2023 Annual Letter from Mike and Michele
Happy New Year from Mike and Michele! It was another year full of travel, family, artistic swimming, real estate, and art. Writing these annual letters has been a really nice way to reflect on the past year, and notice how quickly a year can zoom by! This was the first ‘post-pandemic’ post-cancer year of our marriage, and we lived it up. Maybe we took one too many trips, but that’s in the past. It was a much better year for my health. In 2022 I had four surgeries, in 2023 only one. In 2022 I did 18 rounds of chemo, in 2023 I did none.
It was also a big year for artistic swimming. I performed with Raindrops at some glamorous pool parties, and competed in London, Kagoshima Japan, and Oro Valley, AZ. In Oro Valley both my trio and team won National Championship gold medals in our age group. I became a national level judge this year, and in February of 2023 I had the huge honor of being named the 2023 Inspirational Athlete of the Year at the Multnomah Athletic Club, where I swim. I won for practicing and competing while receiving treatment for breast cancer.
As I said, maybe Mike and I went a little too hard on travel this year. We went to Disneyland with our friends Evan and Marlena in January. Mike has been talking about going back ever since. We went to Europe in June, visiting Amsterdam, Luca Italy, Copenhagen, Gothenburg Sweden, and London. In Amsterdam we visited my college friend Bert, in Gothenburg we celebrated Midsommar with friends, and in London I competed in the International Gay and Lesbian Aquatics Championships. After not enough time home we left again for Japan. The motivation to go to Japan in August was to compete in the World Championships, but I have to tell you, nothing could drag me back to Japan in the August heat and typhoons. We had a great time despite the challenging weather, and are looking forward to visiting again during a different time of year. We ended the year with a trip to Pennsylvania to visit family, and a really nice weekend with college friends in Pacifica, CA.
Our careers also picked up this year. I had the joy of helping many wonderful, generous, kind, clients buy and sell homes this year. I could not be more honored to have their trust and support. Mike had a big year. He changed studios, opened a cafe, and made lots and lots of people happy with his pumpkins, ghosts, and gravestones for halloween. Right now he is focusing on Wonderwood Springs, his cafe in St Johns, and opening mini golf in February of 2024.
Despite how it sounds, it was overall a cozy year, mainly spent cozy at home with Audrey and Frankie watching Below Deck. I spent probably a solid month trying to decide what colors to paint our laundry room (I didn’t nail it and had to paint twice). We have a new rug, a new dining room table, and I’ve been told I should stop redecorating. I also started sewing this year, and it’s bringing me a lot of joy. The cats say hello from the heating pad and the laundry room window… they aren’t getting up, sorry. Hope you had a year full of health, happiness, and as many cat snuggles as you can handle.
Cheers to a happy 2024,
Michele and Mike