2005. Is it really over? After the rocket pace of 2004 and all of it’s upheavals (trans-atlantic move, new baby etc.) we were expecting, nay, praying for a well deserved rest and a fairly boring 2005 as we settled back in to life in the US. It was not to be. If anything, it feels as if 2005 has turned us inside out and upside down leaving us exhausted and vaguely wondering how to get off this whirlwind ride.

It began innocently enough with Brendan’s Christening in Trinidad in January. Next, in March we took a mini vacation at Disney’s Wild Animal Kingdom Resort. Celeste was old enough to really enjoy the rides and Brendan was young enough to sleep all day at the parks. Perfect!

The first glimmer that 2005 was not as relaxing as we’d like, came on our return from Disney. The apartment we had rented and planned to stay in for 2-3 years was being converted to condominiums and we could either buy our unit or leave at the end of our lease. We decided that we’d prefer to buy a house instead and launched ourselves into the necessary research. This time we opted to use a real estate agent. We crunched the numbers, looked at our commitments and decided that $350,000 worth of house is what we were prepared to buy. Armed with that information we sallied forth unsuspecting. Suffice it to say that the next 5 weeks provided an exhausting and brutal education in the current South Florida Housing boom. Apparently our budget could buy a broom closet, barely. We offered over the asking price on three houses and based on inspections etc had to eventually shelve the option of buying. We instead found a four bedroom apartment with a two car garage to rent and settled for that. The joy of packing up a household barely 7 months after our transatlantic move is just too overwhelming to express.

By May we had moved to our new place and we were ready to relax. Celeste turned four and Brendan turned six months. Over the summer Celeste attended Summer Camp and loved it. Brendan was standing and smiling at everyone.

Kim had been having persistent stomach pains since November 2004 and after multiple visits to the doctor and tests for anemia and gastric distress, an endoscopy was performed which showed a healthy upper GI tract. The next step was a colonoscopy to determine if there was anything in the large or small intestines creating the problem. On August 19th we were informed that Kim had colon cancer and that a CT scan and surgery should be performed as soon as possible. Surgery was scheduled for August 26th but with Hurricane Katrina bearing down on South Florida it was postponed to August 29th. Surgery was successful with approximately a third of the colon being removed, but with the aggressive nature of the tumor as well as Kim’s age, the doctors felt that she should do adjuvant chemotherapy to reduce the likelihood of recurrence.

The twelve-session chemotherapy regimen started in September and after a few hiccups and some continued bizarre side effects chemo seems to be going smoothly.

In September 2005, we weathered Hurricane Wilma and, along with 98% of Broward, Dade and Monroe counties in South Florida, faced power outages with estimated dates to restore power given as five weeks. We fired up the generator purchased for Hurricane Katrina and hoped we had enough gas to see us through the outage. Fortunately our grid was back online after two days (perhaps because of the Water treatment plant nearby). Much of South Florida continued to be without power for 2 or more weeks.

Brendan turned 1 in November and our little walker is also a climber and daredevil. Boys are definitely different!

In the wake of all the activity our Thanksgiving Trip to visit Kim’s best friend and her husband in San Diego seemed to suddenly arrive. We visited Legoland and Celeste liked it so much she asked to go a second time. We also visited the San Diego Zoo. Time flies when you’re having fun and before we blinked twice we were back on a plane to Ft. Lauderdale. On the last segment of the flight from Dallas to Fort Lauderdale Brendan initiated us into the world of shrieking, crabby, inconsolable babies. At 4.5yrs old, Celeste has logged a little short of 80,000 flying miles including five transatlantic roundtrips and NEVER screamed. Brendan likes to toss and turn before he sleeps. He prefers rolling around on his bed without being touched. This was not available on the airplane and he did not hesitate to let everybody know how displeased he was. It was a new and not very pleasant experience for us and all the other passengers within shrieking range.

Now we’re looking forward to visiting Trinidad to celebrate Christmas and the New Year and hopefully get our long-postponed rest. The entire Lee-Wo clan will be in attendance since Grandma Marilyn is hosting this year. The house will be full of fun and good cheer as we put 2005 with all of its ups and downs behind us.

We wish to say a special thank you for all the prayers and good wishes during Kim’s surgery and recovery.

2005 has been an exhausting, heartbreaking, blessed and joyous year. We wish all of you, our friends and family, a Peaceful and Blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year.