Looking Back

The end of a year always brings out a lot of reflection for me. Back on the year past and looking forward to the one about to begin. 2008 is no different.

For my blog today, our Christmas Letter sent to family and Friends:
Our 2008 Christmas Greetings

Dear Family and Friends,
As we look back on ’08, we have lots to be grateful for and thankful for the many blessings we continue to have in our lives. Our family, friends and neighbors are the most treasured blessings we count on almost daily – so we THANK-YOU all for being a part of our lives.

Frank spent most of the year working from home. He started out on a contract with Wells Fargo in San Francisco and only had to make three trips out to the Bay area in three months. Viv joined him for a long weekend in early March. We visited with Frank’s brother and his family in Petaluma, along with Vivian’s sister and beau in Martinez. We watched Frank’s niece play in a soccer tourney, visited Alcatraz, saw Vivian’s birthplace home near Oakland, and climbed Mt. Diablo (mostly by car) for a blustery view of the San Francisco Bay.

In May, Gina and her husband Sam graduated from Johnson Bible College, so we headed to Knoxville for the festivities. The Sunday after graduation, Sam was ordained by his church in Maryville, TN as a minister. Gina is now working on her Masters Degree in Early Education and should be finished this coming June. Sam is working part-time as a youth minister. Both are also working at Starbucks part-time.

Memorial Day Weekend found us in Dugway, UT visiting with Shawn and his wife Sara. One of the highlights was watching the play “You Can’t Take It With You” directed by Shawn with Sara’s assistance as Technical advisor. Shawn and Sara have resurrected the theatre program at Dugway High School and the students did a wonderful job. We also took Sara out for her first round of ‘real golf ‘. The course was pretty flat and so were our games – the 30 mph winds may have had something to do with it. Sara’s favorite part was driving the cart right near where the ball was hit. Shawn and Sara are now in their third year of teaching English and History at the high school level. Shawn is busy coaching girls volleyball and basketball and Sara is the student government advisor.

In the early part of June, Vivian made a return trip to Knoxville to spend some extra time with Gina before her masters program started, and was also able to meet up with her Aunt Vivian and second cousin Missy. After Vivian returned to Colorado we started celebrating Vivian’s 50th Birthday (where does the time go?) with a backyard BBQ (courtesy of Frank’s culinary talents) for friends and neighbors.

July brought some friends from New Jersey out for a conference and we got to spend a couple of days with them including a trip to Rocky Mountain National Park. We found a hike we had never taken before near Bear Lake that included an amazing waterfall. That place never ceases to amaze us! Our first trip there was a vacation that we took in 1979 together.

In late July, we headed to Delaware for two weeks, spending one week visiting with Frank’s family including his Grandmother (99 years old) at the beautiful Masonic Home/Retirement Village in Elizabethtown, PA. During the second week we headed to Bethany Beach for Vivian’s parent’s 80th Birthday Celebration. The house we rented was huge; the weather was great, although the water was a little cold for some. We took a Pontoon Boat ride on the Assowoman Bay and Vivian’s Dad got to Captain the boat for most of the trip – a highlight for all. We once again ate lots of seafood including four crab nights during the 2-week period.

We kinda sorta participated in a little history in August, when the Democratic National Convention came to Denver. Our third date back in 1978 was at a fundraiser for Senator Joe Biden’s re-election campaign. Now this Senator from the little state of Delaware was going to be nominated for Vice-President along with the first black candidate for President. (Vivian was a little disappointed that it wasn’t the first woman for president.) So during the Wednesday night convention festivities, we headed into Denver with another couple and took in the atmosphere. We had dinner downtown and later while we were looking at desserts in our favorite downtown bakery, Vivian was able to persuade a conventioneer to part with one of her Obama-Biden signs that she was holding – just by asking her for it. So we now have a convention-used sign of our next President and Vice-President!

Just after Labor Day, Frank went on assignment with Freddie Mac in Washington, DC. He was not too happy with this assignment as he was required to be there every week (no telecommuting allowed). The good part about the job was it was fairly close to Delaware so he could visit with family on the weekends between his 2-week stays in DC. The project however, essentially did not take off and Frank found out last week that he would not be returning in January.

Vivian has been busy this fall taking several creative writing classes at the local community college and has re-kindled her desire to continue in the writing field. Her goal for 2009 is to publish some of her works and make a living with her creativity. She has also been busy remodeling their first floor powder room/ laundry room from the floors on up.

Vivian’s birthday celebration continued in October as we joined up with Frank’s sister Karyn and her husband Mike for a Caribbean Cruise. It was our first cruise together, and we sailed from Miami to Jamaica, Cozumel and Grand Cayman Island. Since we didn’t open any accounts in the Caymans, we decided to do a little snorkeling and visit another Margaritaville restaurant for lunch (that’s 3 now, I think). Cozumel was our favorite island – we could have filmed our own Corona commercial, as we had the white sandy beach all to ourselves. In Jamaica, we climbed Dunns River Falls – a must, and went on the Jamaica Bobsled run – well at least a simulation of it via a roller coaster. We also enjoyed the cruise activities including the wonderful dinners, floor shows and music.

Since Frank was working in DC, Sam and Gina decided to drive up during their fall break from school to visit our nation’s capitol. Vivian flew in from Denver and since Sam had never toured DC before we took him to the National Mall to see the 3M’s – Monuments, Memorials, and Museums. We also went to Mt. Vernon and stopped at the newly opened Pentagon Memorial which was very intriguing, hard to describe, if you have a chance to visit you should check it out – it was a very thought provoking and humbling experience.

Thanksgiving found us in Delaware again, spending time with family and friends. Christmas will find us once again in Dugway, UT spending it with Shawn & Sara’s family.

We hope 2009 is full of blessings for you and yours. Love, Viv & Frank