2001 Hanly Newsletter

2001 Hanly Newsletter

6 January 2002

Dear Friends and Family,

Happy 2002! I would like to take a moment to introduce myself. My name is Mical Elizabeth Hanly (my first name is pronounced mi-'kal). I am the first-born daughter of my Mommy and Daddy (you may know them as Jennifier and Eric). I would like to share with you the events of our lives during the past year. The first memory I have of 2001 takes us back to the southern Mississippi Gulf Coast where Mommy and Daddy lived before I was born—I was still in Mommy’s tummy, Daddy was finishing General Surgery Internship at Keesler AFB Medical Center, and Mommy was working as a Child Victim Witness Program Coordinator at the Mississippi Child Advocacy Center.

Daddy was very busy during his internship at Keesler AFB Medical Center in Biloxi, Mississippi. I heard his voice only two out of every three nights because he slept in the hospital “on call” every third night (except for three months when he was “on call” every other night). [1] Though he worked very long hours at the hospital, Daddy did find time to publish a couple of papers and presented some of his research findings at the Society of Air Force Clinical Surgeons annual meeting in San Antonio, Texas where he was awarded 1st Prize in the Paul Meyer resident research competition. [2] The award included a $1,000 cash prize that Daddy used to take Mommy (and me in utero) on a seven-day vacation in May at the Moon Palace Resort in Cancun, Mexico. [3,7]

After we returned from Mexico, Daddy was still working but Mommy resigned from her job so that she could stay at home for the last few months of her pregnancy and get ready for my arrival. Mommy had time for a short trip to Wyoming for a baby shower put on by her sister Sheri, [6] and then we had to return to Mississippi and prepare for our move to Andrews AFB in Washington D.C. where daddy was assigned next. When she wasn’t packing boxes or wrapping furniture, Mommy read Baby Wise and other books in an effort to get ready for me. Two weeks before the big move (six weeks before my anticipated due date of Aug 4th), Mommy had packed all of our stuff, so she flew to Washington D.C. where Daddy’s mommy (Grandma Jeri) met her after driving from Wyoming. Mommy and Grandma spent the next two weeks finding us a house, painting my nursery, installing carpet, and going to O.B. appointments with Dr Golden, Mommy’s new doctor at Andrews. On the last day of June, Daddy’s daddy (Grandpa Brian) flew to Mississippi to help Daddy move our stuff to Washington D.C. Grandpa drove one car and Daddy towed our other car behind the big moving truck. [5] They spent two days on the road and arrived tired on the evening of July 2nd.

Mommy and Daddy had asked friends from Baltimore to come help them unload the truck during the late afternoon of July 3rd, but at 4 pm, so sooner than Daddy had backed the truck into the driveway, extended the ramp, and opened the back door of the truck, Mommy called out from inside the house, “Eric, I know this is a bad time, but could you please come here?” Mommy’s water had broken—one month early and less than 24 hours since daddy had gotten into town, I was on my way! As Mommy, Daddy, and I headed for the base hospital, Grandma and Grandpa, our Baltimore friends, and our new next-door neighbors unloaded the truck. Our dear friends the Floyds [12] even stayed the night in our new house and set up beds, reassembled furniture, and unpacked the kitchen and bathrooms! The word from Dr Golden was a little discouraging. Because I had decided to be born at less than the magic gestational age of 36 weeks, I would have to be delivered in a hospital with a NICU (neonatal intensive care unit), which required a “trip around the beltway” in an ambulance to Bethesda Naval Hospital. At 4:52 am on the 4th of July, I was born weighing in at 5 lb 2.2 oz with a length of 18 inches. [8,9] I never needed the NICU, but it was still a blessing for me to be born at “The President’s Hospital” because the maternity ward at Bethesda Naval is more like a five-star hotel than a hospital. Needless to say, Mommy and Daddy had an exciting move to Washington D.C.

Our new house on base is old but good. It is a two-story three-bedroom duplex with new carpet, new paint, and a recently remodeled kitchen with new cabinets and a dishwasher. The only really old-looking aspect is the tile in the bathrooms which Mommy and Grandma covered with carpet. A big oak shades the driveway, and we have a big back yard with a wooded area beyond the back fence. We really love living in our Nation’s Capital—it is rich with history and there is no end to the things to see and do (many of which are free). While the Pentagon attack of Sept 11th and the Daschle anthrax scare hit very close to home (12 and 10 miles respectively), other than heavily armed soldiers guarding our base, it really is “business as usual” now here in D.C. I have had a number of family members visit on multiple occasions (both sets of grandparents and my Uncle Kevin and Aunt Trinity) and baby sit me, which has allowed Mommy and Daddy to go into the city for concerts, operas, museums, and restaurants. Grandma Susan even baby-sat for a weekend in November so that Mommy and Daddy could go on a weekend marriage retreat to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware with friends from church. [12]

Mommy loves her new job as a full-time mother and homemaker. Each day she feeds me, reads books to me, [13] listens to music with me, does exercises with me, plays with me, and generally loves me to death! Of course she also takes great care of Daddy too, and she has really taken to the culinary arts (her cookbook library seems to grow almost weekly). Mommy also facilitates a discussion group for the MOPS (Mothers Of Pre-Schoolers) ministry at church which means that I get special time with Daddy at least two evenings each month.

Daddy is also very happy in his new job as a General Medical Officer in the Department of Surgery at Malcolm Grow Medical Center here at Andrews. He sees patients at Malcolm Grow but also spends a number of days every week conducting surgical research projects for the military at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in D.C. and Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. His most exciting project right now is a telerobotic surgery initiative between the military and Johns Hopkins. He is helping to work out the nuts and bolts of “distance surgery” in the hope that one day, injured soldiers will be able to undergo surgery in remote locations on aircraft carriers and elsewhere near the front lines using robots controlled by expert surgeons sitting at computer consoles thousands of miles away!

Since my arrival, Mommy and Daddy have also taken me on a number of trips to visit friends and family. [10] I met the Helms, [3] the Arnoults, [3] and Mommy’s old colleagues in Mississippi, I saw Uncle Kevin play with the Dare-2-Share band in North Carolina, I met my Great-grandma Elizabeth in Indiana, [11] and I just returned from Christmas vacation in Wyoming [19] where I visited Great-grandpa Keith, Great-aunt Jeanne, and Cousins Susan, Phil, and Shane; [14] Grandma Jeri, Grandpa Brian, Uncle Kevin, and Aunt Trinity; Uncle Don, Aunt Sheri, Uncle Cody, and Cousins McCade and Emmy; [20] and many of Mommy and Daddy’s friends: the Martins, [15] Tysers, [16] Raczykowskis, [16] Ostranders, Missy R., Matt H., April F., [6] and Gentry A. [6]

2001 has truly been a blessed year for Mommy, Daddy, and me. We have so much enjoyed hearing from many of you this season and look forward to when God might allow us to visit with you next in person. Until that time you remain always in our thoughts and prayers.