Dear Friends and Family,
Janet and Karl both had momentous birthdays this year—Janet her 60th and Karl his 65th. We celebrated Janet’s with good friends skiing and snowshoeing in Rocky Mountain National Park. On the day before her birthday, she was honored to receive a Pacesetter award, one of Boulder’s most prestigious leadership awards given by the Daily Camera newspaper, for her 24 years of community service at the YWCA of Boulder County. Her birthday present was a trip to Paris, accompanying Karl on a business trip to attend an international conference on legislative strengthening. Janet loved poking around her favorite city on her own for a week, even in the rain and chilly gusts of March in the City of Light.
Janet feted Karl’s milestone with a “Medicare birthday dinner” in the company of those same friends. Ever since Karl signed up for his retirement plan 38 years ago, his annual report showing future anticipated retirement earnings has always used 2010 as the assumed date of retirement. Now that year has come and gone, but he’s not ready to retire yet. His work at the National Conference of State Legislatures this year has included two very rewarding and enriching trips to Kosovo to train parliamentary staff in that emerging democracy.
The highlight of Andrew’s 16th year was participation in a four-week Spanish immersion and community service project in a remote village in the mountains of Costa Rica. He was part of a team of high school students from all around the United States who lived with local families and helped them improve their community. They built sidewalks and worked on a new addition to the local police station. Andrew grew up a lot through this project, improved his Spanish substantially, had a great time, and made lots of friends, both American and Costa Rican.
Andrew continues his active sports life. He was co-captain and MVP of his sophomore basketball team during the regular season at Boulder High and played on the varsity during the spring and summer training leagues. In the fall he decided to play football for the first time ever. He quickly became a stalwart linebacker for the junior varsity, winning the MVP award in that sport, too. But he dislocated his shoulder making a tackle in a game at the end of the season. That injury has kept him chafing on the bench for the beginning of the winter basketball season. He attends all of the practices but can only watch when he is not doing his rehab work. He hopes to be back on the court in January.
Much to the surprise of her parents, Emily made a last minute decision to transfer from Willamette University in Salem, Oregon to the University of Denver for her sophomore year. Her desire was to move to a larger and more diverse campus in a more interesting city—and to be closer to home. She has found those qualities at DU, a school that has dramatically expanded over the last two decades. It’s a very different campus from the one her mother attended 40 years ago. Karl and Janet are delighted to be able to see more of her, explore the campus, and attend parents’ weekend, hockey games and concerts. With the transfer, Emmy has adjusted her sights regarding music, planning now to minor in the field while leaving her major undeclared. She still sings beautifully, as we know from attending her excellent choir concert and a student recital. She is looking forward to studying abroad (Prague? Vienna? Budapest? Spain…?) next year under DU’s outstanding international program.
Our older children (and five grandchildren) continue to flourish. Eric is a senior staffer for the Colorado Legislature, which was changed by the Republican flood in the November election in much the same way as most other state legislatures and the Congress. Jeanette is happy in her “retirement” from the Legislature and her work as a full-time mother. Sean and Sarah have sold their temporary employment business in Honolulu. Sean continues as president, but not owner, of the company. The arrangement allows him to do what he does best—sell his company’s services—without having the primary financial responsibility and liability. Sarah has returned to part-time work as an occupational therapist and seems to have a more challenging and satisfying position in that field than she has sometimes had in the past.
The newest member of our family is in the photo accompanying this letter—our beautiful and playful 9-month old golden retriever, Kona. We had forgotten what it’s like to have a puppy. He has a very different personality from our beloved Eldorado—more willful and assertive—so we all have to learn his ways and be patient as he learns who is (supposedly) in charge.
Some things never change in our lives. We made our annual trip to Redstone, where we were married 24 years ago, over the 4th of July and enjoyed the time in the mountains and that village’s quaint, old-fashioned Independence Day celebration. Janet’s step-mother, Wilma, soldiers on in relatively good health and celebrated her 99th birthday this year. We look forward to celebrating her 100th next year.
When we wrote this letter last year, we were about to leave for Hawaii to enjoy a tropical Christmas with our Oahu family. We liked that experience so much that it is our Christmas present to ourselves this year as well. We’re planning to spend half of our time on Oahu and the other half on Maui, returning on New Year’s Day. When we first went to Hawaii for Christmas a number of years ago, we weren’t sure what it would be like to abandon at least the image of sleigh bells ringing in the snow and substitute the beach, shorts, sandals and aloha shirts. But with the company of Sarah and Sean’s family to keep the family holiday traditions alive, it has been easy to get used to and appreciate the differences in climate and style.
Whether on the beach, enjoying the wintry outdoors or cozied-up by a roaring fire, we hope that all of our far-flung family and friends have a peaceful and happy holiday season!
Love, Janet, Karl, Emily and Andrew
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