Wiant Family Christmas Letter 2012

Dear all,

Merry Christmas! We wish you all a peaceful holiday season and good health in the New Year. We’d like to take this opportunity to reflect upon the past year noting a few of the activities, stories and anecdotes. We are thankful for a wonderful 2012 and look forward to the next year.

Reflection:

Susanne and I continue to work and live as a team raising our three wonderful children and one and a half careers. I started the new year by dislocating my left shoulder in a ski crash in Vail, Colorado.  (If you have never done this, try to avoid it as it hurts like hell.)  I was on the backside of the mountain on the first run of my trip and skied back over and made it to the Steadman Clinic in Vail Village roughly two hours after the incident.  By this point my shock had warn off and I really enjoyed the modern technology of sweating in pain filling in my medical history and credit card information on the iPad in the waiting room.  The doctor was really nice and appealed to my male ego trying to get a now blocked shoulder back into the socket without pain medication or anesthesia.  I have witnessed five live child births including three of my own and imagined that my face looked a lot like Susanne’s during a major contraction.  The mantra of “we only need to get a couple of centimeters more” even sounded familiar.  I gave up after what felt like four hours but more likely fifteen minutes - we even changed positions several times.  When they answered my inquiry about the warm water immersion shoulder insertion technique with a negative I asked for some serious drugs. (Susanne edit: Reference to water birth/Isabella)  A short while later, after full anesthesia, my shoulder was back in place and I wobbled back to the hotel and our USA sales meeting.  Nice way to start the new year and par for my course.

Things brightened up after the incident and I took a careful 4 weeks off prior to getting back into the swing of things and so far have avoided surgery.  Curiously, my doctor told me that after 35 the likelihood of a repeated dislocation is much lower than for younger males.  There may be a silver lining to getting old after all.

I am still working for Marker Voelkl International. While the past years I was involved with significant distribution changes which led to frequent summer travels, I was home more often this summer than in recent years.  By nature a busy body, this additional time in Garmisch included several large household projects: (1) my own wood working shop under the deck extension;  and (2) a rough post and beam framed outdoor seating area and lengthening of the deck to accommodate the new structure.  Both projects ended in various states of incompletion when the ski season and travel scheduled picked up again in November but will likely still be there next spring when I have time to continue.  The wood shop fulfills a bit of a dream for me and I was able to invest in some wonderful basic cornerstone tools such as a format table saw, bandsaw, drill press and planer/jointer combination tool. After filling the space with tools and work bench I barely have room to move around in the shop and so far it is not heated but we are certainly speaking about a man cave of the first degree.  Thanks honey;-)

I have built out the shop interior and exterior and built up the deck extension. We purchased some old lead-paned windows and the space is beautiful. Susanne’s list of fine furniture is growing but I (3) secretly moved on to lay a new wood floor and renovate our rec room in the basement instead of getting to her wish list.  I started this project when Susanne was still in the USA with the kids this summer and now need to finish it before I have room to take on the big honey dos like the 3.5 meter long built-in planned for the upstairs hallway. Wish me luck.

The ‘chill out deck corner’ (covered portion of the deck) started in July when my dad was visiting.  We dug the foundations and poured the new footings together, careful to learn from the hired hand we had on the main deck extension who, in the need for speed, followed a 75 KG wheelbarrow full of mixed concrete over the edge of the deck two meters down into one of the footing forms resulting in a broken arm and several facial lacerations. Needless to say dad and I were careful - given our combined 115 years of wisdom and Darwin experiences. The reason for dad’s trip was to join the Tour de France for a week together. Like any visitor - and if the readers of this letter exchange notes I am sure all will confirm - if you visit us you may have a great time and see a unique and beautiful corner of the earth, but you will either be roped into one of our projects or taken on a death defying experience - known in three counties as a Wiant Family Adventure. In any case dad and I were apparently the only ones at the Tour not on EPO or having regularly performed blood transfusions hiding in our motorhome between stages.  Our pace up the Col de la Croix de Fer may have not broken any records or been met with international jubilee but we were clean, squeaky clean. We had a great time, perfect weather and a great experience.  Being part of the motor home Tour de France culture with all the different countries and languages made for a terrific time.  Dad, again in five years?

My mom came for Easter and I think she is now recovering the feeling in her arms. She volunteered (or was she coerced?) to help me tile the workshop floor.  Due to the tool delivery schedule we had a total of 48 hours to complete the task.  Susanne had the tough role of keeping us fed and coffied up (mom had tea with foam). Sorry mom, at least we did not lead you into a dangerous experience with a bad tempered jackass or along a tightrope trail with 200 meters of exposure. In case you are wondering there are plenty of projects and plenty of adventures so please include a visit in your travel plans!

Now to the love of my life: Susanne

Susanne is the proud ¼ owner of a traveling trophy consisting of a wood, hand carved, middle of the night completed sculpture with four breasts and a schnaps filled glass bicycle. What will they think of next at the SIS (Sleepless-in-the-Saddle) annual sundown to sunup bicycle race? Susanne’s women’s team won the race and the coveted trophy - I still do not know why we ended up with it, other than it does kind of match the clay book end Moby Dick we inherited with the house - and bragging rights for the most laps without a lap dance.  Susanne has taken on more responsibilities at the school where she supports the teachers and administration with their computers.  She took and passed the Windows 7 Desktop certification exam to qualify for filling in at the Marshall Center as well, both of which has resulted in more hours, but fewer apple cakes.  She is still managing to chauffer the kids to all their activities and keep the household and papa bear fed. She has found a new favorite Voelkl ski, Aura, and went “powdering” with a few girlfriends this morning. She also rallied the whole family to bring us to California to celebrate Willi and Sibylle’s Golden Wedding Anniversary this summer. We had a great time…when we weren’t cleaning out the 1/3 of the garage of the items we left there when we said we’re only going to Germany for 1-3 years. we don’t need that now. We were also able to see France, Mark, Enzo and my mom in Pasadena.

 Susanne & I had a wonderful three days in Istanbul in September while  the kids were still under the loving care of Willi and Sibylle, and the Aunties and Cousins in California.  This is the 3^rd time since Andreas’s birth when we got away for more than one night alone and we enjoyed a wonderful time in a beautiful city together. After Susanne talked me into the Turkish Bath experience (Hamam) I can only say the first time may be the last.  We were pretty late at night arriving at one of Istanbul’s oldest bath houses.  As per tradition Susanne and I said goodbye at the door and went to our separate gender changing areas.  After putting on my linen loincloth thing, I was led into a ancient round domed room with a sloping warm stone in the middle and arched side chambers.  My attendant - dressed like me - told me to warm up on the huge center warm stone and went into one of the side chambers to prepare my olive oil bubble bath mixture.  Call me an amateur, but the description in the guidebook suggested relaxation and inner peace, community and regeneration.  If you ever go to one of these things, remember to keep your mouth and eyes shut, try to have your head facing down the slope of the warming stone and not toward the almost indistinguishably higher center. Without so much as a warning or grunt my attendant/punisher poured a bucket of densely foaming olive soap water over my head - into my mouth and open eyes and begin to scrub off the last ten years of sin and skin. As the bubbles formed a virtual blockade of soapy air around my mouth, I had to try to hold my breath for the five minute procedure. To tough to give in, stupid American that I am, I mastered the technique of forceful exhales and short inhales using my teeth as a filter for the dense soap bubbles.  Needless to say my eyes burned for the remainder of the vacation. 

My only solace was that Susanne’s experience was only slightly better in that during the traditional soap scrub she had the additional soothing experience of her topless attendant’s ample and gravitationally challenged bosom following every scrub stroke with a gentle caress.  I hope my description does not discourage you from visiting Turkey and going for a Turkish Bath. I only want to give you an accurate description to allow you to prepare properly - call it a Christmas Gift if you would like.

Speaking of ample bosoms, I mean children: Andreas (12) had a great year in BMX, returning from a relaxing time in California where he had the chance to ride on the famous Orange BMX track during open track night, culminating in winning the highest honors and points total for all age groups in Southern Bayern in the non-licensed class.  Susanne and I accompanied Andreas to the awards banquet where the top young athletes in Southern Bayern were honored.  Although he does not want to admit his talent he also took 4^th in the final club ski race at the end of last season beating several boys that were in the premier group.  On top of his athletics, Andreas is excelling in Minecraft (a computer game), which started as a minor hobby and is now a passion requiring parental limitation and controls.  I hope that this game playing can lead to a career as game developer because it is capturing more attention than his 7^th grade schoolwork. The teachers all love Andreas and most parents with older boys all indicate a certain “phase” where school grades and concentration suffer. We will see how long it last.  We have also witnessed a bit of dating starting but we are not aloud to speak of this with Andreas so please keep quiet. Facebook and Skype chat are also hobbies of Andreas’.

Charlotte (11): Playing the guitar, sneaking moments to experiment with make-up, distracted but strong student, and charming young lady, also picked up BMX and looks forward to next season when she does not have to compete in the mixed class 2000/2001 which unfortunately included her brother.  Charlotte is a strong skier and will be skiing in ski club 2-3 days a week this winter.  Charlotte is very social with a busy calendar. We fulfilled her birthday wish by moving her downstairs into her own bedroom and splitting up Isabella and Charlotte after 8 years of sharing. 

Isabella (8): Spunky, headstrong, athletic, bright, charming, artistic and still daddy’s little girl. Isabella is in the second grade and learning and growing daily.  Following in Charlotte’s footsteps Bella also started to BMX this year and regularly beats some boys at the races.  Bella is in the same ski club as Charlotte, she also plays tennis and recently finished a pottery class.  She is the champion of her posse of local boys and loves to play outside. She is also very capable of spending creative time alone with art work or destroying her room.

Lago: Still chunky and loving it. Lago seemed to loose a few grams in the summer, but is now back up to his winter insulation weight. He never spends more than five minutes outside in the winter so I think this weight gain is only a defensive reaction to a fear of being left out.  He can grow pinkie size dreadlocks on his back which we are researching if we can sell them to Jamaica and is as communicative as ever letting us know with meows and swats what he needs and the urgency of such needs.

 Giving Thanks: We are extremely lucky and grateful to have three beautiful healthy kids, fourteen years of happy and loving marriage and the ability to live and enjoy a beautiful and abundant environment. Susanne and I make an effort to reflect upon all that we have with regularity.  Thank all of you who receive this letter for being part of our lives.

Looking Forward: I will be taking one week vacation at Christmas and look forward to enjoying the early and heavy snowfalls we have had . We already have  a few plans for 2013.  I will move my job back to Germany, liquidating my small apartment in Switzerland and reducing my offices by 33%.  In May we will go to Gargano, Italy again for our spring vacation. This year we plan to spend a few days in Rome on our way to mix in a bit of culture in advance of lazy days on the beach and biking in the Italian mountains.  This August we plan on testing Andreas’ French skills on the Atlantic Coast of France for a wave surfing trip with another family.  We would like to finish up some of our projects around the homestead and comb out Lago’s winter dreads.  We are also starting to look for a local real estate investment because we do not have enough going on already.  We hope to be able to include seeing you in our plans or at least hearing from you all.

With love,

The Wiants