Year of Plenty
The year began with a new job at HP. This time, I was a contractor working with the HP/Compaq merger folks and learning first hand about large-scale change management. We sold her house and moved just south of San Francisco into an apartment. I bought a used car to commute along the world's most beautiful highway. Meredith took the train each day and we had many adventures then in the Sierras and Los Angeles. That Spring, Meredith was invited to attend a seminar on cell biology in Kyoto, Japan. I joined her for a week of warm weather, cherry blossoms, and serene temple walks. We came back quite changed and dedicated to the Japanese aesthetic of minimalism. A long weekend in Telluride, CO for the Bluegrass Festival changed that and we were back to our hippie American selves soon enough. That summer my family and I took a cruise through Alaska - I highly recommend this - in August. For Labor Day, Meredith and I attended a posh wedding in DC and I showed off Swarthmore to her in a brief visit.
Last fall, we completed our search for a house in San Francisco. Beaming with pride for Meredith in all of her efforts to close on this perfect house with 3 bedrooms, a backyard, fireplace, shed, attic, and hardwood floors on a quiet, residential street, I saved up and bought her a diamond. A friend of her family shaped a ring for her and I brought it down to LA for Thanksgiving. The day before holiday, I brought her down to the cove where my brother and I visited during our first time in California. He was surfing within sight as I proposed to her and just then the clouds broke open and the tide came in. She said yes, and we have had enormous fun telling everyone since then!
Read on at domnmer.net!