Catching up on ten years of Christmas letters

2000 Petra and Rob meet, and have no idea yet that it will be permanent

2001 That’s a big box my friend

After selling most of their possessions, Rob and Petra still have a great big box to send over to Germany, and oddly enough, most of the contents are still there. You only voluntarily move a box like that once, even if it is really somebody else doing the moving for you. While the box is en route, they spend some time working and living in the Philippines. They check that one off the list.


2002 Still stone cold Sausage trippin’

At this point, Petra has been working at the bank, not as a banker, but in the very impressive sounding “Direktionsassistentin Neue Medien” position, aka, “internet guru,” and Rob is still teaching English and drumming up translation work. This picture sums up everything about the Germany years, taken during a very special time in Petra's local town: Fasnet!


2003 Let’s get married, and get the hell out of here

To start the year off right, our protagonists decide to throw the mother of all weddings. It is not particularly big, and it is certainly not expensive, but there seems to be a sort of synergy here. The party goes on until some people need to be willed out of the building, and it is just getting light as the newly-married couple gets across the street to their room. Mind your own damned business about the rest! The party is such a success that many people don’t even remember much of it.

Later in the year, the two decide to move back to the states. Rob does not leave Germany easily, but has to be coaxed into the idea slowly. Many good meals with even better drinks have dulled his ability to recognize shitty weather, and he is convinced that the local U-18 soccer team cannot survive (they do) without his superior conditioning program. The kids return to the states, and Petra gets a job working in the Devil’s lair (she quits promptly), and Rob takes a job as the Devil himself (he sells cars for Saab of South Bay).

2004 College bound, and Petra gets her career into gear!

Petra starts 2004 right by finally getting her break in advertising. Three-martini lunches (for her boss) and afternoon golf games (also for her boss) are par for the course, but she has finally found her calling in internet marketing and advertising. Rob feels so dirty when he comes home every day –selling cars just comes a little too easily- that he stops selling cars and his soul, and decides to get edumacated. UCLA is his goal, and he starts by attending the old LA standby, Santa Monica College.


2005 Still Schooling and working

Petra continues to do good work, and her clients at Isuzu are very happy, but her clients at Nutro are just a little too evil. Rob decides to split his energy between working construction, going to UCLA and writing insulting Haikus about the mean ladies at Nutro. His work is never published, but it does interfere with more urgent pursuits. Rob and Petra see the sunrise at the Grand Canyon, but not even this majestic sight can drive the eerie sound that is the mating elk’s cry out of Rob’s head. He imitates it to this day Mwwroooooooooooooo, ungk, ungk, ungk, ungk! In a way, Petra still hears the sound, too.



2006 First marathon and Rob graduates from college

While hiking in the Grand Canyon, Rob is impressed by Petra’s general ability to kick his flabby ass at everything, so he challenges her to fight to the death! Well, he at least decides to start running like Petra does, in the hope that he can someday keep up. They run a marathon, and by they, I mean that they both start together, but one finishes way ahead of the other. Hey, at least she beat Rob’s buddy, the Navy Seal, too. By September, Rob graduates college, and after a short stint in grad school, the kids decide it’s time to blow this joint.


2007 Why weren’t we in Denver the whole time?

Petra’s bosses decide that leaving the state is no reason to make her find a new job, so while Rob is once again in a new position, Petra stays on, as stable as her husband is unstable. At some point in the year, though, Petra decides to up the game, and gets a job on the client side of the house. Her new job allows her to see the other side of the vendor/client relationship. She likes it. Rob becomes a financial advisor, and spends the year making cold calls, at least 200 dials a day, and getting out and pressing flesh (that always sounds so dirty!). He does well, and the year flies by. Weight settles around his middle, but both he and Petra are too busy to notice. They buy a cute little condo, and settle in like ticks.


2008 Let’s start taking this skiing thing seriously

This year is about skiing. During the 07/08 season the kids are in the mountains every chance they get. The snow is magical, and they both develop mad skills. This attacks the weight settlement around Bobby’s middle, even if the activity does involve copious amounts of beer and bloody marys. Petra gets a blank stare on her face whenever she thinks of snow, and there is little that can keep her from the mountains. 2008 passes as if it is a dream, and the young lovers enjoy their new home.


2009 Rob’s crazy bone takes over again, Petra decides to indulge it

The two decide that Rob’s job is sucking their will to live (well, those might be Rob’s words, really), and at the end of ’08 he resigns. They spend a few weeks in Germany thinking about what to do next (Petra is, of course, still at the same company: How does she do this?) and the beginning of a plan begins to take shape. While eating dinner with good friends, one a recently-retired Army Green Beret, said dude asks if Rob has considered going back into the military on the medical side. Petra grills him for well over an hour, and at the end of her questioning, she makes a decision. Later that night, she informs Rob that it is acceptable to her if he wants to consider the military again. What Rob had hinted at for years, only to be answered with disapproving grunts, one grand inquisition with a third party settles. Poor guy, but he holds his own, and obviously gives some good answers. They spend the rest of 2009 with a few important goals: 1. Research medical programs, including military options - with one find that seems too good to be true. 2. Work out like fiends - Rob gets deep into Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu while Petra gets deep into her mind and the universe, and completes a yoga teacher training program. 3. Figure out what to do with those months between being accepted into a program, potentially getting in the Army, and the day Rob starts. They work toward the first two, while planning for the third.


2010 Are we Europeans, or are we Texans?

2010 is a year for change, and the New Year delivers our heroes good things. Both spend much time in the pain factory (D-Town) where pull ups, Olympic lifting and spending time upside down are the norm. Rob gets into the Army Baylor Physical Therapy program, and will therefore get paid to go to PT school, and Petra’s bosses decide that she should continue working for them from wherever we move. “One more thing, real quick,” says Petra. “Yeeeessss,” replies her boss? I need three months off to hike in the Alps and visit family and friends, then I can get started again. “Uhhhhhhhh……” The okay from the bosses comes a little later, and the two are now able to plan a long hike through Italy, Germany, Austria and a little bit of Switzerland. They do it, and it is grand. They weep at the idea of the trip coming to an end, but there is so much excitement afoot. Change! Texas is the destination, and they arrive in San Antonio, Rob goes to Army Officer Basic, and they settle in slowly but surely. They know better than to get too comfortable there, though. They have a yard, get a dog, and wonder where the year, years that is, have gone. They are, as always, supremely happy, and very thankful for everything and everyone involved.

Europeans?

Or Texans?

The new yard.

The new dog.

And now - onto 2011 - may it be healthy, happy and successful, and merry Christmas to all of you!