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December 10, 2002

The holiday season is upon us, and it’s time once again to recap the events of the past year. It doesn’t seem possible, but this year has passed even faster than the last one! Where does the time go?

Sue and Tim are still in the same jobs as last year. Sue is a technical planner for the VM team in Endicott, New York, and Tim has been working with various customers in both shipbuilding and aerospace engineering. Both are able to work from home most of the time, which is a blessing.

Chris is halfway through his third year at the University of Michigan, where he is majoring in Computer Science Engineering. He is doing very well in school (no surprise there – he’s a hard worker), and he expects to graduate a semester early, in January of 2004. From there he will certainly go directly to graduate school; he is just starting to consider his alternatives. He turned twenty-one this year, another milestone.

Chris continues to lead an active sailing life. He is active with the University of Michigan sailing team. In addition to sailing, he is the Development Chairman on the Executive Committee. Michigan competes in the Midwest College Sailing Association, and he was all over the Midwest this past fall. The highlight of this fall’s season had to be the weekend that the Michigan “big boat” team went to King’s Point New York for the Intercollegiate Offshore Regatta and came home with the first place trophy, beating teams from many prestigious eastern universities. During the summer he raced at least two days a week on Lake St. Clair, and he ran the bow of an IOR 50-footer at the Verve Cup Regatta in Chicago in late August. He also crewed on a J-35 at the Youngstown Level Regatta and LYRA Regatta on Lake Ontario.

Chris also assembled this year’s crew for the annual Port Huron to Mackinac Race. The crew was made up of college sailors from Michigan, John Carroll University, and the University of Wisconsin. Sue stayed ashore to drive the support vehicle, and Tim went along for the ride. While the finish wasn’t good, everyone agreed that it was a great experience. The crew kept their heads in the boat, and never lost confidence, even in the face of a hundred mile beat to the finish!

After the race, Tim and Sue took ten days to bring the boat back home. It was a great trip, and included stopovers in Rogers City, Presque Isle, and Harrisville. Their final transit was 110 miles from Harrisville to Sarnia, a long trip to be sure, but very satisfying. Along the way they celebrated their twenty-sixth wedding anniversary.

Sue and her horse Clint continue to improve. Clint has been very successful on the show circuit this year, with both Sue and others aboard. Sue suffered a mild setback in August when she ruptured her Achilles tendon in a jumping accident. She spent time in both a hard and soft cast, and a couple of months in physical therapy. She is making excellent progress, however, and has been back riding and jumping for more than a month. She says that she and Clint have returned to their pre-injury form – they are regularly jumping over three feet now, and are looking forward to the spring shows.

In mid-November, Tim and Sue went to Toronto for a weekend to see the Royal Horse show. They went with some friends from Sue’s barn, including her trainer. The highlight of the weekend was the Grand Prix jumping show on Saturday night. Even Tim was impressed!

The whole Metcalf extended family came to Troy for the Thanksgiving weekend. It was the first time in several years that the whole family was together, as Chris was home and Tim’s brother and his family made the 14-hour drive from Rhode Island to be there.

It has been a good year for us, and we hope for you too. Best wishes for an enjoyable holiday season, and for a challenging and rewarding new year. If your travels find you in the Detroit area, please stop and see us.

Sue, Tim, and Chris

Go to our 2002 Highlight Photos