Holiday Letter 2025

Felix Navidad,                                                                                                                                            December 2025

From sand to snow. It’s back to Mexican Spanish for my holiday greeting where I’ve just spent over a month, and still don’t speak Spanish. I was yet again on an 1160 Seawind catamaran named Strikhedonia (meaning the pleasure of being able to say “to hell with it”). I must be crazy to leave her in December to come back to Minnesota where the temps are sinking below zero, and I’m shoveling snow. That won’t be for long as I’m headed to Colorado shortly. More on that in a bit.

Transition defined my life this year. I didn’t seem to be in one place for even a month. The longest I slept in the same place was on Strikhedonia. The boat lifted anchor at least every few days so does that count? I traveled nimbly between Boston, where I started the year, Longmont CO, and St. Paul. I’d have a destination in mind, even an airline ticket, and family plans would change. It’s a good thing I’m mobile, spontaneous, and open to doing what I can for family. 

My time in Boston is to be with my sister who is still suffering in a major way with anxiety and treatment-resistant depression. It’s been hard on the whole family, especially my brother-in-law. My mission is to be with Chris and give Rick a break from the day-to-day caring for Chris. While I take Chris to her various appointments he can then go to Colorado to spend time his daughter and her family. My time in Colorado is to help care for my great niece and nephew whose parents have had crazy travel schedules this year. Fortunately at 6 and 8 years old they still want to spend time with their great aunt. I wouldn’t trade these opportunities for anything.

I’ve been fortunate to be able to stay in the house that my sister and brother-in-law had been renting when in Colorado. In addition to spending time with family, it has allowed me to visit with new and long-time friends in the area, attend a surprise birthday party, enjoy time in the mountains snowshoeing at Devil’s Thumb (yes that is the real name of the area), downhill skiing at Copper Mountain and Vail and find more places for hiking. No sailing for me on the reservoirs this year, though I have in the past.

Now for my big news. A statement I made when my niece Laura and family moved to Colorado has come true. I bought a second and now my primary residence in Longmont. It’s a paired home which shares one wall with another home. The advantage of the house Chris and Rick had been renting (which the owner decided to sell) was that it was just around the corner from Laura and Brian. The places I’d seen were 5+ miles away. When I saw a listing on Maxwell, I could have bought it sight unseen because I knew how close it was to my great niece and nephew, and I’d toured a few in the past. As Luna said, it’s “25 pushes away” from their home.

At the Saturday open house I knew this was it. I talked with a number of the neighbors who were very informative about the construction of the units, the association and the neighborhood. Some even gave me their contact information. In my excitement, I interrupted the weekend graduation festivities my realtor was engaged in, and on Monday the place was mine. Then we needed to make sure the closing could be in three weeks so I could resume my teaching schedule on Lake Superior. 

It was a whirlwind three weeks getting everything in place. The plan was to move everything from Chris and Rick’s place to mine. That way they didn’t need to make any decisions about being in Colorado given Chris’ current status. The closing was on a Friday. I busted my butt moving as much as I could in an SUV reducing the estimated 30-40 hours of packing by the movers down to 10 hours. I put most everything in place before the movers came and I left for the summer. Only five boxes remained, the ones with the breakable dish ware and wine glasses the packers packed.

At dinner with the family Luna and Phoenix asked if they could spend the night with me. A sleepover the first night! That had been my wish. How very special. Luna in her pink bedroom. She said “no” when I asked her about painting it. The other bedroom will be painted green, Phoenix’s color of choice. After sleeping one night in my new home I flew back to Minnesota and made my way to Bayfield WI on Lake Superior for a summer of sailing.

The sailing season seemed to get off to a late start not just for me but for others on Dock Three, the one which I consider my summer home. Once the people and their dogs, including a new puppy Tucker, all was right. I split my time between working for a sailing school and a charter company, mostly instructing, sometimes as a captain/tour guide. I must say, even those not officially taking a class still get instruction.

 The fresh water sailing season ended early for me to be with my sister while Rick went to Colorado. Unfortunately for him, he asked if there was anything he could do at my place. I sent him “my” to-do list and was happy when he ticked off a number of things. He hung a set of nine pictures, 3x3, on a wall above steps and unpacked those five boxes. You can understand why I very much appreciate my brother-in-law.

I visited San Diego twice this fall. Once was for a team building sailing gig with executive MBA students and the second was to depart for Mexico on Strikhedonia. We sailed down the west coast of the Baja, down to Cabo, up into the Sea of Cortez and then over to Mazatlán. We motored a lot, with and without the sails. The very last six hours on our way to Mazatlan was the best, surfing down waves at up to 12 knots. We ate a lot of tacos, drank our share of margaritas, snorkeled, paddle boarded, kayaked, hiked, and I’d be remiss if I didn’t say lots and lots of shell collecting. 

My intention for 2026 is to stay in one place for several months at a time. That doesn’t look likely until at least next fall. I hope 2025 has been good for you and you are looking forward to achieving your intentions for 2026.

Cheers,

Vicki