December 2004
Dear Friends and Family,
Well, I can’t say another year has rolled around because it
has been two years since last we wrote.
But I can say happy holidays, hope you are doing well. Basically, we are doing fine. The biggest change in our lives in the two
years has been the arrival of our first grandchild, Megan. We can’t tell you how wonderful that
addition to our family has been—she is an absolute delight for us! Never have you seen such smitten
grandparents!
Philip continues his work at the Stanford Medical
School. One of his main concerns has
been his mother. Enid Ritter is
battling colon cancer, and had a liver resection this past fall, her third
operation. She is finally pretty much
recovered from that operation, and we are looking forward to celebrating her 80th
birthday next April. Phil also still
enjoys photography, and was the chief photographer for 3 (of 4) relative
weddings in the last year (assisted by Arthur and Marisa). As many of you know, Phil’s brothers Paul
and Russ each got married in the last year as did nieces Corinna and (in 2003)
Teresa. If you go to http://www.stanford.edu/~philr/Fam.html
on the web, you will find links to lots of wedding pictures. Between the weddings and mom’s illness,
we’ve made over a dozen trips (separately and together) to Oregon the past year
and a half. Fortunately we really enjoy
spending time in Oregon. Phil continues
to have a vigorous email correspondence with near and distant relatives around
the world regarding family history. His
latest interest has been the use of y-chromosome DNA testing and to establish
if and how people sharing the same surname are related. He is co-administrator of three family DNA
projects (Ritter, Hamman and Bachman/Baughman) and even attended a conference
in Houston to exchange ideas with fellow researchers. He also wrote an article for a South African genealogy
publication on using DNA for family history, and was prominently featured in a
National Genealogical Society News Magazine article on his quest to find and
test a descendant of the Rev. John Bachman (Audubon’s collaborator). They managed to prove that John Bachman and
Phil’s grandmother Baughman did indeed share a common ancestor.
Lynn has had a hard year:
got mugged in Barcelona in February, started taking high blood medicine
in April, caught a cold in June which resulted in a cough so bad that she broke
a couple of ribs, had eyelid surgery in July, had another bout with pinched
nerve in neck in August, and has been diagnosed with a fatty liver. While none of these are life threatening,
together they seem to be a lot. She
survived the mugging, but her entire purse and its contents were taken
(including money, passport, tickets, credit cards, checkbook, etc.—I know
you’re not supposed to have all your things in one place). For a person who has never been a victim of
violent crime, it was quite an experience to have someone’s arms wrapped around
my upper chest so tightly that I passed out.
Such an experience makes you realize how vulnerable you are. Lynn immediately flew to Munich, where there
were (very helpful) friends and a branch office of her company. Of course the American Consulate wanted to
know what she was doing in Munich without a passport, after having been mugged
in Barcelona. Lynn also did extensive
business travel from January to May (including the ill-fated trip to Barcelona)
and September/October, as well as the previously mentioned trips to
Oregon. More recently, we’ve been
worried about Lynn’s father’s health and involved in trying to get the correct
diagnosis for his multiple symptoms.
But Lynn’s reward for having
survived the last year was a vacation in Kauai in November! Kauai is our favorite of the Hawaiian
Islands and reminds us a lot of Kosrae in Micronesia, where we spent quite a
few years long ago. We had first gone
there in 1999 to celebrate our 30th anniversary, and this trip was
(belatedly) for our 35th anniversary. Both times, we stayed in a
little cottage called Hale Li’i in Kilauea on the north shore, which we much
prefer to Poipu. Because the cottage is
so well appointed with all the comforts of home and many luxuries, it is easy
to feel at home and to relax. Lynn
never took so many naps in one week as she did during our stay! But we still did a lot. Having been on Kauai before, we did not feel
compelled to see everything or to plan out everything. Instead, we slept in many days, had fresh
fruit breakfasts (pineapple, papaya, bananas—topped with chopped macadamia
nuts), and planned as we went, depending in part on the weather. We usually had one main activity per day and
filled in the rest with shopping, napping, beachcombing, driving around, taking
pictures.
Hale Li’i (more information)
Some of the highlights of our trip:
·
Hiking in the interior, especially the Waimea Canyon
area—it isn’t called the Grand Canyon of the Pacific for nothing—stunning
views, almost makes you dizzy to look down into the canyon
·
Hiking on the Kalalau Trail to Hanakapiai Beach. One of the most thrilling things to do on
the planet—like taking Highway 1 down the California coast, but you are
walking!
·
Kayaking up the Hanalei River—it was so much fun! That day, our last, the water was calm,
almost glassy—the sight of yellow blossoms from the mangrove trees on the banks
floating on the water was incredible!
Waimea Canyon On the Hanalei River
If you want more detail, please see Philip’s website for
more pictures ( Kauai pictures).
We also completed a kitchen addition and remodel in time for
Thanksgiving 2003, although Phil is still working on finishing up some
of the exterior details. We now have a
large breakfast area and a much nicer kitchen with granite counter tops, new
stove top, etc. This was one of the
last steps in what we called our five-year plan when we moved into our house
more than twenty years ago. At that
time, we never thought we’d end up living here this long.
Emily has made much progress since the last time we
wrote. In September 2003, she graduated
from vocational school, where she learned how to be a medical assistant. She did her internship in an ear, nose, and
throat, head and neck reconstructive plastic surgeon’s office in San Diego,
where she worked for Dr. Mario S. Yco.
In fact, she still works there—they liked her so much that they hired
her a month later! She is now an
indispensable part of their office, has cleaned up and organized their office
and procedures, got a nice raise in September.
She is also the reason I was able to have eyelid surgery at a good
price—Emily assisted Dr. Yco and took care of me post-surgery. Thank you, Emily! New in Emily’s life is Chris, friend of a friend and a lawyer
working in the San Diego area. Chris
like Emily has roots in Northern California; I’m sure we will meet him
soon.
Marisa and Arthur blessed us with their first child, Megan,
born April 16, 2003. Marisa and Arthur
allowed me to be with them for most of the time in the labor room; in the
morning Philip and I went back for the delivery! Ever since then Megan has been a permanent and much loved fixture
in our lives. Philip and I split
Wednesday and each baby sit half a day—it is our special time to be with
Megan. We also contrive to see her as
much as possible for she is an indescribable joy. It brings back so many memories of our raising our own
children—but we have also forgotten so much!
We marvel at every movement, development and word, even love changing
her diapers! I never knew it was going
to be so much fun being a grandmother! Marisa and Arthur also bought their first
house (a townhouse in Foster City) shortly before Megan was born, and have
already remodeled the kitchen.
Megan in her lamb Halloween costume
