Annus Horriblis

We’re sure some people will claim they had the perfect vision to see 2020 coming (thanks Glen!) but we certainly didn’t. Then again, it was early in the year that we got sense for the darker things to come. But let’s start off the letter in a better mood, recalling happier times, before the barage of social, political, financial and medical unrest shook the nation and the world. For a family that loves to travel, this was going to be a particularly odd year, but we ended 2019 and started 2020 in typical fashion, with a journey. And in somewhat typical style, that journey, once again, saw us in Bangkok, Thailand.

A familiar pattern, but nonetheless, at once familiar and reassuring. Making the rounds of the Christmas-clad shopping emporia. Luncheon get togethers with Nita and Danny and Keith and Aom. Boxing Day at the Duckworth Estate with the British Club Football Section Alumni. New Year’s Eve with Aom and Keith and a later gathering the Robertsons and the Yates. Loads and loads of time at our home with Nana and Granddad and Jeab’s cousins. The occasional bliss of a one hour foot massage for pennies. And a rather splendid lunch at the Polo Club with Arnie and Pinky, the kids, and our now grown up exchange student from Pittsburgh, Khun Jada. Callie went to meet Dad’s tailor Bobby and had some styling clothes made up for her (Matt too). So far so very good.

And even upon our return, that very next weekend in early January, what would turn out to be our first and last gig of the year, Route 2 66 played at our “home venue” of Bubba’s on Washington to a packed and enthusiastic dance crowd. The USA’s 2nd season of professional rugby kicked off and Matt and fellow odd-shaped balls enthusiast, John Meyer, went to a preseason game to see the local Houston Saber Cats play NOLA Gold. Seemed to be shaping up to be a great 2020……… Also in late Jan, Jeab started a gruelling course at Rice University that over the coming  6 months would switch to online learning and ultimately lead to a certificate of completion of their Data Analytics Boot Camp, and lots of new opportunties for employment should she wish it.

Then came February. Started off okay with what would turn out to be the last group gathering of Perth and Covington alumni at the Ponthier’s house to see the Super Bowl with the Hawkers and the Ramirez's. But shortly after that, the two family deaths within a few days was perhaps the first inklings of something insidious developing in the Far East. Matt’s Mum’s younger sister Bea Snashfold passed away within a few days of his Father’s younger sister Iris, thus ending that generation’s chapter for the Clark sisters and the Duke brothers and sisters. But as is often the case,  families are  reunited in grief and Matt made the flight over to the UK to support his cousins and extended families, attend the two funerals and spend some time in reflection, recollection and discovery with them. Two very different ladies and very different ceremonies, but also beautiful and poignant and in some ways restorative for us all as we said our goodbyes. In addition, Matt took the opportunity in that busy 5 days to visit with Simon Everidge, Steven Grady, Karen Snook, Craig Ferguson and middle school teacher Luis de Souza, as well as an evening with sister Fran and Jez and a lunchtime with David and Sandy, and a brief catch up with Uncle George. Thanks to Margaret and Colin for hosting our farewell to Iris and David and Sandy for the same for Bea. Matt also got chance for a little time with Cousin Richard and Mandy and meet their lovely grown up kids, The family story continues to play out. We know that many of you reading this have lost loved ones, even right up to December.

Upon Matt’s return, he learned that Jeab had magically jumped ahead of the naturalization queue and was now also a US citizen, joining Gabby and so by extension, Calliana (who now has 3 passports!). One part of Matt’s job was to visit Chevron locations around the world and interview the management ranks therein. He had a very busy schedule planned for trips to Angola, Argentina, Brazil, Canada and multiple destinations in the US. First up though was a return to Lagos Nigeria, and this was a fun filled and truly enjoyable return to a place that had such happy memories for us. Matt was hosted by John and Leianne, Nigel and Laila, Lyn and Danet, James and Suzie and on the last night, Jeff and Janice. In addition to meeting a lot of old friends at the office and the nostalgia of camp life (an impromptu jam session carried on late in to one evening), Matt got to catch up with their former driver Steve and stewardess Lydia and catch up on their happenings over the last 6 years. Lagos is changing slowly, but for the better.

March and things are starting to get concerning with the spread of Covid but as of yet, still no travel restrictions in the US and Matt spent a great week in the Bay Area with work and catching up with friends of an evening. Little did he realise at the time that there would in fact be no more international or domestic work travel after that. Jeab was now fully in to her study program at Rice University and with such time commitments was not able to join Matt and the girls on their Campervan sojourn around New Mexico, but that was truly when things started to change for the worse. Within a day of arriving on NM, many parks and museums, and eventually restaurants started to close. This the begining of panic buying and was both scary  and fascinating to see how it played out. We had to adapt our plans on the fly but all in all, our 1400 mile circuit was full of great sights, experiences and memories.

By now (most of) America seemed to be waking up to the realization that this wasn’t just another bad flu but that this was the “one”, the pandemic that some experts had been warning about and by the end of March, all of us were working or studying from home. This against a backdrop of a temporary dramatic drop in oil price and a massive restructuring of Chevron, which added another layer of stress to an unready uncertain environment. How long would this last? Surely only a few months, right?  In any case, May roles around and little cheeky-chops Gabby turned 4 and unlike the class parties earlier in the year, we were restricted to celebrating with our one and only bubble family, the Shepstones, and even then, at an appropriate distance with appropriate precautions.

By Mid-June, and local lockdown measures seeming to have some positive effect in Texas (this was before July 4th after all), we made the decision that for our mental health, we needed to have a change of scenery. Those of you from around the world who may have had much more severe mandates about masks and travel would probably shudder at the mixed bag of messages at the local, state and national level here, but that was the situation that was, and so with a sense of appropriate risk management (6 feet apart, no indoor gatherings, wash our hands and carry sanitizer) we took a much needed mini-break to Austin for Father’s Day. Even with the stricter guidelines in Austin, we were amazed to often see people openly flouting those guidelines so we made sure we keep our selves to our selves. All in all, it was a wonderful and much needed trip to a very pretty part of Texas. Life still continued in some ways like near to normal too. Callie followed the US teenager’s right of passage in having her braces fitted at the end of June and just in time for her 15th birthday and…. the beginning of her driver’s training (on-line for now thank goodness!).

July was also notable in one way with a sense of profound relief that Matt was selected in the early stages of the restructuring to be the General Manager for the newly formed Geology Department in the new Technical Center. It was much more sadly noted for the passing of our dear dear friend Tilly Van Etten, a tragic event that threw Fred and Elise’s lives in to a simply unimaginable place of grief and touched so many of us who now them around the world. Hold your loved ones close at all times, you just never know.

August and we we were fast approaching the end of the summer and decisions about the future of schooling for Callie and Gabby. It was clear that Matt and Jeab would be at home through the end of the year but what to do for the girls against a scene of rising cases. The only windfall was the fact that car rental companies has excess inventory and so we locked in a sale Avis car for Callie in anticipation of parent-led training in the new year in a car and by 16, a provisional license.  We also made the rather late decision to make a weeks trip to northern Arkansas to avail ourselves of the kind offer from band-mates Kathy and Stan Franklin to stay in their place up there. Our longest road trip to date (a good 11 hours worth of driving) but so worth it to once again to get out the house and enjoy the outdoors in a new part of the US. As you can see from some of the photos, we certainly made the most of the pretty part of the state. But importantly, we also had a chance simply relax and sometimes stare out the window. We (all) need that. We then made the decision as a family that Callie would return to school on-line and Gabby in person. We were impressed with Gabby’s school’s covid protocols and zero infections over the summer, and so for her development, we decided to let her go back to in person schooling and to this date, it has worked out very well.

It’s not all been gloom and doom. Lockdown provided an opportunity to work together on home projects and improving our arts and crafts skills. Callie’s art work has made tremendous strides in addition to becoming quite an accomplished guitarist and singer. She’s even dipped her toe in the wa.ter of song writing with her friend. School is also going very well and she was one of only two Creative Writing sophomores to have their short screenplays be selected for the senior drama class to perform. Somewhere in all of this she found time to try her hand at stop motion animation and playing music with Gabby (see clips).

At the start of the summer Gabby had a clear respect for not playing in the pool without her floaties but with gentle daily exposure (and an added element of competition from big Sissy) she got the point where she can move freely about the pool and dive down and climb out. She’s improved her use of her scooter and balance bike and loves to colour pretty much anything you put in front of her. Climbing and gymnastics are also part of the routine now too.

We suspect many of you are like us and have a plethora of boxes from Amazon and others and we decided to take on some family projects with them including a dolls house for Gabby and a Thai House for Gabby’s International Day at school. Lastly, there have been several home and garden improvement projects over lock down including herbs and vegetables, the planters at the front and the jasmine frames, and a bench made from a recycled chest of drawers. The biggest project by far was clearing out the jungle and extending our outdoor space at the back of the house (we didn’t do that ourselves) and then the garden shed and paver project to make room in the garage for Callie’s car (we did do this).

September last year resulted in a fun 80’s night and a full house, but this year was a much more subdued affair as Matt was the second in the family to have a 5 in his age (next year the remaining two will also have a 5 in their ages and for a little while we all will). The other main item of note was Matt’s citizenship interview and Civics/History Test that had been postponed since April due to covid and now suddenly popped up with 10 days to spare so a little brush up on the countries political system (no comments please) and history and all was good and culminated at the beginning of October with a covid-style citizenship ceremony in stark contrast to Jeab’s in a large gymnasium and a cast of thousands (and hours and hours of ceremony). Matt was out in 15 mins!

October was marked by two signal events. The first was putting out cottage in Wanaka on the market. We’ve had that place for 17 years and has been the scene for a number of memorable trips over the years. A combination of a booming housing market in New Zealand and an eye on eventual (semi-) retirement (this kind of year will do that to a person), we put the place on the market and eventually sold in a month later. We’ve since had our initial contact with an architect and should have a new place to stay for the ski season of 2022 (covid variants not withstanding). The other event was saying goodbye to the Maddens and Mike and Goi decided to part ways with Houston and head back to Bangkok with the girls. We will miss them and wish them the very best (not without a tinge of envy….. :)).

More farewells in November, this time with Leah and James from out time in Pittsburgh and most recently close by in Houston, electing to return/settle in County Clare with the kids. Best of luck to them too. All these moves were making us itchy to get away a little bit but given the rise in cases and the request not to travel and mix for Thanksgiving, we shelved our plans for Colorado and settled for a few days in Wimberley, which is about a 3 hour drive from Houston. It was nice to get out our house and see some new scenery and we were back in Houston in time for Thanksgiving Day in the open air and our own table with the Shepstones.

December finally saw the kind of weather you can wrap up and bit and sit round an outdoor fire although it has generally been a mild winter so far. We got in to the Christmas spirit a little earlier than normal to give us something holly-jolly to focus on and indeed the spirits of the house were lifted as the girls decorated the tree. For the first time in a long time we won’t travel for Christmas (Bangkok is a no-go and our fallback options either have quarantine requirements on arrival or most of the stuff we’d do - say New York City - will be closed) but we’ll take the two weeks to relax some after a truly bizarre and often unsettling year. Matt will try cooking a duck and pheasant this year and Jeab will steam a traditional Christmas pud, We’ll watch all the Christmas movies (more than once if you are Gabby), shuffle Christmas songs around the house, light the advent candle and open the Harry Potter advent calendar every evening after dinner, and read Christmas stories to Gabby every evening, but mostly we’ll be reflecting on how fortunate we still are compared to many when all is said and done.

And so, while we are always optimistic, we are not out of the woods yet. Yes, there are vaccines now and yes this may the beginning of the end (thanks Sir Winston), but there are new variants out there even now and many many places are seeing a resurgence. Matt is unlikely to be back in the office before the summer, Callie too seems destined to study from home and missing out on some badly needed social interaction face-to-face, and the close-quarter living puts a frisson of anxiety in to the family’s milieu. Therefore, in addition to a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, we urge you now more than ever to stay safe and stay healthy. Furthermore, stay connected (especially friends from work who chose this year to move on) assume positive intent, give others the benefit of the doubt even when you can’t understand how they could say (or post) something like it. We seem to be more divided than ever, but we don’t have to be. Pause, smile, de-escalate, make the first move. We need it.

Gabriella, Calliana, Jeab and Matt

Houston, December, 2020

Callie Art

From Our Travels

Animation

Sister Duet

Gabby Swimming

Inside the Beast

Speed Gardening

From the Year

Lockdown Projects