Traditionally, my interest in reading Holiday Letters (hereinafter the "Letter") usually wanes about page 3 and it usually involves the phrase, "then on January 16th, we got the kids up at 5:00am sharp for Mandarin Chinese lessons before school; Billy is only five years old, but he has already translated Sun Tzu's The Art of War into Old English." However, at the risk of becoming that which I fear, I have decided to embark on a Letter journey of my own because I am finding that a year goes by so fast and its hard to keep close contact with those we like, love and tolerate. So here is my first crack at a Letter, subject to three important caveats: 1. I will spare you from the minute-by-minute account of the Curtin Life and merely hit you with the highlights; 2. I will be mercifully brief (one page, normal font); and 3. hopefully, I will make you laugh. (Author's note: Please note the presence of several exclamation points placed skillfully throughout the Letter. Let's try to read these passages with a little gusto people!!) The formalities thus out of the way, on with the Letter:
Holiday Greetings from South Fork, our 1/2 acre ranch here in Rowayton, CT. Kat is modeling for thr Ford agency and has been nominated to the New York Court of Appeals; Emma has been accepted early admission to Harvard, but declined in favor of a full golf scholarship to Boston College; Julia is the new Gerber Baby, and I, having turned down an invitation to appear on the $300 bill (too showy), was just awarded the Nobel Prize for All-Around Coolness and I just purchased the Guinness Corporation in a not-so-hostile takeover. The End. Happy Holidays everyone! I'll be here all wee! Tip your waitresses, they're working hard for you! Try the veal. (Wow, writing a Christmas Letter is easier than I thought.)
(Author's note: Kat was reading over my shoulder (or just woke me up - splitting hairs, really) and insisted that I correct a few minor inaccuracies in the Letter. The remainder of this Letter is therefore being written under protest. Nevertheless...)
On April 3rd, we welcomed beautiful Julia Elizabeth into our family. She is simply a joy - as gorgeous as her big sister Emma, with a wonderful personality and two of the biggest blue eyes you have ever seen. She is now eight months old(!) and looks just like her mother, Thank God. On May 16th, our beautiful Emma Grace turned two years old!! Watching her grow has to be top three in the Paul and Kat Pantheon of Great Moments. She is precocious, funny and smart and Mommy and Daddy (well, mostly Daddy) are looking at several convents that will take our girls in a two-for-one deal. Emma and Kat attend a pre-pre-school one day per week. Needless to say, with other kids to direct, and an endless supply of toys, paints, and other instruments of destruction, Emma LOVES school. Speaking of love, Julia pretty much worships the ground upon which Emma walks and Emma is the best big sister we could have hoped for. All in all, Kat and I are blessed with two great kids. I blame her.
Speaking of Kat, she in now a full time Mommy, having left the service of her law firm after Jules was born. Although the girls are quite a handful and her life is fairly hectic, she is having the time of her life. On June 1st, she turned 29 again and she is looking forward to turning 30 sometime in the coming years. I, of course, count my age only in moments and memories. As of this writing, I am 40 million moments and memories old (but I only feel about 38 million). In June, I took a new job as Senior Counsel of a pharmaceutical company based in Stamford, CT. It is a tremendous company and I absolutely love my job. It is also only about ten minutes from our house, so I've got that going for me...which is nice.
We took two wonderful trips in 2001: in August we took our annual summer trip to Nantucket Island with the Burns' and Cooks (I brought a non-pregnant wife and two kids, Brett Burns and Andrew Cook each brought a pregnent wife). We had fantastic weather and an increduble time! Thanks to the recent arrivals of Morgan Burns and Brendan and James Cook, we will have five kids in a beach house next year (yikes!). On October 12th Kat and I celebrated our 5th (!!) Anniversary in Nevis, West Indies, with our dear friends Ashley and Jim Ford, who we met on our Honeymoon in Nevis 'lo these many years ago. We golfed everyday, went to the beach everyday, ate too much, drank too much (especially Ashley) and generally had so much fun they finally had to ask us to leave the resort (not really, but man did we have fun!)
Well, that's all the time I have, you've been a great audience. We hope and pray this letter finds you all safe and healthy and happy. Happy Holidays and a wonderful 2002!
If you have received this in error, please disregard.
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