I've had an interesting year. On January 1, 2003, Carla and I decided we would sell our house and move with our two daughters to the South Pacific. We started packing and were surrounded by boxes for weeks and weeks.
Five months later, we were on a plane bound for Rarotonga. It was wonderful (no stress, living in a house next to the ocean and walking barefoot everywhere) and awful (the baby got antibiotic-resistant pneumonia and the hospital sucked, lice, tropical sores, ceaseless weeks of rain).
Four and a half months after that, we were back in Los Angeles. We bought a car (a neat Scion Xb) and a house the first week we got back. We lived at Carla's mother's house for two months.
Now we're in our new house, surrounded by boxes, and I feel like I haven't been anywhere or done anything. Rarotonga, Aitutaki, New Zealand, and Australia seem like a daydream I had while shuffling around these boxes.
Happy holidays to all of you. I appreciate all the great suggestions you've submitted to Boing Boing. And many thanks to David, Xeni, and Cory for all their wonderful entries!
— Mark
