35th Annual Christmas Missal
Carter is 59 and still hovering around 200 pounds. This year has been an eventful year, as usual, with trips to Vietnam, Rome (the tail-end of the 2007 World Cruise), travel medicine meeting in Vancouver, BC, Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, OR, Skagit Highland Games with Ginny, ICSM meetings in Miami, a 40th high school reunion in WI ACEP/SA meeting in Seattle, Kelly’s wedding in NC and the Volendam Shakespeare Cruise in November. His prostate numbers are slowly correcting and his hair is thinning rapidly. He hired another deranged ER night doc at work and sees hope on the horizon.
Winnie also soon to be 59 is the maintenance woman. She is itching to downsize in order to simplify our lives. She is beginning to shop for clothes again, is exercising regularly at home and the Bellevue Club. Licensed in 7-8 states, her travel medicine practice is busier than ever, while squeezing in weekly meetings with Rotary. Though heat/humidity intolerant, she joined Carter in Vietnam (Sapa Province) and teaching in Hue. While eating out more with Carter, she is plotting strategies to shed the accumulated detritus of 34 years of marriage.
Ben (27) has his master’s from MIT and is employed via a number of projects (http://mako.cc/copyrighteous). He is an active board member on the Free Software Foundation and enjoying royalties from his Linux textbooks. He advised Mom to buy a text on Amazon.com. He moved to new digs near Cambridge, MA and is considering literary, school, or academic options for the future.
Mika (26) is half way through her Master’s in Public Health at Harvard while working 32 hours weeks in a research lab in the same department. Though extremely busy she really enjoys her studies. She is considering a brief international hiatus in 2008. In her brief moments at home, she is trapping mice while trying to figure out why SHE is the focus of East Coast mosquitoes. Mika is still our link to the East Coast, for which we are forever grateful. See website: http://www.flickr.com/photos/soulfish
Kit (25) is an independent personal trainer near downtown Seattle. He has become passionate about sustainable lifestyles (including environment, organic gardening, healthy eating, and bicycle access). He attended Ashland for his Shakespeare fix in Sept. with Mom and Dad, as well as attending his host brother’s confirmation in Norway with a side trip to Ireland. He is considering a Master’s in sustainable resources while balancing work, a myriad of music/performing interests, though still perplexed trying to balance his bank account.
Nate (23) took a year off from academics, smoothly transitioning among Seattle, Oregon and Alaska. A trip to New Zealand has him considering a simpler lifestyle and an appreciation of the Maori customs. August was spent in Meyers Chuck, Alaska, learning home construction with the Rice’s while eating fresh fish 2-3 meals daily. He is having further orthodontia, pending major jaw reconstruction in 2008. He will transfer to Evergreen College in Olympia to expand opportunities in interdisciplinary studies in 2008……a real Renaissance man.
Lisa (22) graduated from Denver’s Johnson & Wales University in Hospitality, with Mom and Dad attending in May. She worked on the McKinley Explorer Train between Anchorage and Fairbanks, earning some “serious money” this summer. Still voluntarily unemployed as of 11/07, she is really enjoying her “new best friend” Mary Jane, an adolescent tabby rescued in September. The future may include travel and business opportunities with her big brother Kit with whom she bonded with on the Shakespeare Cruise. She successfully ran her first two ½ marathons this fall.
Alemitu (21) experienced a life-changing return to Ethiopia where she volunteered in an orphanage. She reunited with long-lost brothers and sisters who believed she had died. “All my siblings were so big and grown-up” after her 11 year absence. She definitely lives in the moment…..Seattle Hill’s received 0 e-mails and phone calls during her 2 months African stay. Mom tracked her down thru friends in Addis Ababa. She attends BCC studying Early Childhood Education and hopes to receive her certificate in June, 2008. She still finds guy relationships less attractive than personal goals though a thaw is perceptible….”arranged marriages” are definitely out much to Dad’s serious disappointment.
Woguyo (19) attends Job Corps (a government sponsored vocational program for 16-25 year olds, helping obtain a GED, high school diploma, driver’s license and vocational training, while being supported with room & board & a stipend.) It is nice to see our tax dollars spent on productive endeavors. She has finished her GED and High School diploma (Hurray for her) and though trained as a Medical Office Specialist, she is debating transferring to the CNA program (certified nursing assistant) versus a year of the “real world.” She has developed some excellent support and role models via some older friends who are encouraging her to not make the same mistakes that have made.
We experienced a wonderful Hill Family Reunion at the Chewuch Inn in Winthrop, WA with more than 30 in-laws, out-laws and their progeny. We experienced Ashland with Ginny Mann for the first time. We are finally paying off college debts with only one college tuition at the moment. We attended nephew Kelly and Anne’s wedding in Charlotte, NC. We are searching for retirement areas where Carter can build a smaller, green and environment-friendly home in a location close to the action, yet just far enough away to be affordable. We are enjoying the opportunities of expanding horizons, including books on tape and dinners together with old friends. We have been so blessed.
We plan on a repeat World Cruise in 2008 between Jan. 4 and April 27. You can keep up with our travels on _http://www.mannhill.blogspot.com and photos at www.flickr.com/photos/carterhill
Carter & Winnie
6805 SE 32nd St
Mercer Island, WA 98040
carterhill@comcast.net
winnielmann@aol.com
206-232-8918-H
posted by Hills @ 2:47 AM
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