Two years!
Today is our second anniversary. Two years ago today we were rushing around preparing for our honeymoon in France and Italy, worried about how our parents would react to the news. Needless to say, all turned out well. In the two years since, Sarah has completed her Master's and is now working on her PhD, we bought a house, I was awarded a Queen's Staff Appreciation Award, my sister married and is once again taking courses, and my parents have moved around the corner from us. Not bad for 24 months.
Just last week, Sarah and I passed the one-year mark in our home. Things have been going very well for us. Work's been good, the house has been fun, our friends are doing well in their careers, even my meager abilities as a bass player have been improving. The fourth annual School of Computing Mini Concert takes place this week. I'll be on stage playing for the first time in my life. Here's hoping that goes well.
One big piece of news from the extended Hall/Whittaker/Sicard family is that Sarah's mom, Pauline, is finally going to retire. She's been talking about this almost since I joined the family, so it's great to see her finally getting ready to make the move. The neatest thing about this is that it comes just after she was invited as a guest speaker at an international conference at Oxford. She went there this past March with her sister where, between partying and sightseeing, she managed to swing a top-notch presentation on Early Childhood Education before chairing a discussion on the topic. What an honour. Sarah and I are both extremely proud of her and wish that we could have been there to see it.
For the first time in many years, things look to be going at a more steady pace. Sarah's still early in her PhD, my work is under control, my parents aren't moving in the foreseeable future and my sister and brother-in-law don't have any big announcements that we're aware of. We're hopefully all settling into a nice routine, It's been a heck of a couple of years. I find it hard to believe that we're already nearly half way through 2006. Time does fly when you're having fun.
As always, thanks for reading.