Grant is in his second year as the Assistant Winemaker at Beaux Freres, and he is coming out of the 2008 harvest feeling excited about the vintage. The 2007's he worked on last year are poised to come out this spring, and he anxiously awaits their release. As for me, my two year hiatus from teaching is over, and I am teaching English at Clackamas Middle College. The school has about 90 students in the building and 200 more who are in various stages of transitioning to the community college next door. My classes are diverse and challenging in a way my students in cushy Walnut Creek were not. They also have a texture, grit, tenacity, and experience which make them more interesting partners in discovering literature. As much as I love teaching, I can honestly say that nothing makes me wish I were independently wealthy more than that sack full of papers to grade as I drive home Friday afternoon.
Before I started teaching again I enjoyed a trip home in the spring for Grandma Grace’s 99th birthday celebration. Grandma made perfect harmony while the lovely Katsura sisters played their ukes, danced the hula, and sang old Hawaiian favorites. I also vacationed with Grant’s family in Hawaii and spent some quality time with the family in Monterey over the summer.
Oregon has become home now and feels (in Grant's words) like "a worn, old baseball glove." We love it here so much that we honestly can't imagine living anywhere else in the states. As if it weren't good enough, we've finally convinced Grant's sister, Kate, to join us here in Portland and will welcome her at the beginning of the new year. We love the friends we've made here and still fill our spare time cooking for the masses and popping wine into the wee hours of the morning. All of that will come to a screeching halt since we have recently discovered that we're having a baby! We are totally thrilled and equally petrified. Grant stares awkwardly at children at the supermarket, and last week on a night walk, we ended up dragging home a "perfectly good" abandoned baby stroller from nearby dumpster. Difficult economic times, indeed. I just can't wait to finally be a full "B" cup, oh... and also to see our beautiful child.
With the idea of this new baby, I am constantly thinking these days of family and how important mine is to me. You are all my touchstone, the thing that makes me feel real and human and connected. This baby will be born only months after Grace turns 100 years old and they will be connected not just by their funny spindles of DNA but by the web of people who will love them both.
Love to you all.
Renee & Grant
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