Monthly Family Update – November 2023

Here are the contents of this month’s newsletter:

1) 50^th Wedding Anniversary Events

A Re-Do on a Sophomoric Marriage Proposal 50 years ago
- Barb and I were engaged on Valentine’s eve, February 13, 1973, and then married on November 17, 1973. I was an idiot and my proposal, although accepted, was not done well, to say the least. So, I decided for a redo, and on February 13, 2023, the 50th Anniversary of my first proposal, I did the second one (the re-do) much “more better.” Best of all, she accepted. Although the audio is not good, a friend videoed the event. You can see the video here when it premiers on my YouTube channel on November 15.

European Adventure
- In October, we had the two-week trip of a lifetime celebrating being friends for 67 years (since we were 5 years old), a romantic couple for 55 years, and married for 49 years (at the time). We started with 3 days in Amsterdam, then a 7-day Rhine River Viking cruise through Holland, Germany, France, to Switzerland. Then a day in Basel, two days in Lucerne, a day in Zurich, and the icing on the cake was three days in Paris ending with a celebration dinner at the Eifel Tower. Wowser. It was wonderful, and I’ll blog the details soon.

November 16-20, the Larimore clan from Atlanta and Colorado Springs will gather for a family weekend of festivities and celebration.

2) More honors for my father and At First Light:

An exhibit honoring Dad and his heroics opened at the LSU Military Museum on October 26 in Baton Rouge. Barb and I were there for the ribbon cutting. I also did a book signing and gave a presentation about him. I hope to post the presentation in a blog in the next few weeks.

At First Light, the book about dad, and I were featured at the Louisiana Book Festival in Baton Rouge on October 28. I gave a presentation to a pack-out room. It went very well.

Here’s some recent publicity on the book:
I’m delighted that as of 11/01/23, the book has received 509 ratings with about 94% being 5-star ratings (477) on sites such as Amazon (219 ratings [206 5-star]), GoodReads (121 ratings [105 5-star]), Barnes & Noble (72 [71 5-star]), Walmart (54 ratings [52 are 5-star]), and Target (43 ratings [all 5-star]).What a blessing!
I’ve now met with two movie/documentary producers who may be interested in putting At First Light on the silver screen. We’ll see.

3) Last Month’s Blogs at DrWalt.com:

Mondays: “Ask Dr. Walt” – for those wanting to be more “highly healthy”
- October 9 – The Impact of Spiritual Health on General Health
- October 16 – The Ugly Truth about Dietary Supplements in America
- October 23 – Talking to Your Kids about Sex at Home
- October 30 – The Impact of Spiritual Health on Mental Health
Wednesdays: Miscellaneous
- October 4 – Which cooking oils are good and which are bad?
- October 11 – Is vitamin-enhanced water healthy?
- October 18 – Dad’s WWII Exhibit is opening at the LSU Military Museum next week
- October 25 – Two Events in Baton Rouge this week honoring my Dad and the book about him
Fridays: An Apple A Day. I briefly discuss medical and health news.
- October 6 – Heart disease from eating meat?
- October 13 – Disturbing overlaps between Long COVID and Alzheimer’s disease
- October 20 – Lonely seniors at high-risk to use risky medications
- October 27 – You are what you eat—sugar increases dementia and Alzheimer’s risk

Please let friends and family know that they can subscribe for free to the new blog here.

4) Last Month’s Happenings:

October 4-21, Barb and I traveled to Europe to celebrate our 50^th wedding anniversary (well, the actual date is November 17, but we went while the weather was better).
- 10/4, flew to Amsterdam
- 10/5-6, Amsterdam
- 10/7, Boarded our Viking long boat and set sail
- 10/8, Kinderdijk
- 10/9, Cologne
- 10/10, Koblenz and Rudesheim
- 10/11, Speyer
- 10/12, Strasbourg
- 10/13, Breisach (and visited Colmar where my dad fought in WWII)
- 10/14, Deboard, Basel, bullet train to Lucerne
- 10/15, Lucerne
- 10/16, Zurich
- 10/17, Bullet train to Paris
- 10/18-20, Paris, including an anniversary meal on the Eifel Tower
- 10/21, Flew home
October 25-31, we were in Baton Rouge for some At First Light events
- Thursday, October 26, I gave a keynote presentation and a book signing at the opening of an exhibit honoring my father, Philip B. Larimore, Jr., at the LSU Military Museum at the Memorial Tower.
- Saturday, October 28, At First Light was a featured book at the Louisiana Book Festival. I gave a presentation and did a lively Q&A.
- Sunday, October 30, we celebrate the 20^th anniversary of my father’s passing at his and mom’s graves at the Port Hudson National Military Cemetery

5) Upcoming Events:

Nov 21-24, Barb and I will be in New Orleans to celebrate a romantic and grateful Thanksgiving with each other.
Nov 24-31, we’ll drive to Baton Rouge for the 50th anniversary of the LSU Cheerleader classes of 1972-1973.

6) Past Three Editions:

October 2023
- Wonderful trips
- More honors for my Father: LSU Museum exhibit, OCS Hall of Fame nomination
- At First Light news: Page Turner Award shortlist for Book of the Year, Louisiana Book Festival, more nice reviews