2005

Well, a year that was really two tales. The first half was great – visits from friends we hadn’t seen in years (like Thom Hardy and his wife Mabvuto) – a great trip to Jamaica, where we had worked, met, and gotten married (our first trip back in 25 years, the introduction to Jamaica for our two sons, seeing people like Denis Hendricks and his family in Mandeville) – good school results for the boys.

And then I get this crazy Nephrotic Syndrome in July, end up in the hospital, and find out I’m have to go from “watchful waiting” with my lymphoma to aggressive chemotherapy.

But the terrible blow – not a shock or a surprise really, but terrible nevertheless – was my brother Paul’s sudden death at the end of September. After 40 plus years of really heroic struggle with congenital kidney disease and juvenile diabetes. He was and is a great example for the rest of us. For more on my brother, here’s the best I could do – Tom Faranda’s Folly: Paul Faranda, 1958-2005

But “Hope Springs Eternal.” Paul’s probably sitting on his cloud strumming his harp and laughing at us all right now.  And there’s a good chance that in a couple of months my lymphoma issue will be behind me, at least for a few years.

And Joe and Tim are flourishing, and Brigid is doing well. So every reason to think that 2006 will be a great year. We will work like demons on the issues we think are important, have a good business year, see our friends, and have "a few beers, a few laughs, and nobody gets hurt.”