Happy New Year to ALL.....
I long, as does every human being, to be at
home wherever I find myself. --Maya Angelou
Home had many shapes for us in
2014. As we traveled between our homes in Tucson and
northern Michigan, we also felt at home during twenty or so visits to family
and friends. It was also a year we
celebrated milestones-- twenty years ago we met, ten years ago we retired
(dividing our time between MI and AZ) and began building Sweetwater Lodge, and
five years ago we bought a home in Tucson.
We started the year in Tucson, where we enjoyed a warmer
than usual season. And, with the rest of
the country experiencing just the opposite, we had an abundance of guests in
the apartment of the house we are rehabbing. We traveled a couple of times to real winter
weather-for wonderful visits to Pittsburgh—gotta have that time with the grand-girls!
In May we meandered north, with stops in Texas, Missouri, Pennsylvania and lower Michigan, before we landed at Sweetwater Lodge (Bois Blanc Island/
northern Michigan) in late June. While
in Michigan, we traveled frequently between there and Ann Arbor/ Dexter to be
able to reconnect with dear friends.
Sara turned 40 in July (another
important milestone!) and we had a wonderful time helping her celebrate at the
delightful party Todd organized at their home in Pittsburgh. We (Peter, Klara, Fern (9), Rose (7), and
Sara) continued the party at the Jersey Shore with several days of camping.
From New Jersey we traveled to New York for family
gatherings, including a wonderful reunion of the Dooley siblings—Mike, Peter
and Carol.
We were on the road so much of the summer that we decided
to rent out Sweetwater Lodge for several weeks.
(Link to Sweetwater Lodge Facebook page:
Facebook.com/retreatrefreshrevive ). Since 2015 will
be another year of frequent travel, we plan to make it available again for much
of the season. Of course we still
welcome our friends/family to join us when we are there!
I headed back to Tucson in September, with a lovely stop
in my hometown—Columbia, MO-- to visit my mother, family and friends. Peter had several work related activities,
mostly in the east, and arrived in Tucson the end of October.
We attended the American Public Health Association annual
conference in November, and had a great time with colleagues and friends in New
Orleans.
.
We finished 2014 by getting
settled again in Tucson, reconnecting with the people and activities we love
here. Peter’s consulting practice,
LaborSafe, and his work with National COSH keeps him busy and actively engaged
with worker health and safety issues. He
also enjoys Spanish classes, organic gardeners meetings, and a daily swim. I volunteer at BioTouch as a certified
practitioner, attend a weekly writing workshop, a monthly blogging group, a
photography class, meet friends at the pool almost daily, and occasionally
write on my blog,
It was a year of
milestones. It was a year of important
connections/reconnections for us. You
greeted us, welcomed us, warmed our
hearts. You danced with us in the streets of Ann Arbor, played with us on the
Jersey Shore, watched a glorious sunset on the beach at Sweetwater Lodge, hiked
with us in Tucson, listened to Missouri roots music on a blanket….and so much
more. Thank you, dear friends and family.
In 2015 may we all strive to
ease the craziness around us with acts of tenderness and love.
Happy trails to you….until we
meet again.
The house you live in
will never fall down if you pity the stranger who stands at your gate. ---Gordon Lightfoot
