December again! How the time flies. We hope that 1999 has been as great a year for you as it has been for us. Merry Christmas and the very best holidays ever.

The change in Sylvia’s and my relationship from long distance romance to partners and fiancée/fiancé has been exciting. Sylvia put her house in Cheltenham up for sale on Easter weekend and had a buyer just a few weeks later. By the end of July, all was settled including quitting her long-term professional association with Gloucestershire social services. That was only slightly less traumatic than moving in with me in the “bachelor” pad. Four months later, we pretty much have the furniture moved, the closet space allotted, the washday set and all this with no bloody noses or black eyes. Sylvia will probably not go back to full time social work, but will opt for something a little less demanding and not so many hours. The most exciting news is that we have set a wedding date – 13 May 2000.

Although work has been extremely busy the past few months, we found time for a couple of lovely vacations. In late February, we went to Cyprus for a week. Although we had wanted to rent motor scooters again, we end up with a small 4-WD that proved to be a lot better because of the bad roads and rainy weather. The accommodation was outstanding and made the holiday. In May I took three weeks of vacation to go back to Japan. I went on my own (at Sylvia’s insistence) and was able to put all the history and memories of my 12 years in Japan into a proper perspective. Although there were many changes in Japan, today’s contrast between the old and the new was even more striking than when I lived there. The extreme hospitality shown to me by everyone I met was even more overwhelming. In early September, we took our annual trip back to the States to see Mother. We were also able to make the time to join high school friends for a reunion and to meet Al and Sheila in Iowa. Was a good trip! For Thanksgiving we went on a short, but very relaxing trip to Bruges with our good friends Irene and Les.

Mother is doing pretty well for her 88 years, but has had to move from her own apartment to a home where she can get more help. Fortunately two of my sisters live near by and do very well providing the other supports she needs. They and the rest of my family are doing well. Sylvia’s parent are also doing very well as are her son and daughter in law in Cheltenham. We are all anxiously waiting to become grandparents. They’ll all spent Christmas with us in Harrogate.

So that wraps up another very satisfying year with the Argetsingers in England. With the wedding next year, we expect the new millennium to start with a bang. Just to avoid 2001 being anticlimactic, we anticipate trying retirement. We are currently house hunting via the Internet for somewhere near the Ozarks.