This has been our fourth full year of retirement, and
wow, it has been a lot of fun. (By the way, if you click on the
pictures that have borders, a larger view will be displayed. If you find
pictures overlapping the text, just change the size of your browser's window
and maybe that will help.)
Our Kids
Misty is living in Durham, NC with her boyfriend David
Santucci. Misty is currently working full-time for the University of North
Carolina in Chapel Hill and plans on taking some post grad classes starting
in January. She is talking about medical school, but hasn't decided
yet where she will go. David is still working on his PhD at Duke.
We got to visit with her and David on the way back from New York City.
David and Tammy bought a new house this year (see photo), and moved from one side of Atlanta to the other side. They really live in Kennesaw now. David is working for USC Consulting. He has been working in Dallas on a project for Texas Instruments since last February. He travels from Atlanta each Sunday afternoon and gets to go back home on Fridays. It looks like this assignment will last through the first quarter of 2003. Tammy keeps the home fires burning and works for Cingular Wireless. We visited them on several occasions this year - once to help them buy a house, another time to help them move, another time on our way for our leaf peeping tour, and yet again for Thanksgiving, where we also met up with Maybell, Misty, and David.
The Trip Out West for Herb's 90th Birthday Party
In
June, we left the keys and headed out west for about a month such that
we would be in Bloomfield, NM for Herb's 90th birthday bash. It turned
out to be a pretty big family reunion, and folks came from all over the
country. We kept the Senior Citizen's Center hopping with food, good conversation,
and good music for quite a while. My Mom and Herb are doing well, thank
God.
While we were out west, we spent some time in our favorite
places near Ouray Colorado, and we toured the wonderful areas around Monument
Valley near the Colorado - Utah - Arizona - New Mexico borders. We met
up with my cousin Linda and her husband John at Lake Powell. We spent the
night in their wonderful motorhome (which is big enough to have it's own
ZIP code), and we rented a boat and went fishing on the lake. Lake Powell
is a beautiful place, and one of these days, I am gonna haul a big boat
out there and spend some serious time on that lake. By the way .
. . click on the picture of the big rock at Lake Powell - see that itty-bitty
thing at the bottom of the rock? That is a boat!
The Big Leaf Peeper Tour
Several years ago, Betty and I sat down and made a list
of "Things We Want to Do Before We Die". I think this is a good idea, since
we will never be younger than we are now, and there are many things that
we really want to do, but never get around to it. One of the things that
was on the top of Betty's list is to see New England in the fall during
the color change, so we packed up and went on a month-long leaf peeper
tour. 
It was quite a trip. We left the Keys in early October
and visited David & Tammy, however David was working in Dallas, so
I flew to Dallas and got to see the beloved Dallas Cowboys at home in Texas
Stadium, while Misty came down from North Carolina and joined Betty and
Tammy for a round of shopping. After I got back from Dallas, Betty and
I left for New England. We visited my old friend Bruce Barrett in Virginia,
toured the Gettysburg Battlefield in Pennsylvania, and eventually made
our way to Maine to visit some friends who have a winter home next door
to us. After a wonderful stay in their beautiful home, including a fantastic
Maine lobster dinner, we made our way back via a trip to New York City.
Betty loved the city - we went to Grand Central Station,
Central Park, The Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, ate in
some fantastic restaurants, and generally had a good time. This trip might
have been the highlight of our year. Bob took a ton of pictures of this
trip and others, and put them on the 'net. If you are interested, check
out this
link.
Our Visitors
We
were blessed with several visitors this year, including my old grad school
chum John Heneage, Janice and Keith Hampton (see in the photo on a snorkeling
trip out to the reef), David and Tammy came down for a dive trip, Misty
and David Santucci came down for a sailing trip (one of the things Bob
got to mark off of his "Things to Do" list was sail a catamaran), as well
as several other folks I have probably forgot to mention. We love having
company, as otherwise we just sit around and wait for the perfect conditions
to go fishing or diving or snorkeling or whatever, and it seems like something
really unimportant gets in the way of fun.
Life in the Keys
Bob
spends a lot of time managing our stock portfolio and chatting with virtual
friends on the internet in stock
chat rooms. The market was again kind to us this year. Bob has
been considering getting a license to become a money manager or financial
planner. Betty likes to get out of the house. She is still selling real
estate with Schwartz
Property Sales, Inc. and had a very good year this year. We fish
every chance we get.
We don't know what next year holds for us. We hope it
will be as good or better than last year. One of the things on Betty's
"Things to Do" list is to visit the Dry
Tortugas National Park. Some of the things that are left of Bob's
"Things to Do" list is a) Catch a Fish that Weighs More than Bob (which
unfortunately, is getting harder and harder to do as the years go by),
b) Catch a Tarpon, c) Catch a Bonefish, d) Visit South Africa, e) See Rome,
and f) Hold a Grand baby, and teach him/her how to spit and cuss. Some
things are easier to accomplish than others, but we will see what the new
year will bring. We are also looking for a permanent home - we would like
to move out of the rental house and find something to buy, and we are currently
negotiating on a place down the road about 20 miles, but we are too
far apart, I'm afraid. Only time will tell, but we are going to have
as much fun as we know how.
We would love for you to be a part of it. If you have ever thought about a trip to south Florida, take a look at your calendar, mark off some dates, and drop us a note and tell us when you are coming. We have two empty bedrooms and a convertible you are welcome to use.
Well, this letter is getting out of hand, so I had better
wrap it up. We hope your year has been fun, profitable, rewarding, and
fulfilling. May this holiday season find all of you as happy and healthy
as we are.
Home/Work: 186 Harborview Drive, Tavernier, FL 33070-2662 (305) 853-5606
FAX/Email: (305) 853-9549 / whitej7@ASME.org