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Dear friends
Grabs, December 2010
No, I didn't write a Christmas letter last year... Life was too busy and there was too much work bothering me at the end of 2009! But this year was such a special one in many ways! So I want to take up the tradition of writing a letter at the end of the year again, especially for those of my friends and family whom I don't keep in touch with regularly but still don't want to lose contact!
* A house is made of walls and beams – a home is built with love and dreams *
Just a year ago, Markus and I bought the 40 year old house next to my parents, renovated nearly every centimetre and filled it with emotions :-) We tried to do as much work as possible ourselves which involved loads of nightshifts after working 8 hours in the "real job" (still as a Business Consultant at Multi-Support doing IT-projects in Liechtenstein and Markus also as an IT-Consultant in two Banks in Liechtenstein). But this challenging work helped us to realize, what a good team we are and - even though we had hardly any free time for leisure - we treasured the time we had together on the building site.
* A world without friends is like a garden without flowers *
In March loads of good friends helped us move into the top room of the house – the only few square meters that were without dust at that time. We prepared that room a week in advance (our holidays…) and lived in kind of a one-room-apartment for a month (involving not having a bathroom – thank you Mam & Dad for letting us use yours). Without all the enormous help of our friends and families we wouldn't have been able to do what we've achieved in this house: Tearing down walls, whirlpools and bathrooms, chipping off tiles, insulating and building walls, painting, planning kitchens, putting down floors, cutting trees, moving, consulting, etc. Thank you all for your time and energy – and accepting that we didn't have much time for anything else this year… But now the house is more or less finished – there are just a few details waiting to be done. If you're interested, you'll find more info on the house on our website: http://house.milsom.ch
* Where there is great love, there are always miracles *
In the middle of all the renovation-work I noticed that my body was acting strange – every room in house seemed to smell and my appetite was even bigger than before, I was wanting to sleep all day under the pergola instead of working in the garden… and was a bit surprised when I realized that there was a third person living under this roof – a baby in my tummy! We didn't expect this to happen so early but are extremely happy now to feel the movements of this tiny angel under my skin. It is due to be born in February 2011 and all seems to be well – with the baby and me!
* He who would travel happily must travel light *
Unfortunately we used most of our holidays for the renovation. So the travel-bug inside of me grew and grew and my wanderlust is still too dominant to just stay in Switzerland for a whole year. So we managed to get away a few times. We enjoyed a long weekend in Broadstairs in June, hiking along the white cliffs of Dover. In August we lived the spirit of travelling on a 2 week road trip to France – with no real destination. I must admit, sleeping in the tent wasn't as easy as years ago – now with a big tummy hanging over the thermarest :-) But the freedom of being able to decide where to go or what to do every day, to just pitch the tent and soak in the landscape was well worth it!
* Sometimes it is more important to discover what one cannot do than what one can do *
There's loads of snow here in Grabs these days – winter wonderland! - and looking up to the mountains makes me want to go snowboarding like crazy… after loving the thrill with the new snowboard in spring this year. But being pregnant means going without many things – like the sports that I love. The slackline is still fixed in the garden and made us happy every day in spring and summer. Walking the line is like meditation and jumping a 180° helps me feel younger ;) But after falling off after a jump I knew it was time for me to stop for the moment. In autumn we found a good alternative sport that was also ok for the baby and it's heavy-breathing-unfit-mother-to-be: hiking. We managed to go walking in the mountains nearly every sunny weekend and sometimes even spontaneously after work. Nature around here is paradise for hikers and we appreciate living in it!
* The family is one of nature's masterpieces *
As every year I enjoyed every minute with my family. Now – living next door to my parents – it makes it even easier to see my parents and sister and brother with their families. In May my brother Ben and his wife Gaby had a baby-boy, Lenny, who is absolutely adorable! It's always fun spending time with the kids of our families and friends. We had Nanouk and Maleah (my niece and nephew), Cecilia (Markus' niece) and Eowyn (Markus' goddaughter with family) staying here over night.
* There is nothing wrong with change, if it is in the right direction *
So my life has changed completely in 2010! I am now a house-owner, a wife (YES ;-) Markus and I got married two weeks ago after 19 years of relationship – with a tiny but lovely family celebration and loads of happy feelings), a daughter-in-law and a mother-to-be! We're also landlords since December as we eventually managed to rent out the flat in the basement of our house. But the change this year was positive in every way and we're really looking forward to the perspective and surprises of the coming year! I hope your year 2011 will be filled with light and love, good health and joy, fun, peace and sunshine - and may all your dreams come true!
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