You know that friend you want to talk to but haven’t for years. As each year goes past, it becomes harder and harder to reach out. That is what has happened with this blog. I have wanted to write something for a while but haven’t because: we don’t have certainty, we don’t want to share bad news, or we are afraid sharing good news some how jinxes the good news. Well, it is time and this is my update.

On the medical side, things are going well. Anne has had a couple of clean scans. She is still on chemo and will be for a while, however they are stretching out the time between cycles, which will give her a better quality of life. We continue to be optimistic and so do her doctors. It isn’t easy and I continue to be extremely proud of her. Each time she has to walk into the infusion center, I can’t believe how brave she is or how she can smile her way through the process she knows will leaver her tired and weak for days.

On the family side the kids continue to do great. Things are different. I want to say we are back to normal but we are not. However, what we are is our new normal and we are embracing it. In the new normal, each kid is stepping up and defining who they are and what they like. It turns out Oxford isn’t an easy place to go as an undergrad and Dax is putting in a crazy amount of work. When he isn’t reading thousands of pages or writing novella sized essays, he is leading the school’s Starcraft team. McKane is continuing to show he has similar academic chops and is enjoying science bowl and Envirothon at his high school. We aren’t public school snobs, but it is nice to see a product of the largest public school district in the country handing it to the expensive local private schools. Kieran is choosing some of his own studies and is starting to get into programming and is learning Japanese. Asher does a good job of being the center of any group of kids any age she is around. She has had a great soccer season and is playing on the city’s all star team.

Anne and I love seeing them all doing their thing and growing up to be good and engaged people. Anne’s focus continues to be on healing and regaining her travelworthiness. Her current progress is the result of much work on her part, the prayers and support of many people and excellent medical care. Again, thank you, to everyone who helps us in so many ways.

For me it is time to get back to work. Since Anne was diagnosed, she has been my focus and keeping the family safe, together and growing has been my purpose. I consider us extremely privileged because I have had the opportunity to back away from my profession and put my energy into the family. During this time, I have also had some amazing opportunities on the side to work as member of a board of directors, to consult some amazing companies and to advise some future stars of the tech world. I plan on continuing to aid those companies as much as I can, but it is time for me to get off the sidelines and get back in the game: Anne tells me so, my psyche tells me so, our pocketbook tells me so, even my doctor tells me so. I am not sure what I will do yet. I will spend the next month or so exploring some options. I have already been approached with some potentially great opportunities. When I figure out which one fits into our new normal, I will remember to write about it here.

PS – Anne pointed out that this post is more like a Christmas letter than a Sixintheworld post. Well since we didn’t do a Christmas letter, consider it both a letter and post with a nice sunset picture.

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