A tradition in our marriage is that Doug writes the annual Christmas letter. We recently sent out this Christmas card and letter to our friends and family but wanted to share with you also! I hope you enjoy Doug's humor as he writes and shares about our amazing 2018!
2018 … is it over already?! Geez, it just seemed like we turned the calendar page from 2017. Since we did not send out a Christmas letter last year, let’s start with the things that haven’t changed in the last couple of years, shall we? The Schuh-Drogorub clan is still counting two (well, four if you count the felines that live under our roof), the “cheese curd capital” remains our home, and the Detroit Lions are no closer to the Super Bowl than the day Doug was born (43 years ago). Additionally, Tasha continues to speak consistently while Doug efforts to make sure the business is legal with the IRS.
Perhaps the biggest change in the last couple of years has been the audience profile for a vast majority of our speaking outings. In 2017 we worked extensively with a youth speaker named Josh Shipp to begin marketing Tasha’s presentation to more of middle/high school audiences. Armed with new knowledge and a renewed desire to impact that demographic, Doug fully embraced – NOT – the art of cold calling schools to put Tasha on their radar. While it may not have been his favorite part of the job, Doug used his former TV charm to turn the attention of principals towards Tasha. She was well received during the spring months by schools in Winona, Cottage Grove, Hudson and Osseo-Fairchild, just to name a few. Despite the prolonged winter weather, spring finally came … and transitioned quickly to summer.
One of our new favorite events that we attend – and now help with – is the annual Ironwood Springs Wheelchair Camp in Stewartville, MN in June. Let me just say that Tasha may seem meek and mild, but when it comes to wheelchair soccer or softball … well, it’s game on. Let’s just say you don’t ever want to be the umpire that calls her out at second base! June also featured our longest (both in mileage and time) road trip to date; three weeks traveling from Ellsworth to San Jose, CA and back. Along the way we stopped for a quick speaking engagement in Nebraska, ate our favorite peach cobbler dessert (it really is quite epic), saw the beautiful sights and landscape of the American west and enjoyed lovely Monterey; we also witnessed cowboys like Kash Deale (that really was his name!) get bucked from big bad broncs and bulls, watched the 4th of July parade in downtown Cody and finally drove straight home through the badlands of Montana, the plains of North Dakota and frozen tundra (well, not so much in July) of Minnesooota. Along the way we met some wonderful people including Josh Shipp at his annual speakers’ conference and spent some quality time with good friends in Wyoming.
The transition to fall was seamless as we hit the ground running. In fact, so busy were we (wow, I sounded like Yoda) that there was no time for cold calling. By October there was barely time to wash clothes in between trips. There were large schools (with nearly 1,500 students), smaller schools (under 300) and everything in between. Wisconsin cities we visited included: Balsam Lake, Bruce, Gilman, Appleton, Crivitz, Mequon, Cedarburg, Butternut, Phillips and Chippewa Falls. Our travels also took us back to North Dakota, Nebraska and Minnesota. When all was said and done Tasha had spoken in 26 schools to over 10,000 students in less than three months and spoke 63 times total in the year of 2018. Expectations are high for 2019, and we ask that you remember us in your thoughts and prayers for safety in our travels, as well as impact for the youth – and others – who will hear Tasha speak this upcoming year. We also have been working diligently on our PITCrew curriculum that will help schools educate their students on mental health and suicide awareness. We look forward to reporting more about this in next year’s letter, but if you want to know more now please visit our website at tashaschuh.com
Outside of work, we celebrated our five-year wedding anniversary in August. We’ve learned to cherish our downtime with date nights at area restaurants, movie nights at home, and even game nights (in which Doug usually wins). Laughter is a common theme in our home but if Doug gets a bit lippy, Tasha takes after him in her wheelchair to put him back in his place.
As 2018 concludes, we wish you a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
-Doug and Tasha