CHRISTMAS 2003
As we approach another Christmas and the end of another year, we
are reminded that
Life’s littlest blessings often bring the greatest joy. Wishing
each of you a sweet and simple Christmas celebration with family and friends,
graced with life’s loveliest little blessings.
Our blessings continue to be: each of you and the many people who have been part of our lives this past year. Looking back, we can say the year was "memory-making". Not in any grandiose way (although winning the lottery would have changed that!), but in the little events and opportunities that simply happen. For these we are grateful, as they are the fiber of our lives. Once again, we share some of these "memories" with you.
TRAVELS
EAST and WEST
Valentine’s Day weekend and Mother’s Day
took us to Salem to visit Rich’s mom. Both are an opportunity to take
her out to dinner, and celebrate her loving gifts. It is also a time
to help out with chores she has accumulated for Rich, and just to relax
and visit. We also joined her and Rich’s family for Thanksgiving. Salem
is one of those towns that still has a downtown where you can enjoy shopping.
And shop we did, starting at 6:00am. But by the end of the Thanksgiving
weekend, 90% of our Christmas shopping was complete. We will be returning
to Salem again right after Christmas where the whole
Hopkins family will again gather.
In late May we traveled to Evansville for a visit with Susan’s family. We attended a family celebration for her nephew, Joey, who graduated from high school. Susan was still having a hard time reconciling this once cute little baby and kid with this 6’ tall football player - now moving toward adult-hood. He made us all proud of him! Susan’s youngest cousin, who was just beginning her residency, was also married during our visit. This gave us the opportunity to visit with many of her relatives. Another highlight was a trip to the Academy in Oldenburg, IN, where Susan went to high school, and lived part of her life as a Franciscan. For Rich it was an opportunity to see the place she so often talks about. For her, it was a chance to see all the changes to the buildings and to visit dear friends, five of whom joined us for the day. Lunch in the main dining room gave Susan the time to visit with a number of her former teachers who are now retired. She also had to adjust to the reality that the high school is now co-ed! It was a day of reliving memories and making new ones. Susan’ parents remain in good health, although her father had a stent placed in one artery. His normal energy level has not yet returned, but his last check-up was positive.
In late June, we joined 3 female friends for a weekend in the Columbia River Gorge area. Rich was in his element—4 women and him!! We hiked a 10-mile trail on the southern edge of Mt. St. Helens. Ibuprofen was consumed after that trip, but it wasn’t nearly as effective as the margaritas Rich prepared!! Then the next day, fools or die-hards that we were, we visited Multnomah Falls, which has a 900’ elevation, one mile hike to the top of the falls. We huffed and puffed our way there! More Advil later that day! In spite of the pain, the views were spectacular!
In early August, we joined family and friends for 4 days of camping at Baker Lake. We missed the event last year due to a close friend’s death, so it was a time to catch up with some people we only see once a year. The weather was great and the mosquitoes were vicious. We used our kayaks almost every day. The view of Mt. Baker is always a highlight and is best viewed from the middle of the lake. Several of the retired folks like to have Rich take them out for a paddle and the view, which he graciously obliges.
We traveled to the Orlando area
for 2 weeks in September. Rich had a 4-day seminar there on Configuration
Management. We took advantage of the event and extended the trip into
a summer vacation. Much of our time was spent with his brother and family;
Ron, Mary Lee, Erin and Jennifer. The 6 of
us rented a beachfront condo on Palm Island
(just NW of Fort Myers) for a few days. Swimming, kayaking, beach combing
and relaxing were the preferred activities. Our 2 nieces (3 and 6 year
olds) made the adventures so much more fun! Afterwards, Rich and I spent
a few days near Homossassa Springs. We kayaked all over the Crystal River,
a preserve for manatees, hoping to see one. After 3 hours, there had been
no sighting, so we went back to the launch area. About 50 yards from shore,
in a narrow canal, a small manatee swam below Susan’s kayak. What a way
to end our paddle time! The next day we drove about 50 miles further north
to Cedar Keys and kayaked around an island. Just before launching, we
watched dolphins swim in the bay, but they disappeared when we launched.
Back in Orlando, we gave Mary Lee a night off by taking the girls to Disney
for an evening. They go frequently, as Ron is an engineer for Disney,
so they knew exactly which places and programs they wanted to see. Of
course, pictures with Mickey were on the agenda!
We returned to the Northwest very relaxed and missing the activity caused
by two turbo-charged little girls! The next day, Mary Lee took Rich water sking on some high quality behind a real ski boat!
He was so impressed, he brought home a new water ski.
Two of our friends turned 50 in November, and wanted to celebrate
in Las Vegas! So, 12 of us joined them for
4 days. We had not been to Vegas for almost 20 years. We were in awe of
the size of the newer casinos, all the people and activities, and the "assault"
of neon lights! Vegas is a bit wealthier because of us. Only 2 members
of our party left with more money than they arrived with! We enjoyed a
fantastic seafood buffet at the Rio; saw a very funny and family-friendly
ventriloquist/ comedian; rode the roller coaster at New York New York (well,
Rich did) and walked a bazillion miles, or so it seemed! The birthday girls had a great time!
LIFE GOES ON—
In July, a small group of
friends and family gathered at our friend Pat’s house to remember her
husband George, on the anniversary of his death. It was another step
on the journey of grief and healing. As Pat has said —"You never get over
death, you just learn to live with it". That is what she and her children
are doing. Pat and Susan continue their daily
morning walks, and along with another friend, we make certain her quiet
times are often filled with activities. In January we will be going to
Hawaii with Pat, George’s brother and wife, and Susan’s oldest sister and
husband.
ANOTHER RENTAL PROJECT—
After years of procrastinating,
we decided to re-do the porch on our rental
house. We wanted to preserve the original boards, which were milled with
slightly rounded top surfaces in the early 1900’s. It required stripping
layers of old paint off the deck boards, sanding and more sanding, repairing
cracks in the concrete steps, re-etching the old concrete, and eventually
priming and painting. The porch is not big, but the project was drawn
out and consumed many of Rich’s weekends!! The end result looked very
good! Now we are wondering what next year’s rental project will be. On
the bright side, the house next door to it just sold for 6 times what we
paid for ours.
WORK AND ACTIVITIES---
Although Boeing continues
to lay off people as they struggle through the aerospace downturn, the
only impact on Rich has been an increased workload. He had a steady
diet of 50+ hours/week all year long. In May, he started working on
Boeing’s next new airliner, the 7E7 Dreamliner – adding 1.5 hours to
his daily commute. Retirement is starting to sound pretty appealing!
He also has been providing strategic planning to all airplane programs
on enhancements to project management/change management processes and computing
systems. He can now whip out a PowerPoint presentation to market a new
funding request in less than an hour.
Susan continues her ESL/Basic Studies tutoring at the Technical College. Each Tuesday she meets with and mentors her little 3rd grader. During the evaluation at the end of the school year, her mentee told the counselor that what she most appreciates about Susan is that she helps her "forget that her dad died". Of course that brought tears and affirmed their time together. She continues with Scripture Study, Children’s Hospital, Book Club and a church group. In January she hopes to begin taking Spanish—no rest for the wicked!!
We joined a fitness club in January, and like everyone else, started a 3 day/week program with great enthusiasm. Rich’s attendance started declining in May when he began commuting to Everett. As year end approaches, 3 days/month has become the norm, although he has continued his Tues night volleyball. On the other hand, Susan has been very disciplined – and it shows.
As we look back and anticipate the New Year we are grateful for life,
for freedoms, for family and friends, and for our faith.
May hope for the future, the promise of peace, and love to last for all ages reign in our hearts and world this Christmas, and in the new year! God bless you most abundantly!
Rich and Susan
