2002

December 2002

Dear Friends and Family,

We hope the holidays find you well. This year our card is more of a New Year’s greeting since losing power for a week after Charlotte’s ice storm put us a bit behind. We’ve also been preparing to move. We’ve bought a little house further south in Charlotte which once belonged to our friends, Dave and Del Jackson, so we’ll be starting 2003 in our own home after moving in on the 20th. Luckily, Dave was a maniac yard and home improvement junkie, so there’s not much we need to do except make it our own with lots of paint and imagination. Dave even installed a good size fish pond off the back deck. We intend to practice serenity in 2003 – at least Darryn does. Jen will sign up for too many committees.

For those of you wondering, no kids or upcoming kids yet, though we’ve heard owning your own house induces pregnancy. (That’s probably why Jen put it off for so long.) Of course, we keep adding surrogate children. Sammy, our newest and most trying addition, has taught us that some cats are simply destined to live outdoors.

We’ve not been quite as focused on work this past year, though of course and as usual, Jen signed up for too many committees. She’s becoming an anti-high stakes testing and anti-George Bush Reading First activist. Her goal is to be fired for being an advocate of good teaching, public education, and all students, which these national and district trends don’t always tend to support. Darryn has been able to put off beginning his registration exams for a couple more months because of our upcoming move, but sooner or later it will happen and he’ll officially be able to sign his name to architectural drawings. Outside of work, we enjoyed a trip out to San Francisco and the Napa Valley this past summer with Jen’s sister, Susie, and her husband, Danny, a connoisseur of fine restaurants. Danny arranged almost everything, including a private wine tour and two nights in an amazing spa resort where we found ourselves enamored with a personal jacuzzi tub the size of Susie’s Land Rover.

Jen’s brother, Chris, is marrying in May and we’re looking forward to another big Southern affair. Jen was floored by the extensive list of garden and cocktail parties leading up to the event, but Chris’s fiancée is great and a lawyer to boot. We will now have added two lawyers to the Morrison clan, so tread lightly.

Sincerely, Jen and Darryn

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