Christmas
1998
Merry
Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of you!
We hope that 1998 has been a great year for you, and that, as we near
the final countdown to the new millennium, 1999 will be joyous and prosperous
for one and all! As you know, the
holidays wouldn’t be complete without an overblown missive from the Canterburys, so here is this year’s edition!
This
year began as the last few did, with the two of us resident in Sterling, Virginia, near Washington, DC. However, I
had found a new contract position providing support to Roadway, the trucking
company, at their Akron, Ohio offices. I
was flying back and forth between Ohio and DC each weekend as Nancy and I prepared to pick up and move back to Ohio. In short
order we found a house in Twinsburg (near Cleveland), rented our old house, picked up and moved
everything, and took up residence at our new home beginning January 27.
However,
before we moved we had to take care of one final thing: Nancy’s 40th birthday party on January 24! Nancy said she wasn’t going to suffer and mope, she was
going to go out in style! We had great
fun with lots of family and friends, where Nancy proved again that she the most fun, best-looking
40-year-old I know!
Not
long after we arrived in Ohio, Nancy began looking for a job, and very quickly had six
job offers. She finally decided to
settle on the one with Keybank in downtown Cleveland as a systems analyst.
After
working at Roadway for about nine months, I finally got fed up with the
place. When
PricewaterhouseCoopers (“PwC”, formed when Price
Waterhouse merged with Coopers & Lybrand) came calling, I about fell over
myself accepting the position. I
am now a consultant for PwC. It’s a job that requires a lot of travel, but
that’s OK, because it allows me to see the world. And, I can occasionally take Nancy along as well.
Between
the time I left Roadway and started at PwC, Nancy and I decided to take our first vacation of the
year. We headed for Nassau, Bahamas for a five-day trip.
Of course, it rained for four of those days. L We stayed in a resort, and unfortunately
found the whole experience to be too commercial and tourist-y. When we vacation, we like to experience the
local culture and try the local food. We
didn’t find any of that in the Bahamas, it had all been overrun by the big resorts. Some folks might like that, but we didn’t.
After
returning home from the Bahamas, I turned around and flew to Tampa, for my first week of orientation with PwC. When I arrived
in Tampa, they told me where I would be going for my second
week of orientation — Rome, Italy! While in Rome, I got to see the Vatican and St. Peter’s Basilica, the Sistine Chapel, the Colosseum, Trevi Fountain, and
just so many other things that I can’t remember. It was a shame Nancy couldn’t go with me, but now I have an excuse to
return!
Other
travel this year was a visit back to the Washington, DC area for a wedding, as my brother Bryan married Mary
Wilson. We’re also planning a Christmas
vacation to Fort
Lauderdale. Oh, and my sister in Atlanta is expecting twins(!) so
we’ll visit her sometime, I’m sure.
By
the way, our two best little buddies, Brutus and Snickers, made the move with
us from Washington to Ohio. Brutus
refuses to diet but still moves rather quickly for a cat of his girth. Snickers, we found, is for some inexplicable
reason afraid of the doorbell. But they
both enjoy a peaceful and content existence within the confines of our home.
Unfortunately,
not all news this year was good news, and so we must deliver this bit of tragic
news.
On
October 13, Nancy’s oldest brother Jim Houston was killed in a truck
accident. Jim had recently been working
as a truck driver for A. Duie Pyle. It was a single-truck accident on an exit
ramp in northeastern Pennsylvania. The exact cause of the accident
is unknown. Perhaps the load shifted, or
perhaps Jim swerved to avoid an animal.
We’ll never know. Jim’s extended
family misses him and mourns his untimely passing.
Another year has passed us by
In our journey through this life.
We prayed each day would bring us sunshine,
And cursed the days that brought us
rain.
Somehow, we survived the storms life brought our way,
Struggling through to see the new
dawn.
And while surviving the storms makes us stronger,
We do not always emerge unscathed.
So celebrate the holidays, that we have arrived here
again,
And keep your family and friends close.
But remember in your hearts those of us
Who finished life’s journey this year.
With
love from both of us,
Nancy
and Jerry Canterbury