2024 Update

Warm Wishes

from the Gerbargs in Saratoga, California

2024 Update

Family, Pets, Health & Wellness, Career, Home, Hobbies, Recreation

Family

This year we marked our 5th wedding anniversary. It has been a hard 5 years; with the pandemic, years of health challenges, and 3 moves along with the typical growing pains for newlyweds. Perhaps one upside is accelerated growth and calibration. We have become much more skilled in conflict resolution, feeling our feelings, expressing and owning our needs and more. Hopefully in the next 5 years we will flex those gains and yield more stability and joy.

Revisiting our favorite haunts in San Francisco

Enjoying the Museum of Modern Art, where we were married

We celebrated our anniversary, April 6th, with a weekend trip to San Francisco. We stayed at the W and visited the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), where we were married. The city has already changed a lot and so have we, but it was a nice chance to reconnect with past versions of ourselves.

Laura & Maria with plant projects

Having a fancy meal together, one of Louis’s specials: duck legs confit

In April, Laura’s mom, Maria, came to visit. They worked on various projects around the house, mostly plant stuff.

Highlights from the Gerbargs’ visit

Celebrating Father’s Day

In June, both of Louis’s parents, Naomi and Bernie, came to stay for 3 weeks. We explored the area and enjoyed visits to Santa Cruz and the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum. We also got to host Louis’s cousins, Barry & Christina, for a Father’s day visit all together.

Tree shopping with Laura’s parents, Maria & Steve

Together for Independence day: Laura, Louis, Steve, Maria, Steve, Mara, baby Henry; Laura & Henry

In July Laura’s brother, Steve, her sister-in-law, Mara, and their new baby boy, Henry, came to visit along with Laura’s parents, Steve & Maria. It was a lovely chance to reunite the DeWald family and to meet baby Henry, our new nephew.

Tracking hurricane Milton

Hurricane Milton touched down October 9th, almost directly over both of our parent’s houses near Sarasota, Florida. All 4 of them evacuated to a local shelter together. Thank goodness everyone was safe, though considerably shaken from the event. Property damage could have been much worse as well, so there was much to be grateful for after the ordeal had passed.

Digital trick or treating with Laura & our niece, Alice

We are grateful for the technology that allows us to see our families, as travel was not in the cards this year. Hopefully next year will be different.

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Pets

Cheska (12 years old, Black Velvet Chinchilla)

Sophie (11 years old, Violet Chinchilla)

The girls in their divided cage sections

Cheska and Sophie had an uneventful year after last year’s drama. They remain permanently separated in their own respective cages and playtimes. It is an exercise in not anthropomorphizing their experience, as they both seem quite content & at peace alone.

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Health & Wellness

Laura enjoying one of her favorite foods, oysters, part of a concerted push to diversify her diet this year

One of Laura’s new drugs

Health remains our top focus.

Much of the year was spent on new doctors, drugs, treatments and experiments to try to improve Laura’s health. With great effort there have been some modest improvements as well as some dead ends. After several years dealing with chronic illness, there is a shift for Laura from seeking diagnoses and cures to instead pursuing an improved quality of life and symptom management. Our plans for next year will work towards those new goals with the assumption that her symptoms will continue to plateau.

We both continue to enjoy weekly Gytrotonic practice. Yoga classes downtown have been let go and in their place, walking has become a new favorite activity. We walk together most days in our neighborhood when the sun has gone down for Louis. The indoor stationary bike also gets some play from us both.

Toe spacers and toe socks

Laura has been working on improving the functionality of her feet, ankles, etc up the postural chain in hopes that it may help her other symptoms. Tension and compensatory kinetic patterns can manifest in many ways so Laura holds some hope that this work could help her to feel better, though it is a long (multi-year) journey.

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Career

Louis continues to enjoy the stability of his journey at Apple. He remains content on his same team with the focus of the static and dynamic linking.

Laura continues to be a full time homemaker. Truthfully much of her time is spent on managing her chronic illness. We hope that she will have more time and energy to focus elsewhere next year.

This year Laura did complete a professional certificate for practicing Onyfix, a medical device used by podiatrists and licensed nail technicians to treat various nail aliments of the feet.

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Home

Laura admiring our new Coast Live Oak

Trees and shrubs freshly planted in their new homes.

The 5 year anniversary gift is one of paper, usually stationary. Laura was spoiled with a somewhat looser interpretation, the gift of 8 trees. Planting a tree is an act of optimism for the future and an investment in making our house our home.

Enjoying candlelit dinner & a laptop movie, Laura ready for cryosleep

In February, we had a 4-day power outage which was great advertising for a battery backup. Perhaps we will move up that project on the priority list…

New rugs for the ADU & a water descaling system for the main house

This year we completed a project we had been wanting to get to since we moved in, addressing the water quality. We had installed a 3-stage descaler and are pleased with the results.

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Hobbies

Halloween kandi

A selection of kandi kreations

Kandi making continued to be a special interest for Laura. This was the 2nd year she made bracelets for Halloween trick-or-treaters.

Laura & Louis’s characters in World of Warcraft (and one of Laura’s familiars, Snippity)

We rejoined the world of Azeroth to play World of Warcraft, a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG). We both played this game separately in the late oughts-early 2010’s. We are having fun getting reacquainted to this classic game.

Fun times with video games of all types

Some titles played this year include Marvel Snap, Death Stranding, Control, Talos Principal, Inscryption, and WoW.

Laura, Louis, Brian & Amanda seeing Dune in theaters

We enjoyed watching the Dune movies this year. Laura listened to the first two audiobooks as well. She has been on a science-fiction media kick for several years now.

Some of Laura’s nail technician work

Makeup tools, techniques and photographing lewks was an interest of Laura’s this year

Embroidery lost Laura’s attention this year. Rising interests were makeup, beauty & skincare. Nails continued to be a passion

Big plants (Blood Banana), Novelties (glow-in-the-dark petunia, RIP to caterpillars), Succulents (variegated G. Superbum), fancy houseplants (variegated H. polyneura)

Plants, as always, are a lifestyle.

Some of Laura’s various “foot toys” for physcial therapy, stretching and strengthening the feet and ankles.

Additional interests for Laura this year included foot function, gait mechanics & postural restoration.

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Fun

Louis after an invigorating Vision Pro session, the future is now.

Laura & Amanda at the San Francisco Orchid show, Laura’s reblooming orchids from Amanda

Laura & Maria shopping at the Oakridge Mall

Seeing the Cirque du Soleil show, Kooza, in San Jose

Shaina, Laura & Louis thrill seeking at the Sacred Heart Carnival in Saratoga

Celebrating Halloween: dressing up & passing out candy / kandi

Louis enjoying various celebrations in style

The Apple party was a highlight of the holiday season so far

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If you made it this far congratulations, you are all up-to-date on the latest news :)

P.S. Please reach out if your name or address needs changing for next year’s cards