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Holiday Letter 2005

December 2005

Dear Friends and Family,

We missed doing last year's letter, so there's lots to cover. The short version is that we're happy, healthy, have lots of wonderful people in our lives, and continue to have lots of great experiences. The long version requires more than we can fit here and still keep your interest, so what follows is sorta' medium…

As usual, there's been lots of travel, including Mardi Gras '04 and '05, which includes much time spent with family (Bub, El, Joelle, Darcy, Ginger, Jimmy, Pete, Vincent) and friends (Carl, Ragnar, Judy, Michael, Jimmy among many others) as well as some fabulous parties and parades. We preceded each trip with a Mardi Gras party at our Tucson home, a party that looks to be a long-term tradition. And yes, we are going to New Orleans in '06.

In '04, Jennifer went to Chicago at the end of her Junior League presidency, George squeezed in a trip to the Dominican Republic, and we spent July 4th at Bub & El's on the beach in Waveland, MS. We made the Ross wedding in Santa Barbara in June and did some coastal relaxing before and after. George was roasted by his fraternity brothers in Detroit in July, and we turned the Young wedding over Labor Day in Iowa into an excuse to spend a few extra days in Chicago. We each had numerous Vegas and Southern California jaunts, some together, some with friends, some by small airplane. There was plenty of teaching/diving in Mexico for George, including winter trips now that he owns a drysuit. We capped off the year spending New Year's in Alamos, Mexico, including a visit with Steve and Shirley at their San Carlos condo on the way back.

In '05 we kept up the Palm Springs, Vegas, and Mexico trips throughout. The big trips, though, were sailing in the Bahamas in June, spending nearly a week in New York City over Labor Day for Ragnar's roast, and heading to Seattle and then Vancouver for Chris and Kirsten's wedding in September. There's too much to tell in two pages for even one of those trips, but suffice it to say we are blessed with family and friends that are very fun to be around. Notably, the Bahamas included Brett, Johanna, Mike, Melissa, Judy, Michael, Ragnar, Tom, Alysia, Joel, Jay, and Diana, while Ragnar's roast featured nearly all of the same crowd plus Blake, Mike W., Marshall, Eric V., Eric K., Paige, Steve, Pete, Wade, Big Jim, Mark, Betsy, Weyman, Mike J., Murky, and Bundy. Next year the roast is in San Francisco and we wouldn't miss it.

Jennifer finished with her Junior League presidency in May '04 and immediate took on chair of the headquarters. She has since gone sustaining (alumni) status, but still managed to host and coordinate the '05 Southwest Exchange, a conference for nearly 100 women from 10 leagues covering three states. In October '05 she was invited to join the Southern Arizona Community Food Bank board and is very excited about that. In July '04 she became the chapter advisor for the UA Alpha Chi Omega chapter, and has really been enjoying the work with the women there.

George still divides his volunteer time: he shoots for bi-annual trips to the Dominican Republic with Orphanage Outreach, and works on the board of the Child Language Center a couple of blocks from home. He volunteers as an Assistant District President for Kappa Sigma still, keeping a hand in the UA chapter advising, and also works on campus with the Eller College Associates as an interviewer for students seeking upper-division standing in the business college.

In work news, George began teach for the Hogan School of Real Estate in March '04 and has been nearly half-time at that recently. He still sells real estate; his goal is to consistently close a deal a month. Neither stops him from continuing to serve a variety of clients that need custom databases created, and he's been having great fun with a variety of those software projects. If only he'd work at hard at sales as he does production, we'd be retired already. Jennifer received her 15-year pin in October '04 from Tucson Medical Center and is currently working part-time there since she has added a variety of private clients. We both had the good fortune, at a recent TMC fund-raiser, to meet P.J. O'Rourke, who was guest keynote speaker. We spent nearly two hours with P.J. after the program and dinner chatting over drinks and a couple of cigars that George had brought in hopes of sharing them. P.J. is one of our favorite authors/humorists and this was truly a highlight of the past couple years.

As if it's not obvious, we are reminded daily about how blessed our lives are. There's been some hardship too, including the loss of dear friend Sharon Beeler in '04. Jennifer's parents, Bub & El, lost their house in Katrina and many of our gulf coast friends have been similarly devastated. George's mom Eileen has been adjusting to life with little eyesight due to macular degeneration. Still, the time we spent with Sharon is ours to cherish, the possessions that were lost can be replaced, and the disruption of life seems an unavoidable part of life. Our time with family at holidays, weddings, and other visits is precious, and no, it doesn't hurt that many live in some of the prettiest places on earth. Friends, through work, school, and other associations, have filled much of our time with celebration and joy, we have been fortunate to spend so much time at gatherings, hosting visitors, being hosted as visitors, or traveling with truly wonderful people. The hardships are much easier when we share them, so thank you all for the blessing of sharing both the good and the difficult with us.

What's coming up? George is doing a 3-week road trip to Oregon, Washington, and Vancouver to build the tail kit for our airplane. Did we mention we're building an airplane? A Van's RV-7, see www.vansaircraft.com, it should take about 2 years to build. He's also going to go diving with Jeff and Brett up in Vancouver. We've got the Mardi Gras party in February, then off to New Orleans. We'll see Ginger, Jimmy, Pete, Carl, and Judy, among others, and Michael, Ragnar, and Chicago Jimmy are going to ride in the Endymion parade with George this year. In March we're going to India for two-weeks to see Joel in Goa and generally bum around. We're excited about the impending arrival of our new nephew; Joelle and Mike are due in May. Beyond that, we'll try to wrap-up some of the work on the house - the wood floors for the living room and dining room are in (big thanks to Carl and Andrew who helped) and the barbecue/outdoor kitchen is done. The big project that's left is the garage/apartment that we'll build in back, a key element in the construction of the plane.

Come see us, or don't be shocked if we come see you.

Love,

Jennifer and George