Benziger babes

Grandma JoJo, Josie, Theo, Grandpa John, Lucy, Marit and Evelyn (and baby dolls). Marit, Maya, Grandpa Bob, Grandma Kim, Zachary, Dani, and Theo   While 2021 wasn't quite the year we had hoped it would be, we found joy and happiness spending time with family over the holidays. The whole Benziger family was vaccinated and boosted (those who were eligible). Masks, while controversial, seemed to be providing adequate protection as Keith (a pediatrician) and I (a cardiologist) worked routinely with COVID patients and neither of us had come down with it.  After much deliberation weighing the risks and benefits of travel and exposing grandparents to possible illness, we decided to take a chance. The Delta wave continued to devastate and overwhelm our Minnesota hospitals just as the new Omicron variant was on the rise in NYC and Chicago. However, we decided to load up the car with presents and after I finished work we drove south. The roads from Duluth to Chicago were clear and traff...

Reflecting on the past year, one cannot forget about all the lives that were lost prematurely due to COVID-19. While our family lost a wonderful, loving, caring father, Lawrence Rocheford, in 2020, we fortunately did not suffer any additional losses this year. We planted a tree at the cabin in memory of Studly Uncle Larry. Many of us in healthcare continue to experience first hand the devastation this virus has on families and our communities.  This time last year it seemed there was a light at the end of the dark tunnel. I received my first COVID-19 vaccine. We had hope for 2021. Both the Pfizer and Moderna mRNA vaccines got the green light from the FDA for emergency use approval followed by Johnson&Johnson. All of our grandparents received doses shortly after the high risk groups were selected. Seth waited until it was his turn to get it in the spring. After much research, the FDA finally approved vaccines for kids age 5-11 years. Theo and Marit received their 2nd doses in De...

December 2021 Dear Marit, We love you so much and are so proud to be your Mom and Dad. Every day when I come home from work, you push past your big brother, Theo, and jump up to give me the biggest and best hugs and kisses. I love sitting next to you at the dinner table and hearing about your day: the games you play on the playground, what you are making in art class, and who your friends are in school. Since you were a little baby and could fit inside that little red stocking, Dad and I have loved you so much.  You were once our little princess and are now our not-so-little ballerina. We saw the Nutcracker Ballet for your birthday and maybe next year you will be on stage leaping and twirling around with your friends like you do now in ballet class. You are funny, caring and kind and no matter how tall you grow, you will always be our little baby. Mar-Mar, you have a positive outlook on life. Two years ago, we were skiing at Chester Bowl on New Year’s Day. Out of the blue, ...

Theo started 3rd grade at Congdon Park Elementary in fall 2021. He is 57 inches (4' 9", 95th percentile) and 72 lbs (76th percentile) with a BMI in the 40th percentile, hence his soccer friends gave him the nickname "skin and bones." For his birthday this summer we decided to take a few kids to Duluth's Zero Hour Escape Rooms. Theo and his friends were "trapped" in a sinking ship on Lake Superior and had to solve two dozen riddles, locks and codes to escape to the lifeboats. They had so much fun and made it out just in time! We went back a month later to do another escape room.  He started last year in hybrid learning for 2nd grade and then was in distance learning with Seth for a few months before  going  back in person. He jumped ahead a grade in math and gets speech help to help him slow down when he  talks  and  pronounce  his "R's, S's and Z's" properly. He was officially diagnosed with red-green colorblindness (deuteranopia)...

 Sometimes life give you lemons and so you make lemonade. A great weekend at Sugar Lake Lodge, Grand Rapids, MN COVID-19 continues to spread. Declared a pandemic in March 2020, it remains a significant cause of death worldwide and is stressing the hospitals and nursing homes across the country as a new wave begins. If there is one thing COVID-19 has taught us is that we need to be flexible. We started with the alpha variant and now the delta variant has taken over. While break through infections in those with prior immunity does occur, the vast majority of those hospitalized and dying currently chose not to get one of the three FDA "approved" vaccines. Over half of eligible Americans aged 12 and up are vaccinated, yet globally we are no where near that percentage, which sadly means there is lots of tinder for the COVID-19 wildfire and this pandemic is going to be a lot worse before it gets better.  Speaking of wildfires, our much anticipated trip to Duncan and Rose lakes in t...

The most important things in life are not things. They're the people and places and memories and pictures. They're feelings and moments and smiles and laughter. In this busy world we live in, sometimes we need to slow down and spend time with the people we love and live in the only moment that really matters: now. Over the past nine days we disconnected from social media and the internet. We packed the car and drove west to see some beautiful natural places. Along the way, we made memories to last a lifetime. You only live once but if you do it right once is enough.  The journey west never gets old: from the tall pines of northern Minnesota to green corn fields and grass prairies of the plains where the horizon seems to stretch on forever, over and around buttes and rivers, through tunnels and around the needles of the Black Hills of South Dakota, and finally past the ranches of Wyoming until we hit the impressive Rocky Mountain range bursting up from the horizon in Colorado. A...