Still opening holiday cards, and our holiday card this year looks good, complete with me in my 30th reunion ’89 vest. It’s great to see cards from friends and classmates and reconnect.

This is a short column, as I’ve had other things on my mind the past several weeks. My father, who has dementia, caught pneumonia and Covid, and I’m 3,000 miles away and feeling powerless. I know my mother and sister are there, but still wish I could do more for him besides thinking positive thoughts. I’m also going in tomorrow (December 29) for prostate removal surgery. Thanks to annual checkups it was detected early through nothing more than regular bloodwork; this is a plea to get checked as part of your annual physical. I’m grateful to have detected this early and to go into this with the love and support of my family and friends.

I’ll have plenty of time lying around the next few weeks to write and make calls to family, friends, and classmates, and I’m looking forward to catching up with some of you on our monthly Zoom (first Saturday of the month) or on Facebook.

—Ned Ward, 2104 Graham Ave., #B, Redondo Beach, CA 90278; ned@nedorama.com