December, 2004
Dear Family and Friends,
Happy Holidays to all of you. We've hit another milestone
since our wedding three years ago. We finally joined the club of
home ownership.
For us, this was a big deal. We're in our mid-thirties and
it was only now that we felt we could settle down for more
than a year or two. However, we had no idea what it meant to
purchase a home. We just knew that we wanted a home that could
fit our baby grand piano, with a nice kitchen, and close to work
and stores. By October, after looking at dozens of homes, we
settled on a one year-old house, located in a new neighborhood close to downtown
Orlando and to Florida Hospital,
where Vince works.
In November, we finally closed the deal. Despite some
earlier research, as first-time home buyers we didn't fully
understand all those bewildering issues regarding insurance,
taxes, escrow, home association, etc. And with the time to be
spent on home maintenance and improvement, would we have time for
anything else? Vince bought himself a manual-reel mower and a
pair of shearers to do the lawn work; Grace gives him 6 months
before he gives up and hires a professional lawn care company.
Prior to the events above, we were fortunate to be taken
in as family guests of Linda Lukman and Aileen Peng, who allowed
us to stay with them until we were able to find a home. They
provided unparalleled hospitality to us and made the transition
from Washington to Florida much easier. And the transitioning
was all but routine. We were reluctant to leave the West Coast,
saying farewell to wonderful friends at the end of August. Then
our flight from LA to Orlando was delayed for days due to strong
winds and rain--oh, yes, we call those hurricanes. After
arrival, we waited and waited for Vince's medical license to be
approved to start work.
Finally, things started coming together. While waiting for
the license, we took a three week trip to Southeast Asia, mainly
to visit Grace's mother in Penang, but also to see relatives in
Singapore and the sights in Bangkok, where she's never visited.
After almost two months, Vince was finally able to begin work,
as the eighth man in an infectious disease group that sees
patients in five hospitals. Though the working lifestyle of a
clinician is certainly much more intense than what Vince had
been used to in Public Health, his learning curve for infectious
disease skills and knowledge has been high. Very soon, he hopes
to be involved with some of the activities of hospital infection
preparedness and control that the training at CDC has given him.
From LA to Atlanta, to Seattle, and now Orlando--it's
exhausting to have moved so often in the past three years. We're
finally settling down, and grateful to have a place that we can
really call home.
Wishing you a joyous holiday season. Love, Grace & Vincent
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