*Nina, friend of Barbara McNally who publishes a great newsletter A Real Life.

December 7, 1997

Hi Everybody:

Happy Holidays. I survived my first year of marriage. My husband did too. We even had a good time. We celebrated Bob's 40th at the Pet Crematorium in March and Bob missed Bumbershoot in Seattle for the first time since 1980 (no, that's not a misprint) so that we could celebrate our first anniversary in Europe. I had some solo adventures too.

LIFESTYLES OF MOM AND DAD

In June I flew to L.A. to see my Mom on her last day of school. She's been a teacher in some capacity since she graduated from college. She started Middle School ("M.S.") with me in 1975 when became the Librarian at Lindero Canyon M.S. and I started 6th grade. She transferred to A.E. Wright M.S. several years ago and on June 12, my Dad, sister and I picked her up in a limousine, watched her turn in her keys and whisked her away. She handled it well, waving her champagne bottle out the window, shouting, "BYE!"

That evening, Mom and Dad sold their house, which we moved into in 1975. The house sale was not part of the original plan. Mom and Dad were going to do some work on it but a couple of pushy real estate agents came along and they had a "solid gold" buyer so Mom ended up jobless and homeless on the same day.

Now they live in Orleans, California in a tiny house by a creek and apparently are incredibly busy with the retired people lifestyle.

PAM AND BOB GO TO EUROPE

We had a fabulous trip. We spent time in Germany visiting relatives. We took a day trip to Berlin, a place we definitely want to go back for a longer stay. Right now all of Berlin is completely torn apart to build stuff for moving Germany's capitol back. There has never been a better time to be a a crane manufacturer or operator in Germany. I don't think the German's build a dog house without setting up a crane. We took a city tour and it was jaw dropping to glance out at the city and see hundreds and hundreds of cranes. We tried to take pictures, but couldn't capture the effect.

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PHOTO: Onkel Gerd and Pam in Bad Kissingen. PHOTOGRAPHER: Bobman

Posted: 4.18.99
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