If 2010 was the “busy” year, 2011 turned out to be the “new” year for the Skaggs family, with new schools, new hobbies, new toys, new pets, new paths in life, and new outlooks.
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The year started out with the passing of Don’s father, Donald Eugene Skaggs. After a long struggle with Alzheimer’s disease and brain injury, he went home to The Lord on February 4.
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Rodger composed another original work for piano entitled “Together We Can” that won 3rd place in this year’s “Reflections” contest at the district level. Here is the score and the recording.
Rachael played in a series of concerts at the school. Her band director is the same one that runs the music programs at Mountainview High School, so she is excited about the familiarity with this fall’s transition to the new school.
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In early spring, Teresa’s health took a turn that was expected eventually, but not anxiously anticipated. As part of the progression of her heart condition, it has developed rhythm problems that can cause sudden difficulties. The answer was an ICD, or Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator. It monitors her heart around the clock, can function as a pacemaker, and will deliver shocks without delay if rhythm problems get out of control. This hasn’t happened yet, but it is there in case it does. Her “personal paramedic” (Teresa named it “Pete”) brings some peace of mind and stress relief.
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Rachael played varsity basketball in the spring of her eighth-grade year. The team may not have went undefeated, but Rachael shined whenever they would feed her the ball. She has played organized basketball since first-grade, but next season, she will be focused on busy high-school music and drama programs, so may not be as active in sports.
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Rodger’s recital piece for the spring was “Mission Impossible” (watch it here) which he also played for his school’s talent show. He got another gig at the annual spaghetti feed and auction, where he provided live dinner-music and attracted the attention of his first rock-star fans. 
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We had been discussing a future extended road-trip to the east coast for a while. The main question was how to travel for days and thousands of miles without one of the kids murdering the other. A motorhome seemed like the best solution, but rent or buy? For the length of time we would need it, purchasing a used one seemed to make the most economic sense.
Then a new vacation policy at Don’s work encouraged us to move our plans up a bit, along with realizing that the kids may not want to do it if we let them grow much older. We also wanted to make sure we are all healthy enough to enjoy it. There was still some negotiation involved. Rachael had planned to visit Washington DC this summer with her class, and attend the 5th Avenue Theater’s acting camp in Seattle. Instead, she got a personal trip to Boston, Philadelphia and DC with her favorite history teacher and personal chauffer, as well as tickets to see “Wicked” on Broadway in NYC. Rodger wanted to visit the White House. We had enough time to plan that too, which isn’t as easy as you would think.
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Teresa retired from work in June after 24 years with Washington Federal, for a better chance of improving and maintaining her health. We saw it as a positive change for all of us. Now she can volunteer at school, Don can travel more if needed, and we all benefit from some coordinated meal planning and calendar management.
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The anniversary party also launched our road-trip. During the next five weeks, we covered over 8000 miles, 32 states and 18 national parks/monuments. Don maintained a daily web-log of the entire trip including statistics, theme music and lessons learned, which can be viewed here.
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Near the end of the trip, Rachael ditched us in Las Vegas to fly home for Marching Band Camp. It began a season filled with late-night rainy practices and lots of stories to share with Mom and Dad, who were in Band and Color Guard when they were in high-school.Don joined the Band Parents Association and also made a video of the season highlights to help celebrate their successes (watch it here) which is already being shown in the middle-schools for recruitment.
Rachael loves her new school and its possibilities. Music and drama have been her focus, with workshops and auditions for their next musical production. Private flute lessons (at school) will begin shortly and guitar lessons (outside of school) are already starting to click.
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Rodger also started a new school. For the fourth and fifth grades, he was invited to attend the STEP program for gifted students. He takes the bus to a school in downtown Auburn and Teresa volunteers in the classroom each week. Piano lessons and preparation for recital season have resumed. A new karate instructor has also guided him to his yellow-belt.
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In September, Don’s mother Dorothy came to stay with us. The winters are much milder here than in southwest Idaho, giving her a safe place to decide what is next. Her dogs have made themselves at home and are great friends with our other new family member, Chewy, who comes to stay with us from family in Yakima.
Dorothy and Teresa have been able to help each other keep track of doctor appointments and medication management. We are thrilled to have her with us this winter.
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Teresa was selected for an exercise study for ICD patients at the University of Washington. She says her commitment to research gives her motivation to exercise, which she might otherwise skip.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I won’t make any predictions for 2012. We could not have anticipated the events of 2011, so anything for next year would be a wild guess. I hear the world is supposed to end anyway, so why not just try to enjoy whatever comes our way?
All the best and God's love,
The Skaggs Family
Donavan, Teresa, Rachael and Rodger