I’m late with my annual missive about life on this amazing island. As you will see below, it’s been a busy time in my life.
In March, I traveled to Englnad, via Iceland, for the 80th birthday of a dear friend. then, in May, I took an eye-opening trip to Israel and Palestine to get a better understanding of the work of a variety of peace activists.
On January 6, 2019, a little over one year ago, I received a rather extraordinary email off a dating site. It was from a beautiful soul named Theresa, who was from Minneapolis but was on vacation in Sarasota. Two weeks later, I flew to meet her in Sarasota, and, the rest, as they say, is history. I had prearranged overseas trips, so, what followed was a four-month courtship by FaceTime, texting and phone calls with additional trips for both of us to the Vineyard, Chicago, and Washington DC, while she was wrapping up a consulting engagement.
Theresa became my partner when she moved to the Vineyard in May, and we are happily making a new life together. Our house has been redecorated from top to bottom paying due homage to much of Joyce’s design legacy. Its like living in a completely familiar brand new home. Quite remarkable. Very comfy. My life has been much refreshed.
Theresa Lundquist has a successful career as a conscious business leader, and management professional in legal/banking, information technology, and performance improvement. During this time, she raised a tight-knit and fun-loving family of two daughters and a son and now is blessed with three grandchildren. With the exception of her son, Theresa and I have each met each others’ family and we all got along most comfortably. Cy, in particular, has really taken to her.
We traveled together to the west coast to visit friends and family as well as a silent meditation retreat in rural New York in June. Then, we left MV for the tip of Cape Cod, Provincetown to celebrate Thanksgiving.
And we just returned from Christmas in Aruba.
As usual, it was so great to play host to members of both of our families on MV and to visit them for grandchild birthdays. Their lives are filled with routines of school, sports, work, and raising children. Dan is thriving in his career, and Jackie is starting to have a little more breathing room. Everyone is doing well, and I feel especially blessed, knowing that we live in a world of great uncertainty. This coming August we plan to travel to South Africa with Jackie and her family to go on safari, and to visit Cape Town.
Cy, his roommate Matt, and their lovely caregiver, Cathy, are still in Connecticut. Cy, and I recently spent a long weekend in the Los Angeles area, where one of his camp counselors, Emmy hosted him for a spectacular long weekend.
Cy manages something of a charmed life with attractive young women. He recently was invited, with his best friend Peter, to a black-tie wedding here on the Vineyard.
Ashley, now 16, has two lives, between school, where she excels in writing and playing volleyball, a consuming passion.
Ashley is also starting to consider where she plans to attend college.
Kevin, who turns 14 next week is growing up (and up), fast. This year, he has moved to a new school that is privately run. He is rising to the challenge, enjoying school for the first time in a while, and doing really well.
Baseball continues to be Kevin’s passion. He is an excellent all-rounder but aspires most of all to be an awesome pitcher.
Jake, who recently turned 9 is following his big brother as a baseball player. He certainly looks the part.
He is a smart, chatty and highly curious kid.
Jake recently celebrated his 9th birthday.
Every April, to celebrate his birthday, Cy travels on his own for some 9 hours by train in April to visit Hal and Katy in Charlottesville Virginia.
Hal continues his website development work for Clinique, while Katy’s tri-lingual school kindergarten is gradually gaining traction.
So, while it’s been a year of great activity and enormous and positive change in my life, I have concluded that while my health is excellent at 77, it is time to slow down some to smell the sea salt and wiggle my toes in the Atlantic. I lost many dear friends and my brother this year, and have ramped up my own wellness regimes, partly as a response to the inevitable.
My brother Ron passed away a few months ago. He had an auspicious life as a graduate of Oxford and a career at the World Bank.
He had a bit part in the movie Gandhi while he was head of mission for the bank in India. At right is a still from the movie. He fits the role
I do feel strongly that those of us who believe that our country is slipping towards totalitarianism need to move beyond complaining about it. Later this year, I intend to do work in trying to unseat several senators. Forever the optimist, I believe that we will celebrate a great victory in November.
