2012

Let's start the new year with an update from 2011.

Well, we did it! Toku and I are now Southern Californians, after 37 years away. Our house in Colorado was a great house: we raised family there, hosted a number of visitors from all over the world, and really enjoyed living there. But, the time was right to leave. The cold air was getting to me, family had grown and moved. We left a lot of memories there: friends, workmates, etc. But with the housing market being what it was (and still is), it was the right time.

We now reside in Oceanside, CA (where the temperature hit 80 degrees earlier this week) about one mile from our son and youngest grandaughter. Marine Corps base at Camp Pendelton is about 2 miles away from the house...a straight shot down Vandergrift Blvd. I am within 5 miles of two different libraries (so I don't have to buy books anymore). Our base hospital is 5-6 miles away, the VA hospital is 5-6 miles another way, all our doctors (Physical therapists, eye doctors, etc) are 7-8 miles away. And for Toku, K-Mart, Wal-mart and Target are relatively near by (though she has not gotten her drivers license yet). We have a house full of new furniture and we are meeting new people every day. But, with the good comes the bad.

We are missing our friends in Colorado......our phone calls to them average 1-2 per week. Our oldest daughter, Regina and her family (including our oldest grandaughter, Caitlin) have relocated to Virginia Beach, VA where our son-in-law, Sherman, is working for the Navy Exchange Systems command. We miss them terribly......we baby-sat for Caitlin for the first 4years of her life (she is now almost 12). And going through the first Christmas away from them was certainly a "strange" time. But, we maintain contact (via Skype) although that is not the same as being there.

For 2012, we hope to get back to VA to visit Regina and family sometime in the spring. It will be great seeing them. As to when we get back to Colorado, who knows???

We will again extend an invitation to any and all to come visit us here in sunny CA.

later...........Tom