Yup! Another move, another city, another job. Not at all what we imagined at the start of the year but we have learned to take it in our stride. And besides, whatever else happened in 2016, nothing, and we mean nothing, could detract from the wonder and joy of the safe arrival of Gabriella Frances in May. More to come on that, so settle back for a read of the Duke 2016 Christmas Travelogue.

     Christmas in Upper St Clair was fun but cold, so we set ourselves a target (under the over plan to go somewhere new as a family at least 3 times a years) to visit San Diego. Okay, so Matt used to live there in the last century but we had not been there as a family. Enter the Bryans! Kevin and Matt had been at SDSU together and as an ongoing testament to long-term friendship, Kevin offered to put us up for a week, starting Boxing Day and ending on the 1st in the New Year. Talk about gracious hosts (having not met up for some 15 years), not only did Kevin and Robyn (and Reece and Aislinn) open their doors and their hearts to us, but made time visit the amazing Wild Animal Park, a sunset happy hour at Oceanside and a lazy afternoon at the Hotel Del. Calliana hit it off with Aislinn and Matt was able to take nostalgic visit to the SDSU Campus with Kevin, as well as show the girls La Jolla, Balboa Park and Encinitas Beach. Calliana decided to add SDSU to her “list”. All of this was rounded off by post-card perfect weather (hence the convertible!) and an impromptu outdoor brunch with Pam and Jason Hartman. We can’t thank all of them enough for making this a great ending to 2015!

     Of course, returning to Pennsylvania meant in only one thing: SNOW! And lots and lots of it, but it also meant making ice shelters and snowmen and going sledding on the nearby golf course and Calliana and her friend Cana from just up our street spent many an evening after school getting thoroughly soaked but totally enjoying the snow. Those Sundays when you can smell baked or roasting food and the house is toasty warm with extra logs on the fire will be in permanently engrained in our “happiest memory” store (if not maybe the driveway clearing).

     February rolled around and Jeab was now almost 6 months in to her pregnancy. Things were going as well as could be expected and all our visits came back positive. We were delighted to host Sandy  (Matt’s high school gal-pal)and Greg over from the UK on a warmer (no snow at least) weekend including the obligatory Duquesne Incline and Pittsburgh overlook and a trip the marvelous Fricke! (look it up, it’s not rude ☺). Matt also had a chance to ride the corporate jet over to Traverse City in Michigan for a visit to our operation over there. He made a pledge to go back there one day with the family in the summer!

     March was Spring Break and Babymoon trip to New York. It had been over 15 years since our last trip and this one was for much longer. What a great city for grown-ups and kids alike! We built our trip around 4 Broadway shows: Wicked, Something Rotten (a must see!), Finding Neverland and Aladdin. All were magnificent and well worth the effort. We didn’t want to overly tire Jeab and her precious cargo so we limited our sightseeing when we weren’t at either the evening or matinee. That being said though, we did get to see Liberty, the National September 11 Memorial, Central Park, The Empire State, The Museum of Modern Art, the Natural History Museum, Time Square and Eataly near Madison Park and the Flatiron Building. Another highlight in keeping with our desire to meet friends wherever we go was dinner with Becky Stevenson and her husband Scott. At more than 25 years since our least get together in San Diego, this was a wonderful ending to a fabulous trip.  Calliana also provided much entertainment in March with her participation in the school musical Aladdin, and continued performances as part of the invitational choir for her Middle School.

     By the time April arrived, things were heading towards the final stages of our baby’s arrival in Ealey May. To that end, Jeab’s friends and neighbours Mia and Karen collectively put on a wonderful baby shower with special guest from Houston, Elsa Cordera. While the girls were exchanging gifts and playing games, Matt hosted the boys by the pool for a low-key BBQ,  on what turned out to be almost a summer-like day. We capped off a great day by inviting everyone over for the evening to keep the festivities going. April was also a day to bring your child to work and so Callie was hosted by Chevron for a day at Dad’ s office, and judging by the feedback was a hit with all those she met. We also took the warming weather as a signal to get our garden going with a eventual bumper crop of kale, strawberries, various varieties of tomatoes, chili peppers, lemon grass and lettuce.  

     May was a nervous time for all. While the pregnancy had gone generally well, Jeab’s doctor recommended a C-section given a number of factors. May 9th was to be the date. We had plans for Calliana (now very excited) to stay with her friend Cana (thanks to Mia and Bob!) just up the street and everything was ready for the new arrival at home, with Matt planning to take at least 3 weeks away from the office ( if not actually off work). Well, you know the rest. Gabriella Frances was delivered on May 9th, but rather under emergency conditions in the very early hours of the morning, and very stressful and draining delivery for Jeab. We can look back now and dampen the fear and concern and instead marvel and the joy and happiness that this little one has brought to the Duke Family. 6 months later we can report that she is quick to smile and giggle, is developing normally and has a special smile only for her big sister who has been a wonderful little helper around the house. Gabby has been a world-traveler already and makes people smile where ever she goes. Whenever we might be feeling a little down or stressed about something, we simply recall something charming she has done and all seems right with the world.

     Back to May though, and Gabriella is home and life has changed again. It’s all new for Gabby and Callie, and we are remembering some many parenting things, being generally more tired but less stressed nearly 11 years later. Shortly after her birth, Matt and Callie complete another 5K, this time on a much hillier course as part of Callie’s Girls on the Run group. That same day she participates in another 5K to raise money for her Elementary School Playground. This event capped off a multi-year project Callie started by getting a few friends to collect signatures on a petition to get a swing-set for the playground. That work culminated in a presentation to the School Board who approved the project to go ahead. We are so proud of the maturity and dedication Calliana showed even at age 9 when this all started.

     Keeping Callie firmly supported and encouraged during this time of change was important for all of the first 6 months of 2016, spilling over from the latter half of the year. Callie was experiencing significant growing pains with a key group of friends and needed to develop some strategies to cope, which she did a great job of using during the lows. Her ongoing development as a pianist and violinist definitely helped as she had some great performances and recitals in June. Be way of a treat to say “well done”,  we surprised her with tickets to see, Frankie Valli, a performer she had grown to love after watching Jersey Boys the prior year. At Age 82, he still has the voice and (most) of the moves!  We also said “thanks a million” to our dear friend Patricia who made the trip up from Houston to lend a hand with Gabby so Jeab could get a little more rest now that Matt was full time back in the office. To also give Callie a break, Patricia took Callie back to Houston for a week for what was to be Callie’s first solo flight back to Pittsburgh. I think we were much more worried about it than she was.  Other guests that month, both from our time in Perth, were Lyn and Family, and Pam and Jason Hartman, and to cap off a great month, we watched the Penguins snag the Stanley Cup in a thrilling series. We also knew by now that a move was imminent and while we had only been the Pittsburgh area 2 years, we had grown to love the area, the people and the seasons. That being said, the work scope for Matt for the next several years was very limited whereas the new role was going to be checking pretty much all his ideal job boxes.  So with somewhat heavy hearts but a great deal of optimism we began to prepare for yet another move.

     By July our garden was blooming, the pool was open, the weather warm and summer in full swing. Calliana turned 11 and by way of a treat we took her to see the excellent Billy Joel at the Pirates Stadium.  Matt played with former Steelers Wide Receiver Louis Lipps in an NFL Alumni Golf Tournament which was a fascinating insight in to the lives of former professional athletes. We were also delighted to play host to Keith, Sharon and Julia Shepstone who flew up for a long weekend and enjoyed an open-air concert with us watching Stevie Winwood and Steely Dan. By a strange coincidence they were the last show we went to in Perth before moving to Lagos 4 years earlier! By the end of the month we were off to Covington (North across the big lake from New Orleans for a short and frantic house-hunting trip. This was Gabby’s first experience with travel and while she handled the air portion well, the constant in and out of the car looking at houses did not go well. Fortunately in that 4 days of looking we were able by the end to have an offer on a great new place and had some fun time getting reacquainted with the Werners (Ken and Matt used to work together at the very beginning in 1991 in Bakersfield), the Ponthiers from our time in Perth and the Van Ettens from our short stay in Lagos. Having this ready-made network in place when you move to a new city really helps with the settling in and we are very grateful for their support.  

      It had been some 18 months since last went home to Bangkok. Jeab was getting very homesick and we had anxious family and friends wanting to meet the latest edition so the first 3 weeks in August were reserved for Thailand. Those of you who follow our exploits will know how weather forced us to spend a night in Chicago and how AA lost our bags, car seat and stroller but did eventually managed to get all to us 5 days later. That notwithstanding, Gabby handled it very well and even though we were a little late getting home, we packed up Mum and Dad and spent a wonderful and relaxing week in Hua Hin. Keith and Aom played gracious tour guides and Tor Robertson brought the girls down to see us and play with Callie at the beach. Back in the City we had a string of memorable reunions including but not limited to our former exchange student Jada and her Mum, former ABAC classmate of Jeab’s, Nong Prang, the reliable and loveable Danny and Nita Fegan, The Golsbys and a great chance to se Andy Lazenby before he headed “back” to the UK, as well as Eric Jardine in semi-retirement mode. Due to a fortuitous happenstance thanks to Facebook we realized that our friend from Perth Lek Harvey and her two kids were in town and by pure coincidence, we bumped in to Jason and Wuri Pinto at breakfast in our hotel! We also visited the old office and saw many familiar faces from our time there. Jeab was able to give ample time to her parents, now fully besotted with Gabriella, as well as her Auntie and several of her wonderful cousins who always make the trek to see us. The trip seemed to be over too quickly as we flew back to Pittsburgh via Helsinki and all thoughts turned to the move.

     We only had two weeks to prepare and pack before the move of the weekend of September 3rd. Matt also spent 3 days at the new location to have some handover and add even more in to the mix, Jeab’s father spent over a week in ICU with pneumonia. He’s out now and on the mend but it certainly raised our blood pressure. The move was even more hectic than usual, taking up to midnight the two nights before our mid day flights to be done. We are eternally grateful to Karen and Suk for hosting us once the beds were packed, Bob and Mia for helping out with Callie and Susan and Danny for bringing the party! Matt’s coworkers also hosted a wonderful 25 yr work anniversary/ Bon Voyage party at our favourite restaurant in the city and then all that was left was to pick up our two cats and lock up our lovely home one last time and head to the airport.

     Now we have a week in the Residence Inn while Callie starts Junior Highschool, Matt is fully in to the new job and we run the gamet of last minute upsets with our home mortgage lender so we can close as planned on September 9th and move in on the 10th. Once again, Gabby’s smiley antics kept us in the right frame of mind and Callie concluded that she approved of her new school. Within a few weeks of moiving in we are on our first Road Trip to Lafayette to celebrate Tillie’s birthday and reunite the Lagos 6th graders by having the Bombardes and the Kralys come over from Houston. We had a wonderful weekend there including the swamp tour and the dance night!  

     November  turned out to be busy too. We are settling well in to our new routine, work is challenging and fun (as it should be), and Calliana makes the Honor Roll at school. Boxes are gone and the picture up and feeling very much like our house. We nip over to Houston for the weekend to say “Happy Birthday” to Patricia and use the time to have a number of other reunions. We had breakfast with Thailand friends the Maddens and the Chaiyavets, a great afternoon party for Patricia with a good cross section of Lagos Alums (plus a wonderful “drop in” by Birgit, Alistair and Charlotte Clague). Later we visited with an ever wider array of former work mates and friends that night from all over the globe. Here is the veritable who’s who of luminaries, distinguished guest and all cherished friends. We said “hi” to Rachel and Chip, John and Lianne Sanclemente, Ruurd and Minouche, Kathy and John Meyer, The Shepstones (minus Alan) and a quick “hello” from Scott Stamper. Thank you all so much! But we were not done with Houston. We found out that Joseph Cordera was going to be heading back to Atyrau the next day and decided to arrange brunch so we could meet Joseph and Elsa in the Woodlands before flying back ourselves.  Thanksgiving  was soon upon us and Matt’s sister Fran was flying to meet her new niece for the week. We barely let her put her suitcase down before we’re off to Gulf Shores Alabama by way of Gulfport and Biloxi, for 3 nights in a beach house and a wonderful side trip to Pensacola in Florida. We hoste a traditional Turkey Dinner for the Van Ettens and the Curthoys and on Saturday we had a lovely visit to the French Quarter of New Orleans (and left before the shooting started). Fran’s full-on trip ended with a trip to the New Orleans Super Dome to see the Saints properly beat the Rams. We already miss having her around and we know she loved seeing her little and not so little girls.

     So here we are full circle in December once again. The weather is cooler but rarely cold and the house has the sights, sounds and smells of Christmas now that our tree is up and the lights on outside. We had some wonderful Christmas parties and were particularly proud that Callie was selected as one of 5 Golden Students for her 6th grade. Having missed the first 6 weeks of school here , this tells us that she’s made the transition well. We are looking forward to some proper quiet time in the week before Christmas as it has been a busy year. On Boxing Day we will spend 3 days exploring Atlanta and then head up to the Great Smokey Mountains in Tennessee to see the New Year in with the Van Ettens.

     As we reflect on the past 12 months, we marvel at our continuing good fortune to have such wonderfully supportive friends and family around the world. It’s been a tough year for celebrity, as we said goodbye to many who have inspired and entertained us. At the same time we have watched with growing despair the divisive campaigns in the US and UK and can only hope that the common sense and common decency will prevail. Unlike John Oliver, we quite enjoyed 2016! have room for any of you who happen to be passing through. Maybe for a few days or even a few hours we can make your world a better place. Merry Christmas, and a truly Happy New Year to all.

Gabriella, Calliana, Jeab and Matt

Covington, December, 2016