Our first year of retirement is behind us and it hasn’t been bad at all.  We have had lots of travel, visits from friends and family, and a deeper involvement in our church.  I even preach every few months.  As I write this, Thanksgiving was yesterday (many Triehys joined us in Boothbay) and our Christmas decorating will soon follow.

Celeste and I love the winter here but we soon found out warm weather is nice, too.  In February we flew out to visit Josiah’s in-laws in Lake Havasu, Arizona.  It is a fascinating town, complete with the original London Bridge, and the Riedels entertained us to a full-fledged play with two of them starring in “Annie Get Your Gun.”  On our way back Celeste and I spent a day walking up and down the Las Vegas Strip.  We enjoyed the architecture and gambled nothing at all.

In April we took off again, this time with our RV.  We did Myrtle Beach and then visited the Wetzels in Jacksonville, Florida.  After dropping in on my step-mother Mary Ann we walked the tremendous beach at Caladesi Island and drove back north, stopped at my brother Jeb’s house.  It was all a nice break from the snow and probably something we will do most winters.  We are “Mainiacs” only up to a point.

In May we helped Dan and Kara move their family to Dover, New Hampshire.  This means three of our grandkids are only two hours away!  Celeste is making the most of the closeness and currently is babysitting Sarah’s little Hunter every Tuesday.  Sarah continues to teach, and Dan is a traveling nurse who is currently a Code Blue specialist at Tuffs Hospital in Boston.

We also have two new grandchildren.  Rebecca has become a foster mom and is on her second set of siblings.  She sends us pictures just about every day.  They are three years old and under.  Lots of work and many challenges as a single mom, but she loves it.  We will get to see them, and Josiah, at Christmas.

Josiah and Julia continue to be busy in Colorado.  Josiah has been to Sweden and Banff Park recently and has been a hit at travel industry conferences.  Many professionals admire his work, as do we, of course.

Our summer was filled with friends and lobster dinners.  Celeste’s brother Sean made us a big iron pot and I am slowly getting the knack for cooking lobster right – they no longer come out green and moving.  I make sure those suckers are DEAD.  And Celeste complements each pot with clams from our own cove.  Weston loves to eat them but doesn’t care to dig for them.  He says that is “women’s work.”

When you are a preacher, you never retire completely.  In July we were roped into doing Vacation Bible School at Boothbay Baptist.  I did the recreation time and ran around in the heat.  This autumn, Celeste volunteered us to lead the high school youth group.  One of her first outings was an all-nighter rally with hundreds of other teens in Portland.  This is a woman who never has enough to do…

In August we both flew to Cleveland to attend a Heidelberg High School reunion.  We were from different graduation years but all had common experiences.  Cleveland has a lot of Germans and beer halls.  The city is far cooler than either of us expected with lots of Art Deco architecture.

At the end of August we did our big summer adventure – canoeing 90 miles in the Allagash Wilderness in the Maine North Woods.  No internet, no cell service, and hardly any people.  Our backyard kayaking had put our arms in good shape but we still slept 10 to 12 hours every night.  Very beautiful but challenging as well since we were always trying to avoid hitting rocks.

Like every Christmas we will have a REAL tree – this one will be from our very own backyard.  Celeste’s big gift will be a new hot tub on the deck.  I have everything I need, at least materially.  As I dig into the rabbit hole of genealogy (and composed a special book for our grandkids), I can see God’s hand moving through all our generations.  I don’t know where He will lead us next, but we can trust it will be good!

Love,
David & Celeste