Merry
Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!
2001 has been a year like no other before it. Hopefully there will never be another like it
in terms of tragedy. We have friends in
both New York and Washington and thankfully all have checked in with us. However, some of those friends have lost
friends of their own, and we grieve with them.
For us, hardly a week goes by without a catch in the throat, a sob
stopped short. Time heals all wounds,
they say – but large wounds take more time.
On a more personal level, all continues to be well in
the Canterbury household. Nancy is a
project administrator at Key Bank now, which means that she assists with
tracking and running a number of different projects at one time. I think she has found her niche, because
she’s very organized and she can help others be organized too. I’m still at PricewaterhouseCoopers, and
still working on a project in Bloomington, Illinois, where I’ve been since
March 1999. Travel itself has become
more painful due to heightened security – longer lines, longer hassles, fewer
flights to choose from. But, although I
know some now fear flying, I still know it to be very safe and really have no
fear of getting on a plane each week.
Our travel
year has been quite busy once again. We
began with a driving trip to Philadelphia last Christmas. We went to visit both Nancy’s brother and his
family, and my sister and her family in their new home. From there we drove to North Carolina to
visit Biltmore Estate. We found Biltmore
to be an interesting place to visit for a day or so, but wouldn’t want to make
a week of it. On an April weekend we
visited New York City, where we visited the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island,
Grand Central Station, and Grant’s Tomb.
We also saw a Broadway musical, The
Music Man, which was one of the most enjoyable events of my life. (We saw it again when they came to Cleveland
in October.) We paid a visit to Florida
in September, visiting Tampa, Orlando, and Jacksonville. If you are ever at Disney, you should
definitely stop to see Cirque du Soleil, absolutely wonderful.
Our big trip to the year was supposed to be China,
but I convinced Nancy that we needed to see Yellowstone instead. One of the first books I can remember as a
youngster was a children’s guide to Yellowstone. Since then I’ve always wanted to visit.
We flew into Bozeman, Montana and visited a friend
there first, then drove on to Old Faithful.
Usually on vacation you don’t plan on snow in June. When you visit Yellowstone you should, as we
learned after we arrived. Some parts of
the park road received a foot of snow and were closed. Nancy was a real trouper, though. Her attitude was “Darn it, we came to hike
and see nature, so that’s what we’re going to do.” So off into the backcountry for a seven-mile
hike we went. Fortunately as the week
went on the weather got better, eventually reaching the 80s.
One day we hiked up a mountain to see a petrified
forest. When we got back to the parking
lot, a couple approached us and asked, “Did you see the bear when you were up
there? We could see both you and the
bear, you were only about 100 yards part.”
Of course, we never saw the bear – that was probably a good thing.
We also visited nearly Grand Teton National Park and
stayed at Jackson Lodge, which has an absolutely gorgeous view. While hiking there, I looked over my shoulder
when I heard a noise and saw a moose about 10 yards away. You know, you’d be surprised how fast you can
move when you’ve got a moose right behind you.
We’re already making our vacation plans for next
year. We will spend Christmas in
Florida. In 2002 we plan to visit New
Zealand. My brother starts medical
school in Australia in February; we’ll give him a little time to settle in and
then probably visit him the following year.
One other accomplishment was the day I set out to run
26.2 miles and succeeded. I trained
spring, summer, and fall, and completed my first marathon in October. I owe a very special thanks to Nancy who
supported me and literally carried my water while riding her bike behind me on
the long training runs.
Our two feline friends, Brutus and Snickers, continue
to be healthy. Despite our best efforts,
Brutus remains fat, weighing in at 19 pounds.
Snickers decided that it is in her best interests not to bite anyone
this year, for which we remain grateful.
If you have the opportunity, we hope you’ll come
visit us in 2002! Merry Christmas and
Happy New Year!
Nancy
and Jerry Canterbury