Chris and Kara

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Christmas 2018
Merry Christmas!
Happy New Year!

We come to the end of another year, warm with cheer and remembrance as the weather outside encourages us to be cozy indoors. It’s a cold, windy rainy day outside here in New Jersey- although we’re comfortably writing this letter remembering all who receive it. I hope this letter finds you well- and if not, we’d like to hear about it.

This year saw our first anniversary in New Jersey. Late last year we moved from Holcomb, KS ( SW corner of KS, near Dodge City) to Union Beach, NJ into a 650 sq. ft. ‘cottage’. The move was undertaken to accommodate Kara’s new job teaching HS Chemistry at LREI in Manhattan. The move was certainly an adventure filled with all the stress you would imagine and a couple pitfalls as well- such as our home not being ready as promised when we arrived with our belongings.

A little over a year later we are in a house in the neighboring borough of Keyport with much more room. We knew the house was for us when we saw “NO CATS- dogs welcome”. Of course on the first full day of living here, our two Labrador Retrievers found the weakness in the fence and roamed the borough- right as Thanksgiving dinner was being prepared. After a frantic search and a kind stranger, both were returned, and a frantic bout of home improvement ensued before dinner preparations were resumed.

We experienced our first Nor’easter blizzard here with a resulting 18” of shoveled snow. Kara remembers it being less, but I remember shoveling 18”, so that’s what I’m going with. One thing that struck me over the winter is how fast they are to clear roads around here- prepped with brine before hand and plowed very quickly, even in our small borough.

Kara stays busy with Teaching- going on field trips, professional development, tutoring, and staff meetings. She usually leaves the house at 6 AM, sometimes not returning until 9PM. She enjoys many opportunities to explore with colleagues, students, and friends. Chris is exploring IT business opportunities and working on upgrading cellular sites. Right now advanced LTE (mMIMO for the geeks out there) and 5G are the main work. Some of the work requires driving over 250 miles in a day in locations ranging from Manhattan rooftops to remote mountain tops. One vehicle had 20 thousand miles on it in 5 months! It hasn’t been all work though- we’ve been able to do sightseeing, such as Mystic, CT (Yes, the one in Mystic Pizza), Boston, Sandy Hook, NYC of course, and even managed to drive through Rhode Island.

For the New Year, we hope to visit family and friends, and hope even more to have visitors. We were able to welcome Kara’s sister Elissa along with her friend Kelsey for a week. They were able to catch Broadway and off-Broadway shows almost every night, visit the Cheers Bar in Boston, visit the beaches around here (although the weather was horrible the beaches are very nice). NYC is 45-80 minutes away, depending on traffic. We’re less than 5 minutes from the Garden State Parkway, we live 10 minutes from a Commuter Rail station, and a very nice bus line using coaches to go into NYC is a 15 minute walk away. If you’ve ever wanted to visit NYC, or even NJ- you have a place to stay. Kara is the one to talk to about exploring NYC, and Chris is the one to talk to about… well, a ride? Lol. We live two lots down from the Henry Hudson Trail, a 24 mile long walking/biking trail built on an abandoned rail line. The beach is a 15 minute walk or a 30-minute drive to Sandy Hook, a U.S. Recreation Area with miles of incredible beaches and wetlands wildlife.

Come to see if New Jersey is as bad as they show on TV (it’s not; except for Newark), come to say ‘Hi’, come to visit NYC and save money on lodging; come to look for a job. You’re all officially invited and welcome.

Merry Christmas, everyone!
Chris and Kara

Chris and Kara 2018

Christmas 2020
Merry Christmas!
Happy Holidays!

Wow, what a year! First,I hope this letter finds you and your family well. So many families have been threatened, pulled apart, and all have been stressed. Our hearts and love go out to each and every one of you.

Since we missed Christmas Cards last year (apologies!), this letter will attempt to cover both 2019 and 2020. January 2019 saw Kara doing pretty much the same thing, for Chris the fickle nature of the Telecom and Construction industries demonstrated themselves, ending the Integration work he was doing. Shortly after he was able to sign up with a brand new company building new technology onto existing sites, and later in the year building sites from the ground up.

This was a rough year for us personally. Kara lost her Paternal Grandmother suddenly. Chris lost his elder Sister Heather and Father Jeff. All of this happened in the space of about a month. Heather's death was completely unexpected; attributed to heart failure. Jeff lost a battle with cancer and cirrhosis. Chris had been able to see his Father shortlybefore his passing, driving out to meet him and the rest of the family, missing only Heather and Tyler (nephew).

The Telecom Construction industry had it's ups and downs. We started our first job in a snow storm on a rooftop in VA; it was a big learning experience. We were able to get sites a little closer to home in the Philadelphia and Atlantic City area, but the number wasn't enough to keep busy. Moving towards the end of the year, Chris pursued an opportunity to manage building these same sites, gaining a more secure job with a raise to boot.This is why the Holidays were so busy- wrapping up training and handing over his responsibilities during Thanksgiving and starting the new job the first Monday in December. It was definitely a case of hitting the ground running.

This brings us into 2020 with not a clue as to the interesting events in store. Work was booming for Chris with overtime every week and Kara busy with school and mentoring a new colleague. The T-Mobile-Sprint merger ended the project I was working on, and T-mobile apparently is not a fan of the company Chris was working for (SAC Wireless), so Chris was basically first in line for unemployment at the end of march before the huge Covid wave. Kara has had to be very flexible and enterprising first teaching remotely directly out of Spring Break with no access to her office or classroom, then creating science experiments safe to perform at home, and developing a hybrid school/remote lesson plan.

On May 13, we lost a loved member of our immediate family- Aurora Borealis, known to most of you simply as Roary. She was 13 and she was a very, very good Dog. She will be missed. I think any that met her realize what a huge hole she has left. Our other Dog, Astre (10), is doing what she can to fill the very long shadow Roary cast.

The day the quarantine lifted in NJ we rented a cargo trailer and hit the road, hoping to get the rest of our stuff in storage in KS, meeting family safely along the way, and having the same trailer de-couple at speed going through the mountains in PA. Everyone was safe, but it was an adventure!

Chris is studying for certifications, finding projects to do, keeping busy. Kara is staying very busy with teachin, mentoring, advising, and much more. It's a grind I'm sure many are familiar with, but we're safe, comfortable, and finding ways to stay busy.

We have been very fortunate to stay healthy, have a roof over our head, and keep the lights on. With Just Kara and I here, along with the dog(s), it's been very manageable. We also have a walking path not far from our door when we get cabin fever. We look forward to eating out again, traveling, and socializing withouth the aid of a laptop! Our love to all of you, we think of you often hope you're doing well. We'd love to hear from you.

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