SMALL MOMENTS

Our Christmas letter didn't develop this year. Instead, we sent a postcard with a selfie taken at San Francisco's City Hall where we went to pay our property taxes. On the other side of the card was our new address. That's all, no note about events, accomplishments, dead animals, or new cars that populate so many annual letters, including ours. Our life this year has been so full of moves (5), the resulting decisions needed, and many explorations of new places we are surprised that we are still speaking to each other. A busy time indeed. When we asked ourselves what we did last Christmas, we couldn't remember. We must have had dinner with Theo and Rose, our son and his long-time girlfriend. We must have met friends for a holiday get-together. We must have gone to holiday events, but they are all gone from our memories like snowflakes that pile into mounds of snow ready for someone to lie down and with sweeping arms and legs make a snow angel of them.

Our trip to City Hall was memorable, not just because of our tax payment. Under the rotunda at City Hall with its broad staircase leading to the second floor, we watched as a line of brides and grooms waited their turn to walk up the steps to the next floor. They would stop midway to take photos and continue up the stairs to the chamber where their marriage became official. What a treat for us to watch the couples, dressed in beautiful gowns and good suits accompanied by friends and family, a day full of promise for them. To celebrate the joy we felt as we watched the parade and remembered our own wedding, we placed our camera on the ground and snapped a selfie with the ornate ceiling as our backdrop. A day in a busy year to remember.