New Year’s Eve this year was tons of fun. We had our new friends Christine and Andy White (via Mason’s kindergarten buddy, Nolan), and our old(er) friends David and Kelly Janicek over for New Years Eve. There was plenty of Guitar Hero III to play, and the wives had good fun just chit chatting. All of it was augmented by some top shelf libation and great food. The time really went by quick. We only made it to the last 4 seconds of the Dick Clark countdown, and then it was back to the fun until 4am. It’s back to work today for some rest after our great holidays **yawn**.

As is always the case when a family member says that they have something to tell you, you mentally prepare yourself for all sorts of unsettling news. My Mom and Dad normally just blurt it out with no preamble necessary. This news was shocking. They held an uncomfortable pause then informed me that my Aunt Wendy has breast cancer. WHAT?!? Is she sure? How? When? **deep breath**. Much as I didn’t want to hear the rest, it’s true. On December 8th she found a suspicious lump. December 12th she had 2 mammograms and an ultrasound. On December 14th, a biopsy, and finally on December 18th test results revealed cancer…ductile carcinoma. The oncologist determined that it is stage III cancer from which 1 in 30 patients survive. Since the cancer has spread to her lymphnodes, there is a risk that the cancer is in other parts of her body, all of which will be tested over the next few days.

Apparently Aunt Wendy has had this for quite a while undetected. Regular mammograms cannot detect some kinds of cancer. A simple ultrasound would have revealed the issue, but this is not a standard procedure in preventative care. I’ve got a couple of doctors in the family, so I’ll try not to pretend to be one. However, I can’t stay away from Google and its ability to find guidance that shows women should be getting ultrasounds in addition to their mammograms, and that the National Cancer Institute is testing a variety of methods of detection. Plus, it is very likely there is a link between prolonged use of the pill and breast cancer. This is enough sour grapes (I guess) on how she got here.

Let me give my personal testimony about Aunt Wendy before I ask for prayers for her. Wendy Vosper (nee Rzepkowski) has been my kindred spirit from birth. She became my aunt on her 10th birthday in 1975, giving us a closeness in age that almost makes her a big sister. Ever since then, she has given me a special kind of unconditional love that no parent, wife or even my own children can offer. When I was a kid, she was the “cool aunt” who would play with me when my parents had enough. Christmas time was ALWAYS my favorite because she went nuts for it. From her famously over-taped wrappings, to the ever-present stuffed animals (she’s a stuffed animal freak), Christmas was a spectacle.

Aunt Wendy and Kris celebrate our birthday in 2004

As we grew older, Aunt Wendy became a stunning beauty who always had a boyfriend. That didn’t stop her from taking my sister and I with her on dates to the Putt-Putt or the ice cream parlor. Through my most awkward teenage years, she was the one who built me up and called me handsome, even though I always felt like such a dork. That kind of encouragement from someone so beautiful on the outside showed me what I always knew – how beautiful she is on the inside. In adulthood, Aunt Wendy has remained a positive influence on my life. She, along with my grandmother have the most faith-filled life of anyone I know. Through the ups and downs of money, marriage, and jobs I can always talk to Aunt Wendy about anything. After we talk, we always come out the other side knowing that we’re there for each other.

Now is my time to be there for her. If there is anything I’ve learned from Aunt Wendy, it is how to be there for someone you love. We live far apart, so I can’t physically be in South Carolina with her. The best I can do is pray to God every day, and ask that he take me to be with she who has been my Guardian Angel in her times of need. I ask everyone who reads this blog entry to add my Aunt Wendy to your prayers. Ask that God’s will be done, and that his grace be given to someone who so deserves it. Aunt Wendy has the fight of her life ahead of her, our collective prayers will give her strength. If you’d like to provide direct words of encouragement to Aunt Wendy, view her CarePage where she will be keeping us up to date on her treatment.

This summer, I had the chance to be a part of her wedding to Ian Vosper. At the time I’m sure ‘in sickness and in health’ was furthest from both of their minds. Now Ian has to provide her with support. Please pray for Ian to be strong to support Aunt Wendy. Pray for God’s grace on Ian as he takes on a bigger challenge than he has ever had to tackle.

I’m hoping through this to continue to support Susan G. Komen for the Cure who seems to provide some of the best information and support for those who battle breast cancer.

Here’s another little ditty of the Zips plus uncle Matt mixing it up Jib Jab style.

Over the weekend, we took a short family jaunt to New York City for Tricia’s 33rd Birthday. We stayed with my college roomate Dana Deskiewicz in his awesome pad in Hoboken. It was a terrific weekend to take in all of the holiday festivities. From the Empire State Building to the tree in Rockefeller Center, we packed it in. Mason and Anna did awesome. I can’t believe their little legs still work after all of the walking we did. Explore the Google Map below to follow us on our two and a half day odyssey. Be sure to click all of the icons for pictures and stories of what we did.

Here’s a larger map to navigate our trip more easily!

Check out more pictures in Tricia’s account of the trip.

The holiday buying season sometime in the late 70’s must have been momentous for a clothing company named Leonardo Strassi. One Christmas, my Dad’s family gave too many zippered ski vests, bell-bottom jeans, or wide-collared flower shirts from the same store. These items of good taste were all packaged lovingly within the same kind of black garment box from Leonardo Strassi. When all of these suspicious boxes were retrieved from under the tree, then opened at once, the legend of “The Box” was born into Rzepkowski Family lore.

“The Box” is a bit strange by today’s garment box standards. It is all black, illustrated only by a Unabomber-looking gentleman with a gigolo moustache and some fine sunglasses. It is a thin box that only can contain the slightest of gifts. Underwear? Yes. Sweatshirt? No way! Every Christmas since that time, the Boxes have arrived under the tree. At first, there were some chuckles as Leonardo showed his classic good looks. Then, in the early 80’s the family realized that these boxes were becoming treasured family heirlooms to be passed down from generation to generation. The rule became that the holder of “The Box” must regift it to another family member sometime in the upcoming year. It was used not only for Christmas, but also for Birthdays, anniversaries, and any other momentous life occasion.

So rich became this tradition that my grandmother began inscribing the lid with the giver and receiver of “The Box”, the event, and the date. After 30 years of keeping up this ritual, “The Box” has become a gift in of itself. Opening one provides many minutes of joy as you first feign surprise that you didn’t know what it was, then recite the previous holders of the treasure, and finally let the awesome responsibility of passing it on set in. The younger generation can all recall when we received our first Box.

Interior of Leonardo Strassi Box, 2007

As legend has it, there are only 4 Boxes left in circulation (no one really knows), each with a colorful history of birthdays, Christmases and anniversaries gone by. The histories reveal new family members, special events, and of course 30 years of Christmas memories. So, this year instead of a Nintendo Wii, or an iPod, a tattered black Box is on the top of my list.

Mason with his first Box in 2002

A note to the Rzepkowski clan. If you have more clarity on the details of this story, please leave it in the comments. I submitted this story to a request at the office for holiday traditions. Quite honestly I couldn’t remember all of the details, so this account sounded close enough, but I want to get the record straight

Christmas 2007, a Box returns to the Rzepkowski’s of Webster
As if she were channeling Leo himself, Tricia executed the perfect reveal of the “Box”. This time around, Leo was overstuffed with a fleece sweatshirt which disguised the normally slim form factor. When she tore into the present, the first thing we saw was the Gigolo man staring right back at us. Have a look at the amazing video…

Yesterday was Mason’s Star Wars birthday party held in the Jedi Training Center at our house. 9 of Mason’s friends and his sister Anna went through rigorous Jedi training exercises conceived by Jedi Master Tricia after she used the force to channel Yoda’s training methods. The Younglings demonstrated their weapons and lightsaber skills, physical abilities via an obstacle course, and mental abilities by pinning the Lightsaber on Yoda.

Afterward, Darth Vader (played by none other than my mom) made an appearance to test the newly trained students’ ability to resist the temptations of the Dark Side. Mason’s real birthday is December 22nd, but we are so glad we were able to dedicate the time and effort to his birthday prior to the busy holiday season. It seemed like everyone had fun.

You know those songs you can’t get out of your head? They’re called earworms. It’s only fitting that my severe earworm from Friday through the weekend was about a worm named Herme. This was a song brought home by Mason from Mrs. Sero’s kindergarten class. Herme…baby…what HAPPENED???

Tonight, Mason launched his first Lego creation from scratch that resembles something. He expertly attached the various pieces of spaceparts to the sand base from his Jack Sparrow Pirates of the Carribean set. The result is a flying garden with an aft tower for the captain to pilot the ship and avoid tractor beams. In honor of his feat I have christened his vessel the Arugula – an homage to the vegetable that forms Rocket salad.

We took pictures of his ship and Photoshop helped propel it to the outer reaches. We’re both excited for his next build.

I’m now officially an uncle. Lilyan Mae Short was born today at 8:58am, weighing in at 6 lbs. 9 oz., and measuring 20.5 inches long. My sister, Lindsey and her husband, Mike are in high spirits but tired. After a grueling early morning procedure to have the baby flipped from breech, the Docs decided to perform a C-Section. There will be plenty of new experiences for them as they enter into the adventure called parenting. Congratulations guys!!!

It was strange enough when I became a dad for the first time, but for some reason it seems even more strange to be an Uncle Kris. I’m very excited though. It’s wonderful to have a little one in the family again!

Of course Tricia scooped the story before I did, so check out her entries:

• The birthday party complete with video
• Our pre-birth bets
• ‘Cousin’s’ first announcement

Time for Uncle Kris and Aunt Tricia to start stockpiling the loud and obnoxious gifts. Children’s drumsets…the gift that keeps on giving.

This weekend I took some time to be with my parents and enjoy two of their favorite hobbies – classic cars and vintage racing. We participated in what amounts to a public holiday in the town of Watkins Glen, NY – the Grand Prix Festival. Plus, my dad was racing in the SVRA Zippo US Vintage Grand Prix up at the Watkins Glen International race track.

Friday morning I got my Pit Pass and helped prep my dad’s 1967 MG Midget race car for his first qualifying race. The bad news from the previous day had been that he was disqualified at the tech inspection for illegal coil-over springs (his vintage car is supposed to have leaf springs) and therefore couldn’t place in any of the races. They still let him race though as ‘Racer-X’, which was nice of them considering he paid for the privilege. The other bad news from the previous day was that he only made it through 2 laps of his test before blowing a rotor. A rotor, as I learned after hearing the story MANY times, is a $3 plastic part that spins under the distributor cap delivering spark to the plugs. He changed the rotor and the car was now ready to go for the day’s qualifier.

My mom and I accompanied dad down to pit row where they ‘grid’ the cars for the start of the race.

Friday was beastly hot, with highs in the upper 90’s. Our job is to keep the driver cool while he awaits the start of the race. .

It is especially hot after he puts on the fire resistant hood and the helmet. That’s a lot of gear to have a good time.

Finally, they are ready to roll. What boy doesn’t dream of having his Hot Wheels cars on a real track? These big boys with their big toys must have a lot of fun.

The qualifier was exciting…for the first 2 minutes. He got one and a half laps into the race and blew another rotor. Dad got on the radio and said that the tow trucks were towing him in (it’s a free ride no AAA needed). All he needed though was one timed lap, a 2:35 for officials to determine where he would start in the feature races.

In the afternoon, my mom and I went to downtown Watkins Glen to see exactly why the kids have a day off from school for the festival. Apart from the concours d’elegance (a car show featuring the best of the best) and the terrific local beers (with no open container laws) I could see why.

Many of the local roads were shut down completely to re-create the old 6.5 mile road course the went right through the heart of town. The place was buzzing with energy as wave after wave of vintage cars ran the track. The special marques for this year’s festival, BMW and Bugatti, were especially cool to see.

As far as experiences go, all of this paled in comparison to the highlight of my day. At 6pm my dad, along with all of the other SVRA racers brought their cars down from the track. I donned a helmet and took my place in a makeshift jumpseat beside him as we readied for the grand prix race reenactment. I had pretty low expectations as officials intend to keep the “race” at low speeds. I was shocked at how much fun I had though as the green flag waived.

My dad took his little roller skate around the first corner at 35 MPH with crowds of people cheering as though we were doing this for real. Then in a heartbeat we climbed the hill to the top of the Glen at 80 MPH.

From that point onward, the smile never left my face. He drove us through winding turns, over a stone bridge, and down into the Glen with a spectacular view of the south end of Seneca Lake. I’m not sure how my dad was able to concentrate through my obnoxious YEEEEHAWWWW’s and thumbs up to the crowds, but he handled it like a pro.

When I saw the checkered flag I was disappointed that this was not a 500 lap race, but alas we needed to give the streets back to the town again. Now I understand why everyone gets so stoked for racing. Our enthusiasm must have shown through our helmets because the local paper picked up the story of the race. There we were on Saturday morning with our picture on the front page.

I’ve got to thank my mom and dad for an awesome time together. It really was a weekend of memories. I also need to thank my bride for taking care of the homefront so that I could go off on this racing adventure.