welcome to 2023, the year holding the promise of good cheer, mutual respect, civility, and many more fantasies. 

Ah, you say, he is a sarcastic pessimist. 

Not true, he is an optimistic realist looking for ways to enjoy life and help make whatever he encounters better. So, he and his wife spent New Year’s Eve with some folks in Port Townsend who do enjoy life and have made the world a better place. 

Judy and Mike Cavett, owners of FairWinds Winery, hosted a party at their home to send 2022 to its just reward in the dust bin of regrettable history. 

BJ and I did not get the message that they changed the location of the party, (thankfully), from the colder confines of the winery barn to their home. As a result, we showed up dressed much warmer and more casual than required with BJ in her snow boots and me in jeans and hiking shoes. The rest of the guests seemed to be dressed in regular New Year’s Eve finery. Alas, nobody seemed to care about our dress as we had showered beforehand. 

We spent time enjoying conversation with the pastor of Port Townsend’s Unity Church, Pam Douglas-Smith. She went through the process to become a pastor at the Unity Church headquarters in Lee’s Summit, Missouri near Kansas City where we lived and raised our children for almost 30 years. 

Our kids went to Hazel Grove Elementary School in a building donated to the school district by the church. Having come from Dallas, Pam and her husband, Lane, confessed to enjoying the seasons in the Midwest although I suspect the cold and wind of the past month might not suit even the most dedicated of those of us from “fly-over-country.” 

Since I got a new hip last spring, at any social gathering it seems I gravitate toward those people who have had or are contemplating similar health challenges. Former Jefferson County Sheriff, David Stanko, spent time extolling the virtues of his two new hips and one new knee. The man only needs another new knee to be a robot. 

Linda James was there and looked as if she was getting around great after multiple surgeries on one of her hips. Oh wait, she is having another one to get the ball and socket to fit together better. She still looked better than her husband Bill.

Several of the men at the party are part of a poker group Mike Cavett is in and in which I occasionally get included as a substitute. One of the players, John Hall, always greets me by asking if I am going to give him his money back, like a “buck three eighty” is a big number.

We could have had a game since John English, David Goldsmith, Bill James, and others were also there and I needed the money. Several of them are friends I made through Rotary. All of them are more fun than an old guy like me deserves. 

Teresa Goldsmith, BJ, and I talked at length about our lives in the 1960s as young married people while we dealt with the pressures of new careers and military service colliding during the Vietnam War. Teresa noted that David can define his time in the military in years, months, and days. BJ noted that we can do exactly the same thing and the numbers are pretty close. (I was in the U.S. Navy for three years, eight months and nine days.) 

While talking with Judy Cavett we discovered she has 17 cousins! I can’t believe somebody that short can accomplish that. 

I shouldn’t say anything untoward about Judy because when I tried to stoop over to pick up a piece of cake I had dropped, she said she would get it because she was so much closer to the floor. I readily agreed because, well, back to the new hip story.

So, it was a fun way to finish off a tough year on many levels. I join with you in any efforts to make 2023 better. Heck, take your time, talent, and treasure to Rotary!  

Love a curmudgeon and make 2023 the best.

(Ned Luce is a retired IBM executive and Port Ludlow resident. And yes, he still ate the cake. Contact Ned at ned@ptleader.com.)