2001 Christmas letter
December 26, 2001
Another year has passed. We are late with the cards again. Aside from the senseless violence of September 11th and the continuing depression in the heavy truck industry we are ending our year here in Portland, Oregon healthy and happy. Here’s a brief update.
Mary Beth misses having Sarah at home now that our oldest is away at school-she has lost her reason to volunteer at Westview High School’s career center. Somehow…she has kept busy with volunteer work at Stoller Middle School where Emily attends. She also continues to help out with Girl Scouts. If one of the above fails to fill a day there is her passion for shopping. E-bay is always open. She is also thinking about going back to work—But so far it is just a thought. After 6 years out of Medical Technology she sometimes feels she last worked before the microscope was invented. Hiking with Dan and cheering on his paragliding have kept Mary Beth busy on the weekends. Lots of the training has been at the Oregon coast so Dan doesn’t have to beg to get her to go along. Her nagging sore knee seems much better this year. Yoga classes and some diet changes have helped a lot. She managed to keep up with Sarah and Dan on a 6-mile hike while on vacation this summer,
Dan is still keeping up with his exercise program. He now has a good reason. Besides the hiking and photography hobby, Dan has become an avid paraglider pilot. Almost every weekend since the end of July has been dedicated to learning the sport if the weather would cooperate. He expects to have his P2 Novice rating soon if the winter rains here in Oregon hold off enough for him to finish a few more requirements. He is now even planning on selling his beloved TR-6 and buying an SUV with four-wheel drive. That would make it much easier to navigate the logging roads that take you to those more difficult launch sites. Aside from that when he is not at the office or reclining in the easy chair in front of the TV he is building or re-building one of the computers in the house. This year Sarah, Emily, and Mary Beth were upgraded with faster processors and more memory.
Sarah, our 19 year-old “pride and joy” graduated from Westview High school in June. She managed to set a record at Westview for the most honor cords on her graduation gown and was one of three students chosen to address the class at commencement. We were so proud of her. Next time you are in Portland we will be happy to show you the video. She is now a freshman in the Honors College at the University of Oregon (go DUCKS!!!). Mom and Dad are very happy with her choice. She is just a couple of hours from home and with her academic scholarship will likely graduate with money in the bank instead of deep in debt. For now she is planning on majoring in International Studies and Journalism.
Emily, 13 our “2nd pride and joy” is now in 7th grade. Emily is taking English riding lessons at a local stable. After a week of riding camp at the YMCA this summer, Emily became even more obsessed with riding and horses. She rides at a stable not far from out house and hopes to get good enough to lease a part of a horse. This means she can ride it for several hours a week on her own. She helps with the care, but we don’t have any of the maintenance. Sort of like with a car. With Sarah away at school, Emily gets her mother’s undivided attention. Mary Beth has been keeping a close eye on her and doing her best to keep Emily focused on her homework instead of video games. Emily has shown a big improvement in her academic effort and organization this year. She is also beginning to share her father’s interest in computers. She has her own web page and is learning to code HTML.
The Job. Another year at Freightliner—The good news…Dan still has a job. The bad news… (for those of you who love irony) is that through a consolidation of design departments at Freightliner Dan is now working for the same person he left Volvo to escape from in 1995. Dan is working hard to keep a good professional relationship with his new/old boss and so far it seems to be working. Meanwhile Freightliner has changed presidents. A “finance” president has now replaced the “marketing” president. Accordingly, many of the “money is no object” new products Dan and his team developed in his first three years at Freightliner are now being pulled from the market, cost-reduced or otherwise de-contented. On top of all that we are preparing for the across the board salary cuts, healthcare cost sharing, and an extended Christmas shutdown with mandatory vacation. Good thing we took that big vacation this year because in 2002 we will be staying in Oregon.
On the travel side we celebrated Sarah’s graduation and our 30th wedding anniversary with a two-week vacation in Hawaii this summer. This was unanimously voted the best (and most expensive) vacation ever. Arizona Memorial, Battleship Missouri and Waikiki beach on Oahu, Hiking in Volcano National Park on Hawaii, Hiking and snorkeling on Kauai, and finally more snorkeling, luau, and a sunrise bicycle ride down Mt Haleakala on Maui. With all that there was still time for some relaxing on the beach and fine dining in the evenings. Dan is particularly proud of his souvenir photo of the four of us in matching flower print Hawaii outfits…Sometimes you just have to get caught up in the craziness of the moment.
We hope it was a Merry Christmas for you this year and wish you Happy New year in 2002!!!
