We just enjoyed the most wonderful Christmas at home, and it looks like it will be our last one in Boone, at least from the near-term perspective. In the months ahead, we will move forward on our plans to relocate to Asheville, which is bound to be very exciting but also extremely bittersweet; the memories we have made here since arriving from Los Angeles have generally been wonderful, and with each passing day, they just keep getting sweeter. Still, there is a lot of optimism drawing us toward our family’s next adventure, and since we plan to keep our Boone real estate in our portfolio moving forward, this lovely town is certain to be part of our future as well.
Looking back at our 2014 National Park Tour – and even our 2012 one – I can see the new-growth roots of our kids’ willingness to “get up and go,” and this notion gives me some pride. Beth deserves most of the credit for the actual raising of our kids, who this year reached 13 and 11. It’s truly a team effort between us, but she has taken the lead on child-rearing from the beginning of this phase, to allow me to focus more on the winning of bread. And in all truth, we have our own parents to thank for embracing all that comes with moving from one town to another, as well as our siblings. In particular, Beth’s brother Pete was the first of her brood to join her mom Ginny and step-dad Bill when they moved to Boone, and before too long, Ann and her husband Chuck followed-suit, bringing their tot Grace to grow up on Rocky Creek Road, where her sister Claire was born in November, 1999. On Claire’s birthday, Beth was visiting from LA – having traveled across the country to witness the first home-birth in memory for either of our families, right in one of the many Boone homes constructed by the dynamic duo of Bill and Ginny. It was only about seven months later that we arrived from California with our moving truck, and Amelia was born on Aug. 15, 2000.
These happenings after our eighth anniversary were naturally quite momentous to us, but it all was also headline news for both of our families through the various branches spreading all directions across the map, showing us how many people care about us. Over these 14 years, we have seen most of them at different times and places, and now these kids are not so far away from putting their own hands on the steering wheel of life and setting out for the places that beckon them.
To say that Boone is special to us doesn’t begin to cover the bottomless well of positive feelings we continue to experience here every day. I believe my brother Scott was the first person to shed a tear at the thought of our time here coming to an end, but like all the rest of us, he is very enthusiastic about the future. We are following in the footsteps of our own parents and grandparents – and more specifically, Ann and Chuck, who bravely decided on Asheville (and Boone) before we did. Together, we are making calculated decisions aimed at maximizing today and tomorrow for us and these growing young people.
On the occasion of putting together this sixth episode of “Rare Air,” I found some poetic elegance in featuring footage captured six months and one week ago… a somewhat magical day we spent together at Sol Duc Hot Springs in Olympic National Park, Washington. The agenda for those weeks was painstakingly organized by yours truly over the span of two years, and while it often felt like they would never arrive, here we are now looking back on them. It was such a wonderful time that I really want to encourage you once again to get out and explore these places, if possible with your loved ones. Clearly, for me, the memories are golden. The Christmas card we sent out this year featured a photo taken on this same day in the same location (within 20 minutes of the Sol Duc Hot Springs Resort), as we bathed in the sounds of the roaring Sol Duc River and Mother Nature’s magnificent beauty all around us.
As you take it in, you too are part of our wondrous life’s journey that makes us stop so often to say, “life is good,” and “we just might be the luckiest people alive.” Thank you for joining us and here is a toast to us all: L’chaim – to life!
