Heiss Year in Review - 2007

Here's the latest version of Reid's Christmas poem. He managed to find time to tackle this annual project in the midst of two very difficult classes. Hurray for him!

All the Heiss grandkids like Christmas a lot
But they’re both very young, so perhaps they do not.
I love being Grandpa; it’s really the best,
And my grandkids are cuter than all of the rest.

First there came Rachel—born in July
With ten fingers and toes and two gorgeous blue eyes.
Her mother is Nancy; her father’s my son.
You remember Andrew, that blonde goofy one.

That’s right, he’s a dad now; I know, we’re stunned, too.
When it comes to the baby, we hope he knows what to do.
Where Andrew is clueless, smart Nancy has clues;
When Andrew wears flip-flops, wise Nancy wears shoes.

Clueless, I say; well, perhaps I misspeak—
It takes more than one clue to speak Arab-ique.
He’s one semester away from a Bachelor’s degree,
And what after that, I don’t know, but we’ll see.

And Katharine and Todd had a son with a name
That is quite hard to spell, but they proudly proclaim
It’s Todd’s middle name that’s spelled K A Y L.
Not Kyle, Keel, or Cal; no, the name rhymes with tale.

And the tales we can tell of our third child Sarah
Who lives on her own in the French Riviera.
Okay, not quite France, yes, I exaggerate.
She moved to an apartment just south of Salt Lake.

She finished high school and obtained a position
Where she gets both a wage and a hefty commission.
So at home we have two of our five who remain:
Emily and Jacob—the last two cars of our train.

Next May Emily will face graduation
And has already submitted her BYU application.
She’s still in the band and the orchestra, too.
She went on a tour from Kirtland to Nauvoo.

From New York to Boston and Chicago as well.
Vermont she just loved with its tin syrup pails.
She works at a music store just down the street
Keeping music and instruments tidy and neat.

And Jacob, our last one’s a Junior this year,
He’s sixteen years old with a grin ear to ear.
And why such a grin, from this child of late?
Of course, you all know, because now he can date.

He has gone on two dates with two different girls,
But encountered a wrinkle in this new dating world.
You see, he can’t drive yet and the car’s one I own,
So he goes on the date, and I chaperone.

“A fate worse than death! It’s totally uncool!
Having dad in the front seat is very old school.”
Cool—I’m the one who invented that phrase.
You see, I was the cool one back in the days.

Our dear nephew Richard got married last year
To our great friend Diana; we’re glad they live near.
They’re having a baby—just two months to go.
Its gender is male; this they already know.

Now to tell you of us, without fabrication,
I’ll start with our little Hawaiian vacation.
For 25 years being married to me,
Karen wanted to plan a trip out to sea.

So we told all the kids the wonderful news:
In August their parents would go on a cruise.
We biked down a volcano and got too much sun.
We cruised four cool islands and had so much fun!

Our dear Grandma Karen, she needed a break.
It was one of those years that was filled with some aches.
Three days before Christmas she broke her left shoulder
By slipping on ice (she hates weather that’s colder).

They fixed both her wrists—carpal tunnel, it was.
Then in November the doc gave her a buzz:
“Your right shoulder has problems; come in right away.”
It was back to the hospital, but just for a day.

The joint had some calcium, they saw at the first.
Turns out that the muscle was loose, which was worse.
But in a few months when the healing is done
She will be like brand new as she was on day one.

In spite of all that she was still in the loop
To chaperone Sarah and Emily’s school groups.
She went north to Ogden and cold Idaho.
Then on south to Vegas (I didn’t want to go).

While my family had children and traveled to places,
Me, I stayed home and just made sour faces.
I’m three classes away from being all through
With school, and I’ll graduate from BYU.

I finished Accounting and fought through Statistics.
I endured Legal Theory without going ballistic.
Just three classes to go, and then I am done.
And what’s next? No idea. Suggestions, someone?

Well, I did it again. Guess what? So did you!
You wasted ten minutes catching up with our news.
But I wouldn’t feel good if I failed to suggest
That in 2008 Hillary Clinton’s the best!

Reid & Karen Heiss
106 West 1960 North
Orem, UT 84057

801-221-9613

karenheiss@comcast.net

rheiss@hmgsl.com