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Holiday Letter 2000

December 12, 2000

Dear Friends and Family,

Our first holiday letter together – hooray! By the way, if you thought you missed George’s "February" letter this year, talking about last year, you didn’t. There wasn’t one. As you’re about to read, there were "other things" afoot.

2000 has been nothing short of extraordinary. Wedding plans took up much of the front-end of the year, though we each took time to "play" a little. George had long-standing plans to go sailing in New Zealand in February with Ragnar, Mike, Melissa, Brett, and Dawg and they all had a great time. The funny thing is that they managed to completely miss seeing any of the America’s Cup races, one of the "excuses" they had for going in the first place. Jennifer took off in March for New Orleans, and experienced a "complete" Mardi Gras with her dad, stepmom, family, and friends. Picture 10,000 revelers, black ties and long dresses, partying for 8 hours, a parade and the Neville Brothers, all at the Superdome. She looked at it as practice for our wedding.

April brought what used to be tax-day and will forevermore be thought of as our anniversary. 320 of you joined us in celebrating the beginning of our new life together. For those who could not make it, your spirit was felt. There’s way too much to cover completely, but we do want to thank our parents and the many of you that helped set it up, helped tear it down, traveled far, and made it so wonderful! Our honeymoon was seven days spent at home: true luxury.

In mid-May our good friend Tom Keating graduated from the University of Arizona. We were pleased to be included at the wonderful graduation party that Reenie threw – it was great adding our voices to the many congratulations he earned during his near 40-year college career (we love you Tom!).

The end of May saw us take to the skies to visit Rick and Trish in Santa Barbara for their wedding reception. Aviation issues (a dying battery) forced a rethinking of trip logistics that had us leave the plane in Palm Springs and drive the rest of the way, but we made it on time and had a marvelous weekend. It was great meeting Joelle’s beau Mike, and the reception party was terrific. Good friends Tracy and Richard hosted us in their "honeymoon teepee" set up in their home/studio/warehouse. George took a day to get the plane fixed on the return; Jennifer flew home commercial (much more reliable).

For Independence Day we left the country and went diving in Mexico with Clifford and Heather. Jennifer got certified (hooray!) and we all had great fun. Aaron and George went on a short live-aboard dive trip later in the season (Labor Day), but that was it for diving in 2000. Next year we’ll try to dive more than just major holidays.

August weather was typical Tucson, so we ran. Jennifer first ran to Philadelphia where she shared fun sightseeing, eating and shopping time with Ann-Eve, and Walt, Patsy, and the kids. Then Vancouver Island seemed like the right place to go; we spent a restful 5 days there with John and El and Jim and Margo. While there, they took possession of a 32’ Bayliner which we all helped ferry across from just north of Vancouver over to the island. Terrific fun, and a bit of adventure as well. We ended the trip with a splendid night in Seattle at Joe and Geri’s.

Fall was family time. We flew twice to Palm Springs, one for Thanksgiving that brought both sets of parents, numerous cousins, sister, and friends together for deep-fried turkey and all the fixings. We also made it to Sedona to see Harold and Eileen, and we got to babysit nephew Kyle and niece Caroline in Phoenix for a weekend while John and Colleen went cruising in the Caribbean.

On the home front, we’ve had our domestic moments. George has turned the garage into a wood shop (thanks to numerous power tools as wedding gifts) and is actually making progress on a few projects. We’ve played fix-it/repair-it/upgrade-it with many things, and Jennifer’s touch in the yard has our plants growing like weeds. We were fortunate to host guests during Homecoming (Tom and Josh), and Jennifer spent a weekend with visitors Jim, Barb, and Greg that included a great dinner with Pepe, Sophie, and SJ. George unfortunately had to miss it due to business travel.

Speaking of business, Jennifer continues having fun working with the kids at TMC and teaching graduate students. George keeps on at FMG; business has been good, he’s done lots of travel all over the country, and the business continues to grow.

In our spare time, we’ve both enjoyed our volunteer work. George started speaking at high schools in the spring doing a one-hour program for seniors called "Making College Count." The company he’s working with then expanded, and he went on to do the freshman program, "Making High School Count" in the fall. He will keep it up next spring with the college program again as well as a new one for juniors called "Making Your College Search Count." There are nearly 150 speakers giving these presentations now across the U.S. and as you can probably guess, George is loving it. He donates all of the proceeds from this "job" to Orphanage Outreach, and hopes to get to the Dominican Republic again in 2001 to see the kids there.

Jennifer finished out her second year on the board of the Junior League of Tucson, where she was involved with developing new membership guidelines and putting together a political open house for the November elections. She also recently became involved with Tee Up for Tots, a fund-raiser for the pediatric cancer research center at the University of Arizona Medical Center. The golf tournament raised $95,000 this year, and as a special bonus, provided her the opportunity to purchase by live auction an F-16 simulator ride for George’s birthday. Needless to say, he’s overwhelmed with the gift and feels that no sacrifice is too great for the kids.

We’ve done a bunch of reading and there are a few standouts. We both fell in love with the Harry Potter series, and have recently been engrossed in the entire Travis McGee series by John D. MacDonald. If you’ve never read a McGee book, give it a try – it is truly excellent 60’s vintage pulp fiction. Just so you don’t think that’s all we read, we both recommend Guns, Germs, & Steel by Jared Diamond, Jennifer highly recommends Ahab’s Wife by Sean Jeter Naslund and Horse Heaven by Jane Smiley. George has been all over the map with his reading, so his only recommendation is a general one for the science fiction of Robert Heinlein.

George is in the middle of the annual inspection of the plane and will be taking on a partner for it before the end of the year. He’ll take it to Sedona for Christmas, meeting Jennifer, Harold, Eileen, John, Coleen, Kyle, and Caroline. Joelle and Mike are coming over from Newport, so it will be quite a holiday.

To cap off the old year, and start the new, we’re going to New Orleans for family, fun, and a black-tie party at Carl’s. Should be an excellent way to kick off the true new millennium.

We hope this year has brought as much joy to you as it has to us; it has been one to remember. We’ve shared wonderful moments with old and new friends. We’d love to see you, hear from you, or have you by. Don’t be surprised, then, if we show up on your doorstep (we’ll call first).

Love,

Jennifer and George