Easter greetings with pics 4/14/2004

2004 was our interesting year. I had regularly sent an email update to family and friends from Canada to Miami. Here is our Easter greeting.

April 14, 2004

Happy Easter, a little late.

Erin picked you a beautiful bouquet of flowers. And we wonder why she has allergy problems. Anyone care to sniff her dandelion bouquet?

We were in a hurry to get to church Sunday, so the kids Easter picture setting for 04 was inside the van parked in the garage. Erin really pulled out a great smile.

We took off Easter Sunday afternoon to spend a couple of days in Chicago. It has been a rough 2004 so far and we thought a little time away would be good. We lucked out with our room. We got the 41st floor on the NE corner of the Marriott, which gave us a great view of the Hancock Tower to the North and Lake Michigan to the east.

We taxied it around town and took advantage of our year membership at the Shedd Aquarium. We were there last September and watched the dolphin/baluga whale show from the amphitheater. This time we watched it from below, and it was actually better. The Shedd people are environmentalist for sure, that's good. But they talk so much more than they force the dolphins to do stuff. Therefore, up top you have about 30 min. of some guy talking about polution and just 3 min. of the dolphins walking on their tails and jumping. Down below we can watch the dolphins swim around, and you see that they (the dolphins, who some believe are as smart as humans) are handed a sardine everytime they so much as blink. The kid's dog cousin Boomer would walk on his tail in a pool for that many treats. I think they are smart, don't get me wrong, but I can't give them too much credit. Enough editorializing.

See the beautiful Chicago skyline? I imagine I am the first person to ever snap this picture.

Josh wanted a little time behind the camera. So I thought I would strike a pose. Erin happened by just before this photo and knocked her nearly full bottle of Sierra Mist into Josh's Nike store bag containing his brand new baseball. I can be seen reacting to the spill as quickly as a pathetic heart attack victim can.

Speaking of my status, I made a goal of running the Cross the Line 5K at our church on Sunday the 4th of April. I actually got 2nd place in the 35-39 age category. But before you go and get all congratulatory on me, I was not able to catch and beat the following people who finished directly in front of me: 12 year old boy wearing basketball shoes, a swim suit and a backwards baseball hat; a 65+ year old guy wearing very short shorts and an orange bike hat; and an 18 year old girl in the last stages of anorexia. A humbling experience.

It wasn't all fun in Chicago. We had to put in about 12 hours of shopping. The one hightlight of the shopping was Bass Pro Shops. The kids enjoyed posing by the dead stuffed bears. Both kids got new snorkels and masks and Josh had saved enough money to buy another fishing pole. He got in some good practice with it at the hotel pool. He also got some great practice with the snorkel in preparation for our summer FL trip. Erin also tried snorkeling Monday evening. I was adjusting her mask when she told me she didn't feel well. She then immediately proceeded to puke all over the pool deck. She was up until 2AM throwing up. Poor thing.

But regardless, the following day we still made it to Pam's mecca, IKEA. The photo of Josh in front of IKEA won't mean much to many of you, but to some it will be quite impressive. That is our white van Josh is standing in front of. That is a front row parking space. It is easier to win the lottery than to get a parking place like that at IKEA. Proud moment for me.

Take care. Tomorrow I go in for my lipid profile to see if my intensive exercise and diet regimen have done more than just cause me to lose weight. I am shooting for some really low numbers compared to 2/17, the last time they counted them. I will let you know only if they are good.

My Mycardial Infarction announcement from 2/19/04

Dear Friends and Family,

You have all heard by now that I had a wee little problem starting Monday night (2/16/04) at about 10:45pm. I, Rick Lingenfelter, olympic caliber athlete, trapped in the body of an international male supermodel, 36 years old, had a heart attack. The bad thing is that I had a heart attack. The good thing is, I had a heart attack. I can think of many people who maybe aren’t ready for this. Maybe their faith is weak, maybe they have no faith, maybe their body has no chance of taking it, I don’t know, but it worked out this way for a reason, and I am here today thanking you for your prayers and actions.

I had peace throughout the whole ordeal. That peace only comes through Christ. I don’t know everyone on this email list, some of you were on Susan Rychener’s email and I don’t believe we have met. If we have and I have just forgotten, excuse me, I just had a heart attack. My family and I really felt your prayers. The people I thought who would not handle this well, were OK. I actually was disappointed that everyone seemed so happy on Tuesday, surgery day. Would have been nice to see a tear or two, but, maybe next time. If you haven’t met me, let me say I am sorry, and please understand I tend to be a little sarcastic.

Monday night I got the classic symptoms and called my father-in-law for advice. He had been there before and encouraged me to go to the hospital. By 4:00am Tuesday it was clear I had had an attack and my scheduled stress test for Tuesday AM turned into an angiogram (not as fun as the name implies) and angioplasty (doctor induced heart attack…excuse me…it sucked…about six minutes of laying on the table feeling like you are really dying…the worst part of the whole experience). The 24 hours of nitroglycerin headache was a close second.

It was so nice that so many people visited me. Sorry if I smelled and looked un-GQ in my hospital dress. I just thought about it. The worst part was the dress. You know what you wear under those beautiful gown’s? Nothing. You knowwhat every hospital employee does when they come to see you? They lift it up. Then they push where it hurts and they ask if it hurts. Pam and my sister Tami felt this was fair that I experience what women go through.

There were so many people in that hospital without hope, in fear, sadly without visitors. I had a 70 year old roommate. He was intentionally obnoxious andeveryone who came in loved him. We had some great talks during our two days together. He has a good heart, well, bad, but good. We talked a little about faith as he realizes he may not have long to live. It was good. Thank you.

Remember Christ in all you do. Read some of my favorite verses Eph. 2:8-10 and remember it is not about us or what we do. I have included a couple of photos, one from the hospital when I was near death and another shows the hemotoma on my right hip.

Rick