A quick note from Debbi…
Well, here it is – early December and the end of yet another year closing in! As usual, it’s been an eventful year. Where to begin?
Willie took on a new position with Cendant earlier this year and is now the Sr. Director of Operations for Travelodge. There are about 400 Travelodge hotels in the US, so this keeps him
pretty busy. He’s wracked up lots of frequent flyer miles, which means that we’ll be flying to Italy first class next year! Other major events for Willie this year included his first professional car race! Yes, he raced a very small, very fast car against a pretty impressive field of drivers, including Mario Andretti’s grandson! The race was in Lime Rock, CT, and the whole family went up to cheer him on, including my parents who were out East for part of the summer. A good time was had by all, and Willie’s really got the racing fever BAD now!
As for me, I celebrated my first year in business! I’m still loving the work I do, and loving being my own boss. It was a tough first year, but when I look back on it I realize how much progress I’ve made. It’s very satisfying! I now have a healthy base of clients, with more coming along all the time – life is good!
Willie’s mom celebrated a year of being smoke free and we are all SO proud of her! My folks are good, although Mom was just diagnosed with Lyme disease. Fortunately, she spotted the telltale rash right away and went straight to the doctor. She insisted on being tested for Lyme, and the doctor put her on antibiotics immediately. This should prevent the disease from progressing. We’re keeping our fingers crossed, and of course, Mom is going full steam ahead with Dad in tow!
We still have our two cats – matronly Cleo and our little hellion, Rocket. Rocket continues to torture Cleo, and she just growls and hisses at him and gives him the evil eye. We think we saw her sticking pins in a little cat-doll the other day… Because life wasn’t interesting enough, we decided to add a collie to our family. We adopted Carrie on Thanksgiving weekend – she’s 5 years old and just lost her owner, so she’s a bit sad and lost at the moment. However, she’s a sweet girl and very loving and we think she’ll settle in well. The cats are reserving judgment…
What with Willie’s race in July and my hectic first year with the business, we decided not to take a big vacation this year. However, we did manage to get away to New Orleans for a long weekend, and we also spent a few days in the San Diego area. Both trips were fun and relaxing. We hope to get to Italy next year. We’d like to visit the family in San Giuseppe again, and also travel down to Sicily.
Our niece, Rebecca is getting married next year – her fiancé is on his way home from Iraq as I write, and we’re all hopeful that he’ll be home, safe and sound, before Christmas. As soon as the date is set, we’ll make plans to travel to Alabama for the wedding. Gosh, it seems like yesterday that Willie and I were planning our wedding!
Our “two week” project this year was to work on the landscaping in the front yard – as you might have predicted, it took most of the summer and into the fall! Who knew a new house could be this much work!!!???
A few words from William….
Well, it’s that special time of year when the sounds of tweeting birds and the Fall rains slowly give way to the first blanket of snow, gently reminding me once again that I should have worked to ready the damn snow-blower weeks ago. But no, not unlike Christmas shopping, I’ve fooled myself into the belief that if I just put things off one more weekend, I’ll somehow be able to pull everything together in the last minute. Well, some would be riddled with anxiety, but this plays to my belief, and quite frankly the mantra in which I live by. And it goes something like this, “Time management is a crutch used by those who have not perfected the art of procrastination.”
That being said, Debbi has helped me understand that there are certain lifestyle changes I would be forced to consider if I decided not to contribute to the annual Christmas letter NOW.
So here goes. As I think back over the past year and consider all that I have to be thankful for, it boils down to legs. Strange but true. You see, we all enter this life with a set, at least that’s the ideal scenario…more wouldn’t be so bad, less would certainly be a little more challenging. Regardless of the number you start with, however, they’re yours plain and simple. Instinctively, you know that they’re meant to serve you in challenges not yet encountered, or even considered. You protect them, nurture them, grow them, and treat them like gold. And in turn, they help you to meet all the challenges that life will inevitably throw your way. You take them to work with you, bring them along on first dates, and sometimes you fall in Love and decide to include another set of into your life. Now, if you thought two legs where great, then I’m here to tell you that four are much better!
Now, it’s not unusual that in a life that includes four legs, additional sets quickly make their way on to the scene. In my case, when Debbi and I came together, to my delight, I not only was adding one complete set, but she had two additional sets that came with her. Again, imagine my delight. My two legs, Debbi’s two, and her cat, Cleo’s legs – For those who haven’t yet nodded off from the eggnog, that’s eight legs! Wow, and that’s even before we moved in together.
Before too much time passed, we decided that we were ready to introduce some more legs into the household. Like all newlyweds, we talked about names, adoption options, timing, neighborhood playmates, etc. - basically all the things you would expect to discuss. Well, not too much time passed before our little bundle of joy flew into our lives, kind of like a Rocket. Well, before we knew it, Debbi and I amassed another two sets of two legs (that would be four) which brings our new total to twelve! I know what you’re thinking, man, that’s a lot of legs. I can assure you that when I was a little boy of just two legs, never did I consider the responsibility of so many legs – and don’t even get me started on the number of toenails.
Just when I thought we had come up with the perfect number of legs, we felt our family wasn’t complete. Sure, we had twelve legs, and I could even start to count the number of families on our block that didn’t have half as many, we just thought we could do more. So, we found ourselves having that old familiar conversation again…. do we adopt, can we afford it, how will more legs get along with our existing sets, etc… Well, this conversation spanned most of the summer months, and just recently we found Carrie, who coincidentally came with two pair. She’s great, and just what we wanted.
I can honestly say, after being blessed with sixteen legs in my life, our house now feels like a home. And at the end of the day, whether you choose to bring legs in your life that either come in two’s or four’s, it’s the most comforting of feelings. So, as I attempt to close this letter down, and hopefully give you an opportunity to recover from my ramblings, please allow all of our legs to wish you and the legs in your family the happiest of holidays.
Love to all, William, Debbi, Cleo, Rocket, Carrie
Well, here it is – early December and the end of yet another year closing in! As usual, it’s been an eventful year. Where to begin?
Willie took on a new position with Cendant earlier this year and is now the Sr. Director of Operations for Travelodge. There are about 400 Travelodge hotels in the US, so this keeps him
pretty busy. He’s wracked up lots of frequent flyer miles, which means that we’ll be flying to Italy first class next year! Other major events for Willie this year included his first professional car race! Yes, he raced a very small, very fast car against a pretty impressive field of drivers, including Mario Andretti’s grandson! The race was in Lime Rock, CT, and the whole family went up to cheer him on, including my parents who were out East for part of the summer. A good time was had by all, and Willie’s really got the racing fever BAD now!As for me, I celebrated my first year in business! I’m still loving the work I do, and loving being my own boss. It was a tough first year, but when I look back on it I realize how much progress I’ve made. It’s very satisfying! I now have a healthy base of clients, with more coming along all the time – life is good!
Willie’s mom celebrated a year of being smoke free and we are all SO proud of her! My folks are good, although Mom was just diagnosed with Lyme disease. Fortunately, she spotted the telltale rash right away and went straight to the doctor. She insisted on being tested for Lyme, and the doctor put her on antibiotics immediately. This should prevent the disease from progressing. We’re keeping our fingers crossed, and of course, Mom is going full steam ahead with Dad in tow!
We still have our two cats – matronly Cleo and our little hellion, Rocket. Rocket continues to torture Cleo, and she just growls and hisses at him and gives him the evil eye. We think we saw her sticking pins in a little cat-doll the other day… Because life wasn’t interesting enough, we decided to add a collie to our family. We adopted Carrie on Thanksgiving weekend – she’s 5 years old and just lost her owner, so she’s a bit sad and lost at the moment. However, she’s a sweet girl and very loving and we think she’ll settle in well. The cats are reserving judgment…
What with Willie’s race in July and my hectic first year with the business, we decided not to take a big vacation this year. However, we did manage to get away to New Orleans for a long weekend, and we also spent a few days in the San Diego area. Both trips were fun and relaxing. We hope to get to Italy next year. We’d like to visit the family in San Giuseppe again, and also travel down to Sicily.
Our niece, Rebecca is getting married next year – her fiancé is on his way home from Iraq as I write, and we’re all hopeful that he’ll be home, safe and sound, before Christmas. As soon as the date is set, we’ll make plans to travel to Alabama for the wedding. Gosh, it seems like yesterday that Willie and I were planning our wedding!
Our “two week” project this year was to work on the landscaping in the front yard – as you might have predicted, it took most of the summer and into the fall! Who knew a new house could be this much work!!!???
A few words from William….
Well, it’s that special time of year when the sounds of tweeting birds and the Fall rains slowly give way to the first blanket of snow, gently reminding me once again that I should have worked to ready the damn snow-blower weeks ago. But no, not unlike Christmas shopping, I’ve fooled myself into the belief that if I just put things off one more weekend, I’ll somehow be able to pull everything together in the last minute. Well, some would be riddled with anxiety, but this plays to my belief, and quite frankly the mantra in which I live by. And it goes something like this, “Time management is a crutch used by those who have not perfected the art of procrastination.”
That being said, Debbi has helped me understand that there are certain lifestyle changes I would be forced to consider if I decided not to contribute to the annual Christmas letter NOW.
So here goes. As I think back over the past year and consider all that I have to be thankful for, it boils down to legs. Strange but true. You see, we all enter this life with a set, at least that’s the ideal scenario…more wouldn’t be so bad, less would certainly be a little more challenging. Regardless of the number you start with, however, they’re yours plain and simple. Instinctively, you know that they’re meant to serve you in challenges not yet encountered, or even considered. You protect them, nurture them, grow them, and treat them like gold. And in turn, they help you to meet all the challenges that life will inevitably throw your way. You take them to work with you, bring them along on first dates, and sometimes you fall in Love and decide to include another set of into your life. Now, if you thought two legs where great, then I’m here to tell you that four are much better!
Now, it’s not unusual that in a life that includes four legs, additional sets quickly make their way on to the scene. In my case, when Debbi and I came together, to my delight, I not only was adding one complete set, but she had two additional sets that came with her. Again, imagine my delight. My two legs, Debbi’s two, and her cat, Cleo’s legs – For those who haven’t yet nodded off from the eggnog, that’s eight legs! Wow, and that’s even before we moved in together.
Before too much time passed, we decided that we were ready to introduce some more legs into the household. Like all newlyweds, we talked about names, adoption options, timing, neighborhood playmates, etc. - basically all the things you would expect to discuss. Well, not too much time passed before our little bundle of joy flew into our lives, kind of like a Rocket. Well, before we knew it, Debbi and I amassed another two sets of two legs (that would be four) which brings our new total to twelve! I know what you’re thinking, man, that’s a lot of legs. I can assure you that when I was a little boy of just two legs, never did I consider the responsibility of so many legs – and don’t even get me started on the number of toenails.
Just when I thought we had come up with the perfect number of legs, we felt our family wasn’t complete. Sure, we had twelve legs, and I could even start to count the number of families on our block that didn’t have half as many, we just thought we could do more. So, we found ourselves having that old familiar conversation again…. do we adopt, can we afford it, how will more legs get along with our existing sets, etc… Well, this conversation spanned most of the summer months, and just recently we found Carrie, who coincidentally came with two pair. She’s great, and just what we wanted.
I can honestly say, after being blessed with sixteen legs in my life, our house now feels like a home. And at the end of the day, whether you choose to bring legs in your life that either come in two’s or four’s, it’s the most comforting of feelings. So, as I attempt to close this letter down, and hopefully give you an opportunity to recover from my ramblings, please allow all of our legs to wish you and the legs in your family the happiest of holidays.
Love to all, William, Debbi, Cleo, Rocket, Carrie
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