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2013 Family Holiday Letter

New Year's Day, 2014

Dear extended family,

While the rest of the country is watching parades, I thought this might be a good time to update all of you on our travels and activities during the year just past. Here are monthly highlights, in chronological order:

Paul made his annual trip to Sebring FL in January, to participate in the Sport Aviation Expo. He attended two avionics classes, delivered three FAA Safety Seminars, and performed several gigs with fellow members of the Flying Musician's Association.

In February, Paul took a short drive down to the Washington DC area, for a brief visit with sister Terry, brother-in-law Neal, and Win and Jerry, his aunt and uncle.

Erika and Allen gave us our first grandchild in March. Wakes was named in memory of Paul's father. Paul had flown out to San Francisco for a Hertz Foundation meeting around the time Erika went into labor, so he was already in Berkeley to meet his newborn grandson.

Other than assorted medical appointments for Paul, Muriel, and Curran, April was a relatively uneventful month.

In May, on an interstate highway enroute to the Baltimore Science Fiction Convention, Paul, Muriel, and Bryn encountered a suicidal deer. Though major damage was inflicted on the 2003 Chrysler Town and Country, its occupants were unscathed. (The deer didn't fare as well.) There followed a couple of weeks of back-and-forth trips to Maryland, where the minivan was being repaired.

Curran had a spell of seizures in mid June, landing him in the hospital over Father's Day weekend. While visiting him there, Muriel met a neurologist who specializes in mitochondrial disorders, the first medical professional she's found who actually understood the root cause of Curran's (familial) disability. She is now well into researching treatment options. Muriel and Paul traveled to Berkeley later in the month, to participate in Wakes' 100 day celebration. We spent a few extra days visiting Phyllis and Milton, who continue to face health challenges (but are in remarkable shape for being in their nineties).

Paul and Muriel attended her high school class reunion in Sunbury, PA, in July. The following day, Paul flew his plane to the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Green Bank WV, for the annual conference of the Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers.

August was an especially full month. Early on, Paul and Muriel went to the University of Maryland to participate in 50th anniversary festivities for the Hertz Foundation (funders of Paul's doctoral program in Berkeley). Devin and Samantha' wedding was in Mansfield PA (where they had met as students) a week later. And on the 28th, Paul was back on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, along with thousands of other veterans of the Civil Rights movement, reliving the historic March on Washington in which they had participated exactly fifty years prior.

The International Astronautical Congress was held in Beijing in September. Since that venue is exactly twelve time zones distant, it is equally inconvenient to reach in either direction. So, in anti-Columbian fashion, Paul chose to travel East by heading East, making a visit to Andrew in Berlin before the Congress, and then to Erika, Allen, Wakes, Phyllis, and Milton in California afterward. This was his first round-the-world trip, flown business class and paid for with 300,000 accumulated frequent flier miles. While in Beijing, in addition to visiting the Forbidden City, Paul had the honor of presenting the Billingham Cutting Edge Lecture, keynote presentation at the annual SETI and Society symposium.

In his capacity as a volunteer FAA safety official, Paul has been presenting seminars around the country for more than thirty years. These presentations typically draw modest crowds of no more than a few dozen attendees. So, in October, Paul found a way to expand his reach, by presenting his first in what will become a regular series of online webinars. This one drew a thousand participants from all over the world.

In November, Paul tapped into his flight school revenues to buy Muriel a new vehicle (a 2013 Chrysler Town & Country). We seem to buy a new minivan every decade. The 2003 model was handed down to Curran, and the still running but rusted 1994 edition was used as a trade-in. Muriel and Paul then found themselves traveling in opposite directions. She drove her new minivan to Philadelphia to attend the annual Philcon Science Fiction Convention, while he flew to California for more aviation maintenance training (and another chance to see his parents, daughter, and grandson). Later in the month, Paul finally replaced his eight year old Toshiba laptop with the Black Friday Bargain Special on which this document is being written.

December has been a quiet month, with no significant travel (but with all five of Muriel's boys visiting us over Christmas). Muriel and Paul celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary on the 30th, with a peaceful and very private dinner out. It's snowing as I write this, so this seems a good time of year to stay safe and warm in our cozy castle.

May your upcoming year be joyous and productive. Love from:

Muriel, Paul, Erika, Allen, Wakes, Andrew, Erin, Curran, Devin, Samantha, Aubrey, Haley, and Bryn.


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