Dear Family and Friends,


I spent time re-reading our letter from last year, the final sentence read, “May your 2015 be a year for richer relationships.” I can honestly say that we have had a chance to deepen relationships in this past year and hope you have too. 2015 also ushered in some major changes to our lives, the first, and the biggest, is that Sean and I are now the guardians to Russell Fleming. Adding a 16 year old has offered up some challenges in the logistics department, but making him a member of the family has
been enriching and certainly increased the love in the home. I’m not sure if you remember, but last December I wrote of the loss of Mayland’s cousin (Tasha to Leukemia) in Dec.; in a few short weeks Russell’s Dad went to the ER due to back pain that had been managed for years, but suddenly was crippling. The diagnosis was Multiple Myeloma – advanced. Dave left this earth to join his beloved Tasha in May. His two children, Serena, adult child with a son and Russell, just turned 16, were left with a huge void in their lives and hearts. Russell is a fabulous, enthusiastic, joyous and effervescent young man. It is exciting to help him travel the road into adulthood. He came to live with us in August, started school at the local DoD High School (American) in the 10th grade. He definitely feels that living in Germany has opened up opportunities to explore the world more and he loves the food here, the major downside is that he can’t get the driver’s license, but neither can any of the other kids in his school.
The other news, we will be staying in Germany through July 2019; yes, Sean got the extension. So, if you have been thinking about a European vacation, there is still time.
What did the year look like?
January saw Sean return to the states for a medical conference, of which he actually attended only a few sessions due to having the flu; so why do I tell you this, because he did manage to recover enough to stop in Delaware for a short visit with his best friend’s mother, Mrs. Johansson, who passed shortly thereafter. It is always best to see the person here on earth and know that loving words have been spoken then to wish we had made time. After Sean returned home, we committed to carving out some weekends together, just the two of us; this year we managed 3; Paris in Feb., Budapest in Sept and Colmar, France in Nov. (yup, same weekend as the shootings in Paris). February was an exciting time for Clark as his class took a trip to the
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| Berlin Wall |
Austrian Alps for a week of skiing, yes, the teachers went and no parents needed. I love a school where skiing is part of the curriculum.
March brought spring break and we made our way to Berlin and then Portugal (Lisbon and Porto). Upon our return home, we were asked if we could watch a couple of dogs for a newly PCS’d nurse, who would be

Family 2: Berlin Wall (March)

Family 3: Lisbon (March)

Family 4: Sintra, Portugal
working at LRMC. Of course we said yes, love dogs, Tatzie needs a friend; what could go wrong? Oh, boy, turns out we said yes to 2 fully in tact female escape artists. Within 24 hours of their arrival the 10-year-old momma mated while her 5 year old daughter found every weakness in our fence. The next 70 days we spent shoring up the fence to only find a new hole, but the topper was taking momma to the Vet trying to save the puppies, alas, she was too old and the puppies didn’t make it. In May, Mayland returned to Denver to say goodbye to Dave and to help Serena and Russell start to put their lives together. She found that there was amazing love and support in Kenny and Carol Lang, Carol is Dave’s sister. Truly a wonderful couple that we are thrilled to have as part of our lives now. Upon return we made a short trip Belgium and explored the lesser-known places. June was supposed to be uneventful; however, our dear friend Sven was driving Sean’s Alpha Romeo (dream car and
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| Lisbon Portugal |
owned for 1 year) through town when a lady decided that the yield sign didn’t apply to her and she side swiped him totaling the car. Fortunately, the car was well enough made and had lots of airbags that deployed, so while Sven suffered a jolt, there were no lasting injuries. July brought a wonderful gift, Mayland’s cousin Cindy with her family (Steve, Andrew and David). We all traveled to Paris together and the kids had a great time remembering why cousins make the very best friends. Andrew was particularly taken with Germany since he was able to order beer and wine, he learned about how they go with foods and not about being sloppy. Yeah! Sean and the kids returned to work and school, while Mayland traveled on to Normandy and finally got to see the Bayeux Tapestry, this is truly remarkable and something everyone should do. We also took a tour of the beaches and spent time at the WWII museum in Caen, France (another must do!). Despite many potential issues with traffic, Mayland had the backup plan (train) and we made it home right on time. Of course, no trip is complete here without a stop in Trier, why you ask?
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| Sintra Portugal |
Well come visit and you’ll find out.




August was crazy – Clark and MJ finished with school, Clark took off for the French Riviera and tennis camp; MJ and Mayland took trips to the US, MJ got a quick visit in with Grandma in NJ and saw cousins, Mayland made her way to Denver and the court, in the meantime Sean prepared for his 2 week tour in Korea. Tod, Mayland’s friend from Westtown, did manage to pin her down for a wonderful, but too short, visit just days after Patty (Russell’s aunt) and Russell had arrived in country. During the traveling activities, the practical things like putting in a new bathroom, rearranging the house (boys bedroom is in the basement) – did I mention it is like Oscar and Felix down there? Tennis lessons, hosting residents and medical students, volunteer activities at the hospital, singing on
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| Russell in his AF JROTC |
the praise team at chapel, hosting our dear friends the Smiths (resident with Sean back in the day) and their wonderful family while they transitioned to life here in Germany and taking care of the totaled Alpha Romeo Spider were also fit into the schedule. Mayland fit in two trips in Sept. the one to Budapest with Sean and then another to Chartres France with Patty (Russell’s Aunt) and Paris. Sean and Mayland decided that the whole family needed a get-away and so the first weekend in November we jetted to London for the Jet’s game. There seems to be something about London and Mayland that just don’t connect. While it is a great city, things just don’t go well, for example – pre-purchased those Jet v Dolphin’s tickets and had them shipped to the house only to forget them at the house. Yeah, you read that right, tickets forgotten. We even had our neighbor go and take photos to prove we had them, no dice. The second set of tickets was less expensive and better seats, but still, argh! Mindy and Sven came with us, and the girls ditched the game in favor of London theatre. We all enjoyed “Gypsy” and the girls also fit in “Matilda The Musical” while the guys went to the game.
The end of October was fall break for Clark and MJ and so they took off with Sean to DisneyWorld to meet with the Reilly family, while Mayland stayed with Russell before heading the World Gymnastics Championship in Glasgow
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| Patty & Mayland in Chartres |
Scotland with Mindy. We had a great time seeing the new gymnasts and Mayland had a chance to introduce Mindy to some old friends like Fred Turoff and Abie Grossfeld; the irony was that Mindy found out that her Uncle Joe Kotys who liked gymnastics was on the Olympic team with Abie in 1956. I knew there was a good reason to bring her. Our final guests were the McCarver’s, good friends from a few years back (and who better return soon) and then Sean and I had our get-away in Colmar. December has been busy as always with Mayland’s birthday starting off the season, and another Holiday Ball, followed by MJ turning 12 with her friends at LaserTag. Serena, Adam and Cameron will fly in this weekend, and then


Sean will turn 43 before we get on the train to visit Prague for Christmas and Vienna for New Years.
There is so much more that happened, but those are definitely the highlights. Hope you enjoy the pictures here too.
We miss our friends and family in the states very much. Please, please, consider a trip to Germany. It is a beautiful country and we are starting to actually know our way around.
May the peace of the season be manifested in our lives and each day be lived in the moment because when we wait until tomorrow we miss the most special thing about today – being here, being together and having an opportunity to make a connection – forge relationships.
Thank you for being in relationship with our family.
Love, Peace and Happiness,
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| Farthest point to the West in Europe |
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| Tatzie in her element |
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| Budapest |
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| Porto Portugal |
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| Lisbon |
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| Daddy and Tatzie |
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