2004 Christmas letter
December 23, 2004
Greetings from Portland,
Another year and we have now reached a record of sorts. After 7 years here we have now been living in Portland longer than we have ever lived continuously in one location since being married 33 years ago. Here’s the annual update on the Wells family.
Dan continues to paraglide and maintains the weight loss achieved last year. He has promised to sell his TR-6 but never seems to get around to it. Mary Beth has linked this sale to his buying a new paragliding wing and a 50-inch plasma screen monitor so he may eventually get rid of the garage queen. Business trips with Freightliner to Germany and Japan have yielded an added benefit of new places to paraglide. Last June after a week of “global cooperation” in Stuttgart Dan headed for southern Germany, Switzerland, and France for a week of paragliding. This December after a trip to Japan, Dan spent 4 days on Maui paragliding. Dan’s mind is pretty much focused on paragliding and everything else just happens. A recruiting trip to hire new engineers for Freightliner allowed him to take a long weekend in San Diego and have over 7 hours soaring the cliffs at Torrey Pines.
Mary Beth has been busy this fall with her newest project. We are hosting an exchange student from Japan. Miki arrived in August and will be with us until school is out in June. Miki is a junior and works very hard at her studies. Mary Beth has been busy helping Emily and Miki with homework and driving to band practice, speech and the myriad of other destinations required. Occasionally she finds time to go paragliding with Dan. Paraglider pilots are always in need of someone to drive them up to the launch site and drive the vehicle back down. Mary Beth became a political activist of sorts this fall. Although she was disappointed when Howard Dean lost the primary race she worked hard to put Oregon’s electoral votes in John Kerry’s column.
Sarah is continuing her work at the University of Oregon and is both excited and terrified of graduation in June. She will graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Journalism. Last spring she received the Dean’s Award for service for her work at the Women’s Center and the Assault Prevention Shuttle on campus. In April she was able to travel to Washington, D.C. to participate in the March For Women’s Lives, a national demonstration to support and protect reproductive choice. Sarah’s work in politics has been invigorating so far and she hopes to continue in grassroots activism after graduation. Her father just hopes she finds a job. Until then, she is working hard on her senior thesis project and finding time to spend with friends.
Emily survived her first year in High school and is now a sophomore. This year Emily has put a great deal of effort into her grades and we are very proud of her. Besides academics, she is involved with speech and debate, honors, and swim team. Boys are now more interesting than horses. Dan, I believe, would prefer she had stayed with the horses. It was quite a sight to see Emily and Miki and their dates all dressed up for Westview High School’s Homecoming. Emily has her learner’s permit and has been driving a few times. She just turned 16 in November so we are expecting a lot more pressure for driving time and already we are getting advice on the perfect teen-mobile. This past summer she spent two weeks at YMCA’s Camp Collins and hopes to eventually be a counselor there.
On the travel side there is not so much to report. Last December between Christmas and New Years we spent a week on Maui. Dan took his paragliding gear, of course, and the rest of the family was ready for some serious beach time. Unfortunately, it was the rainiest December there in the last 50 years so there was not much flying or beach sunshine to be had. Even with all the rain, it was great to get away and just spend some time together as a family without distractions. Other than some weekend camping trips and paragliding excursions around Oregon, it was only trips to the Midwest to visit friends and family during this past year.
