End-of-the-year letter

This is the end-of-year letter that Melissa and I will be sending along to family and friends in the next week or two. We're including it in the packaging that goes with my third year-end mix CD. I'll blog about that tomorrow. For now, posting this letter seemed like a good way to sum up the year we had so that we can concentrate on the year ahead.

I started by making a comment about our growing family...

What's that? A family, you say? That's right, on September 1st, Melissa took a home pregnancy test and it came up positive! On October 2nd we heard the baby's heartbeat for the first time and on December 11th we found out that we're having a boy. The little, so far unnamed, bundle of joy is expected on April 28th. Both Melissa and I are super excited about this turn of events. We decided just late last year to start trying for a baby and weren't sure how long it would take for it to happen (honestly, I'm still unclear on how it all works), but we're happy that it did happen so soon. Now we have a few months of getting the house ready for a baby to look forward to.

In other, somewhat chronological news, Melissa and I traveled together to Europe this Spring. Our friends Beth and Kevin Cahill were living in France for a year (Kevin is a high school teacher and received a Fulbright Fellowship to teach there) and we went to visit them at the same time as friends Jerry and Tanya. All of us stayed with Beth and Kevin and their kids Colm and Tess in the small coastal village of Lege. We also all took a three day trip together in a rented van through Dordogne valley where we saw castles, prehistoric cave drawings, and lots of vineyards. While Melissa is a fairly experienced traveller, it was my first time off the continent, and I think I've caught the travel bug.

Melissa was given a promotion at the Statesman Journal in May. In addition to overseeing the customer service staff, she is now also producing content for the SJ's web site. Despite some very long hours, Melissa is loving her new duties.

In July, I found out that big-deal publishing house Simon & Schuster wants to repackage and republish the first 100 Girls story arc by me and my partner, Todd Demong. I don't know about Todd, but I danced around and screamed like a happy little girl when I got the news. You'll be able to find the book on store shelves starting in June.

August found us in La Grande where we attended Melissa's 20th high school reunion. This was a lot like the film Grosse Pointe Blank only minus John Cusack or anything remotely fun. I kid. It was a good time and a lot like a sociology experiment from my view point since I knew only a couple of Melissa's classmates and got to observe her in an environment completely alien to me. Conclusion: I'm sure that I would have liked Melissa if we'd gone to school together, but I don't think she'd have liked me.

October was a big month for me. My book, Gear School, came out from Dark Horse Comics. I wrote the script for this book last year right before Melissa and I were married and I've been waiting ever since to see it in print. It's a big relief to finally be able to hold it in my hands. Also in October, I was involved in my very first car crash! Someone turned left in front of me and I clipped the back of their car. I say “someone” because I have no clue who they were as they fled the scene. Good times. The upshot is that the car I was driving is totaled and Melissa and I are now in the market for a new car. Thankfully we'd been borrowing Melissa's mom's truck at the time so we've had something to drive since the accident. I was fine, by the way.

Melissa and I once again spent Thanksgiving at the Oregon coast with her dad, aunt and uncle, grandpa, brother and sister-in-law and a whole passel of cousins and nieces and nephews. This was the second year for this gathering and I hope the tradition continues. The weather at the coast was unseasonably warm nearly every day we were there. On that Saturday I was actually walking around town in just my shirt sleeves. Compare this to the weekend after Thanksgiving when the coast experienced hurricane force winds and so much rain that several highways were closed due to flooding.

Throughout the year we continued to be the social animals that we've been in the past. We travel often to Portland to visit friends and family, and to see plays. We also try to see lots of music in Salem as well as participate in several clubs: House Club (where members gather to help each other with house projects and eat potluck lunches); Talking Pictures (where members gather to watch movies and eat potluck dinners); and Melissa is involved in her book club and in directing the cable access movie review show, Reel Film Snobs (now in its fifth year). We understand that all of these activities may have to be curtailed once the Sprout makes his appearance.

All in all, it's been a good, maybe a magical year for the both of us. It was the first full year Melissa and I spent as a married couple, and we discovered that we're adding onto that little unit. The outpouring of love that announcement garnered has left both of us stunned and grateful.

We hope that your past year has also been a good one, and that you have a good year ahead.

All our best,
Adam and Melissa