Merry Christmas!
This has been an unusual year for Liz and me; hence the unusual act of actually writing a Christmas letter!
Wow, where to begin? The rotational job is still on the go – Liz and I have missed each other for almost exactly 6 months this year. That’s the down side. The good part is that we’ve been able to spend some real quality time together in those 6 months I’ve been off work. Being home this year hasn’t exactly been on the agenda – I’m not sure I could calculate the total number of days that I’ve actually spent this year at home in San Ramon, but it’s probably less than a month total. The rest of the time we’ve spent traveling, or at our new place in Mexico.
Mexico, you say? Believe me when I tell you that I’d have thought you were nuts if you had asked in January if I believed I’d ever have a home in Mexico. Well, it happened. Liz and I went to visit our good friends Laurie and Jay at their retirement home in Nuevo Vallarta in February of this year. Jay has become quite famous in the Puerto Vallarta area for his photography, and he invited me to come down to ride a photo boat during some of the opening races of the J/24 World Championships. While there, only 4 days, I commented how great their lives were there and how much we liked their place. Next thing we knew we were being shown another townhouse just like theirs and being introduced to the owner, who had his place for sale. Two months later, we were the proud owners of a townhouse in Nuevo Vallarta, about 200 yards from the beach. Who knew?
Of course, we already had other plans for the year. Being an odd year, we joined George and Cathy, with their children Alex and Lucy, for a sailing trip. This time it was in Croatia. Since our plan was that I would spend my entire off hitch time in Europe, we also spent 4 days in London with the Hoffers and another 7 days after the sailing trip on a driving tour of southern England. It was great to spend time in England again, and spend time with our good friends Gill and Jeremy, who live in Portsmouth. Gill and Jeremy hadn’t seen the Hoffers since they first met on a sailing trip in 1983. What a great experience to see them again!
Just because she could, Liz stayed on after I went to work, traveling to Spain and Italy with our good friends Linda Sordal and Sveta Bishop. One of the primary reasons for the trip was to go to dinner near Barcalona (Roses) at a restaurant called El Bulli. Some believe it is the best restaurant in the world, led by Ferran Adri – touted to be one of the best chefs in the world. Liz and Linda booked their reservations 9 months in advance! Liz and Linda went on a small hotel in Tuscany, and then to Rome, where they when to the reunion concert of Genesis. No rest for the wicked!
The other big plan we had for the year was to find a way to celebrate Liz’s 50th birthday (as if dining at the best restaurant in the world wasn’t enough), Liz said the best thing she could ask for was to have her friends together for her special day. We ended up renting a cabin at Lake Tahoe, and had a great Thanksgiving dinner with all the friends around.
Alas, here at the end of the year, I’m doing my every-other year duty of spending Christmas in Angola, and Liz is spending the holiday with her parents. We’ll meet again in Puerto Vallarta on January 10 for a month in paradise. Looking back on the year, while there has been a lot of fancy trips and dinners in strange places, the real joy of the year has been in family and friends, as always. We feel blessed to call so many wonderful people our friends and we hope that we can keep those relationships forever. Next year will bring some pretty big changes for Liz and me. We’ll keep that story for next year’s Christmas letter.
May the season find you and your families healthy and happy, and the very best wishes for the New Year.
Andy & Liz