Dear Friends and Family,

Season’s greetings from sunny Florida!

Manuel and I hope that your holidays are blessed and that they bring each of you peace, love and joy.

The big change for us is that we moved from our Tennessee lake home to Florida in July 2020. The sloped property in Tennessee became too much to maintain. Living there for six years was a dream come true as I was able to be closer to my sister, Nadine, as well as my niece, nephew and extended family. We also made many dear friends in our neighborhood, who we miss terribly.

We strongly considered moving to the Colorado Springs area where Manuel spent much of his life. However, we settled on Fernandina Beach in NE Florida, where the level terrain, proximity to “home” (for us both), and the ocean was most appealing.

Fernandina Beach is the northernmost city on Florida’s Atlantic coast and is located on Amelia Island, which is halfway between St. Augustine, Florida and Savannah, Georgia. The awesome beachy vibe, abundant beautiful state parks, and wonderful restaurants really captivated us when we were looking for our next area to settle down. We welcome any of our friends or family who would like to visit. We even have a long driveway with room for an RV with a 30 amp plugin.

On a more serious note, we have all gone through a tough couple of years, possibly the most difficult in many of our lives. Manuel and I send heartfelt and sincere condolences to those who have lost loved ones.

Although the last two years have been trying, we have also heard wonderful news of weddings and grandchildren. Just so you know, we’re jealous! This pandemic has brought many families closer, and has been a wake up call for many.

Our lives remain busy in Florida. I personally feel I have less downtime since making our big move. The lack of a true winter here makes it difficult for me to take a break from my never-ending ‘to do’ list, and while I try to make a conscious effort not to impose on Manuel’s well earned downtime so that he can relax and enjoy retirement, sometimes I fail!

My hobbies, such as gardening, raising Monarch caterpillars and butterflies, caring for our critters, and making efforts to beautify our home and landscape are what bring me joy and keep me busy.

Manuel enjoys reading, helping me with my projects, and working in his workshop. The man has every tool ever made! Weather permitting, he also enjoys swimming, and he has recently taken up riding his bike again.

We are both focused on settling in here and making this home and property all that we want.

We have sold the RV! Although we will miss it greatly, we may indulge ourselves again in the future. Last spring we drove to California to visit our son, Aria, and his beloved fiance, Nina. We were also able to meet up with dear friends along the way while taking every road off the beaten path, as we usually do, and even spent a couple of nights in one of my personal favorite spots, the Mojave Desert. Traveling with Audrey, the cat we found during our prior trek, as well as Alex and Opal, our two dogs, tipped the stress scale quite a bit. Worrying about Audrey successfully escaping into the wilderness took much of the joy out of the trip for me.

Aria and Nina currently live in the redwood forest in Santa Cruz, California with their beautiful shepherd (Loba), Lil Kim (Queen Kitty), and numerous chickens and ducks. They will be setting an imminent date for their wedding, though the pandemic has made scheduling difficult. Both Aria and Nina have been working partially remotely for the last two years. Aria is a Northern California territory manager for a natural foods brokerage company. Nina works for a non-profit social justice law firm at Berkley.

Our daughters, Nadia and Natasha, live in Williamsburg, Brooklyn in apartments that are only a few blocks from one another. Nadia works at a big law firm in Manhattan as a project manager (among a long list of other responsibilities). Natasha works in client relationship management at WW Corporation (Weight Watchers) in Manhattan. Both have been working remotely full time since the pandemic, which has allowed them to visit us in Florida more often and for longer periods. We have enjoyed their visits with their boyfriends -- Patrick (Nadia) and Travis (Natasha) -- though it greatly saddens us that Aria and Nina are so far away and not able to visit as often.

One thing for which Manuel and I are most grateful is that each of our children have proven themselves to be indispensable assets to their companies.

This pretty much wraps it up for this clan. We would love you all to know that although we aren't the best at staying in touch, we love our friends and family and miss you all. We hold each of you in our thoughts and prayers.

Kim (Brewer) and Manuel Bettencourt