December 21, 2009
The holiday season is well underway (I missed Hanukkah completely!) and another year is coming to a close. It's been a busy one filled with joys and frustrations, milestones met and challenges overcome, and plenty of mundane moments to balance the highs and lows. It is always a struggle to condense 365 days into a couple of pages, and this year the process isn't coming easily. So I am hoping a picture really is worth 1,000 words. If that is the case I'll never have to speak or write again, as the family tendency to document everything in photos would translate into millions of words. Here are a few of the stories of this waning year...
We celebrated many family highlights this year, including Alice and Dave's engagement and Alice's installation of her BFA thesis show at California College of Art. Evan joined his first t-ball team; Lydia discovered a talent for working behind the scenes in her school play. Andrew's chickens and garden are thriving, and he bought a sit-on-top kayak which he's taken out on local lakes and looks forward to launching in the Bay and, eventually, the ocean. I continue to be an active volunteer at the kids' school, and appreciate that they are on the same campus and have the same schedule this year. That will change when Lydia moves on to junior high next year.
We also weathered another of Uncle Chris's (Tullar, not Dadd) life-threatening adventures. In March, after moving back to Montana, he set off and survived an avalanche. We are grateful for the tree that stopped his wild ride (even though it broke his left femur) and the one other crazy soul who was up on the mountain that day (who got him out of the tree and called in the rescue helicopter). Chris must have several extra guardian angels on his personal squad. He was back on his feet in characteristic record time, and joined our family retreat to Bodega Bay in June...
It was a true “family cuddle” (as my grandmother called such gatherings) when nine of us headed up to the Sonoma Coast: Tara, Andrew, Lydia, Evan, Alice, Dave, Ava, Gigi, and Chris (Tullar) enjoyed a week of sun, sand, surf, and seafood in a beautiful house above Doran Beach.
The rest of the summer passed in a whirlwind of swim lessons, trips to the roller rink and water park, play dates and barbecues with family and friends, and even a trip to Bear Valley for Andrew and the kids. September returned us to the routine of school where Evan is now in first grade, Lydia is in sixth, and I am in my second term as PTA President. I was a bit too enthusiastic in the first months of the school year, and intend to scale back starting in January. I do enjoy the ways I contribute at school, especially the time I spend in the classrooms.
Gigi came again in November, just in time for Thanksgiving which we hosted at our house. It was a big group! Aunt Karen, Uncle Chris (Dadd), cousins Jonathan and Jacob, Auntie Alice, Uncle Dave, and Gigi were all here for a huge turkey and too much other food to list. Alice's photography show opened the following week, and the week after that was Lydia's 11th birthday. No wonder it took me until now to get started on this letter...
This year has filled me with an appreciation of family, which I believe is created by birth, by choice, and by serendipity. Family is one of nature's masterpieces, and we wish you joy in yours during this season and throughout the coming year.
