Sunday, December 20, 2009

Savoring 2009

With this message comes my heartfelt wishes for your happy holidays and a new year full of laughter, good health, joy, and peace for us all! I am especially grateful this year to have so many beloved friends and family members in my life, and I treasure each of you - you know who you are!!
I'm grateful for all the blessings of this past year. Retirement suits me, deeply and richly! Best of all this year has been my role as Grandma (Keema) to little Desmond, who is already 17 months old and utterly delightful. He has a sunny personality, and is smart and fun to be with. Like all grandparents, we think he is the best-ever child on the planet, but in this case it may just be true!

Here is Phil, with Des, at an appropriate location in the Monterey Bay Aquarium recently.
Daniella has had a phenomenal year in her art career, with lots of travel, teaching, a new DVD just published about her teaching, and a book on the way! She has had many shows of her work, and just opened a large installation at our local museum. Her success is quite astounding, and I am flying on the coattails of her busy life. You can read all about her on her web site.
We went to Florida in May for a little family reunion, and the wedding of my nephew, Nate. It was a chance to visit with my brothers - in fact all three of my brothers were there,together for the first time in nearly 15 years, and many other family members as well. Here is Nate with my brother Dick and his Marnie. And below, my son Tommy, daughter-in-law Megan, Daniella, and me enjoying the festivities.In October, Daniella and I and two friends traveled to Korea for 2 weeks and loved every minute of that adventure. I wrote extensively about that trip, and put up a lot of photos on my blog (scroll further down if you are interested). It was the occasion of much laughter and delight, sometimes barely contained!Sadly we didn't get enough time at Whidbey Island this year, with everything else going on. But it remains our favorite get-away spot, and hopefully we will make up for that lost time in the near future. But with moments like the one below, who wants to be anywhere else? In fact, this photo neatly sums up my life right now - wheeeeee!!!!! Kimisohapi !!