New Year's Eve, 1999. As we celebrated the beginning of the last year of the millennium, we were counting blessings. Ramona had retired, the years of commuting between Austin and Houston were history, retirement was fun and life was good. The greatest blessing of all was our health. It had been almost four years since I'd been diagnosed with esophageal cancer. Initially, my prospects had been dismal. But I met some great young doctors who wanted me to get well almost as much as I did. A lot of chemo-sensitized radiation, and a whole lot of prayers later, I turned out to be one of the fortunate few. The past decade has been a bonus we didn't expect.
This picture was taken on the Greek island of Santorini in 2001, our last of more than 30 visits to that part of the world. We love Greece and the Greeks and we're so proud for them, and of the wonderful job they did hosting the 2004 Games. We have dear friends there, but we're getting older and it's less and less likely we'll return..
We've had far more than our share of happy times, in Houston and in Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, Oklahoma City, Crowley, Las Vegas and Paris, Capri, Venice, Zermatt and London; Rome,
...dear, sweet Mykonos,
and even spectacular Santorini ..
At home in North Texas, life is simple. We go to the kid's Halloween parties.
This is what we do now..
We have a nice time .. and life is good.
