Christmas 1999

It is an odd feeling to write 1999, knowing that, never again will we use 19 as the start of a date….The 19s have been good to many of us and probably have been no worse – or better – than any other century, except for the amazing leaps in technology that permit us all to keep in touch with friends and family around the world. For that we should be truly thankful.

And we have much else to be thankful for as we see the year and the century turn. David and I have health, friends, a happy 4-footed household and, most important, our children have become ever-nicer people with truly delightful characters, fine friends and careers that they enjoy.

Fiona continues to live in Regina and maintain electronic services for the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. This year brought us a grand puppy, “Brio”, who is a lovely Belgian Shepherd but unfortunately is hard to photograph, so we cannot include puppy pictures!

Marc is in London, working with a new Internet company, iglu.com where he is Chief Marketing Officer and having a marvelous time. Check out the web site!  He and Jean Low presented us with a very special birthday present this year, inviting us to London with a side-trip to Paris in October. It was a marvelous 10 days and a truly memorable gift. We loved being with them, meeting their friends, seeing our friends and the Paris family. What a treat! Now we await their arrival in Montreal for Christmas. Fiona will not be with us; the dreaded Y2K has her chained to CIBC for the duration.

Diana has been working at IATA for the past six months and loving every minute of it. She is moving from Corporate Communications to the Aviation Training and Development Institute and hopes to continue there for some time.

David has his web site as a virtually full-time occupation, along with the incredible task of organizing and hosting Wednesday Nights. We celebrated our 900^th consecutive Salon in June and are now aiming for 1001. This institution has become an important part of our lives, but also of the Montreal scene and we somehow cannot imagine life BWN (Before Wednesday Night). The faces change, but the quality of participation never diminishes.

For the past several years, we have enjoyed having students living on the 3^rd floor and this year, again, we have three, having just said goodbye to our beloved Anna Chen who completed her MBA in Aviation and has returned to Singapore.

That is us and our news… we always look forward to this time of year and the cards and letters flowing in from around the world, bringing us up to date with family and friends. We only wish that ALL the people we love could be together in one place so that we could enjoy you all the time and share you with the others! Maybe in the new Millennium there will be a technology that allows us to “Beam you all up”, but in the meantime, this letter will have to suffice as an expression of our abiding affection and warmest wishes for a truly happy Millennium Christmas Season. May the Two Thousands bring you much “comfort and joy”!