2002 Christmas letter

Hello Everyone,

I haven’t written one of these letters in awhile so I’ll try to cram 4 years into this one. Four years is a long time and of course a lot has happened in that period. I definitely need to try to keep up with these letters more from now on because some of the things that happened a few years ago are already a little fuzzy. Here is a little peak into my life as far as I remember it.

2002 started off with me being unemployed, living with my sister, going to college, and only having a motorcycle for transportation. By the end of this letter things will have changed completely. In February I got a job at North American Scientific Inc. in North Hollywood as a Lab Technician. It wasn’t exactly the job I wanted but dating was draining my bank account rapidly and it was nice to have a paycheck coming in again. Just after starting work I asked Maria to marry me on Valentine’s Day and she said yes. We had only been dating for 5 months at this point but we both knew that it was meant to be.

I had a small crash on my motorcycle in March. I just slipped in some oil coming up to the stop light on the freeway off-ramp on my way to work. It didn’t damage the bike very much but I banged up my left hand pretty good. Sherry’s world famous St. Patrick’s Day party at the Tabutol residence also happened this month. A night of corned beef, cabbage, Irish soda bread, and beer, what could be better then that?

The next few months were taken up mostly with wedding planning. We went to some wedding expos and bought some magazines only to find out that according to the normal checklist, we needed 2 years to plan it all. So we threw all of that out and got to work. It was a real eye opener to find out everything that went into this one affair. We seemed to be on the go constantly scouting locations, picking a florist, interviewing officiants, searching for the right photographer, finding a DJ, getting a dress along with all of the accessories, etc, etc, etc… Some how the 2 of us were able to get it all done and we didn’t even kill each other although we came close a few times.

In the middle of all of this I graduated from Devry in June with a BS in Information Technology. I was glad it was only a one-year program because I was already getting a little burned out between work, school, and everything else. We also took some time out to go to the Veranazo concert at Dodger Stadium which included many different Latino bands. And of course there were a couple of Engagement parties, one at our apartment and another at Maria’s work.

Finally all of frantic planning was finished as Maria and I were married on September 8th at the Sportsman’s Lodge in Studio City, CA. For the most part, things went well and everyone I have talked to said they had a good time. Maria and my memories were a little different then most as the day flew by after months of preparation and mostly we were glad it was finally all over. I am very happy to be married to someone I love and respect so much and even with all of the trouble it was to get to this day I would do it all over again…with maybe a few changes.  There were a lot of moments I remember from the day that were really nice. Me crying when I was saying my vows and Maria wiping away my tears. The look on Maria’s face when I surprised her with the second wedding band she had wanted all along. Grandpa dancing with Sylvia (one of Maria’s friends) during the reception. Jeremy doing such a great job as the best man.

Of course now that the wedding was over we could finally get to the good part, the honeymoon. We flew the day after the wedding to Tahiti and continued on to Bora Bora where we checked into the Sofitel Motu Resort. This hotel is located on its own tiny island (Motu) inside the Bora Bora lagoon and we stayed in one of their over-water bungalows. It was an amazing change to wake up in Los Angeles one day then wake up in Bora Bora the next day. Maria went snorkeling for the first time just off our balcony in the crystal clear waters full of colorful fish and coral. Most of our time was spent in the water, eating, and relaxing but we also went on a Jeep tour of the island where we saw some of the WWII history of the island and learned how to open a coconut.

After a few days in Bora Bora we took a short flight to Moorea for a stay in another Sofitel hotel in a beachfront bungalow. Here we continued relaxing, snorkeling, and seeing a few sights including a dolphin exhibit at another hotel and a Polynesian dinner show. We also went on a snorkeling day trip where we were able to see sharks and stingrays up close and eat some amazing ceviche that was prepared right in front of us. The last stop was back in Tahiti for the final 2 nights. Since this was the largest island we decided to rent a car for a day to see it all. We also did some shopping in the main cities colorful market and had a nice dinner at the top of a mountain where we could see the entire island. It seemed like we went straight to paradise by starting in Bora Bora and then we slowly worked our way back to reality, so we were better prepared to face LA again after our time in Tahiti.

The last few months of the year weren’t as eventful as the beginning but there was still a lot going on as we settled into our marriage. About the only thing I can remember doing in this time was going to see Star Wars Episode II in IMAX format at Universal Citiwalk. It was a pretty big event with lots of people in costume and was a lot of fun. That’s about it for 2002, now on to the next year.

Hope everyone is doing well.

Love,
Bill