CHRISTMAS 2012
Hello Everyone and Merry Christmas!
This has been a year of great adventures and joys but also one of heartache and loss. Someone recently shared: “You cannot start a new chapter in your life until you stop re-reading the last one.” That was good advice for me this year with the abrupt and painful ending of an 8 year relationship. However, even in the midst of pain, we can find blessings if we keep focused on the GIFT of every day and the precious people like all of you who share this life journey with us.
I have been blessed with many exciting and stimulating trips this year, beginning with a lovely week in the Cayman Islands with my friend, Jane Meyer. She has a beautiful condo right on the beach in Grand Cayman. One of the special highlights for me was getting to swim with the dolphins. I was extremely lucky to have two dolphins, a trainer, and a photographer all to myself for 45 minutes. I was even able to stand on their backs as they swam across the lagoon!
All the kids were able to come for a visit during the year, and in May, my Irish friend, Annie Gourley, and I took a fun trip to the Grand Canyon. We spent a night in Phoenix and then two nights at the Canyon, relishing in the magnificence of God’s spectacular creation.
In June I was delighted to speak at the Society for Human Resource Management international convention for the 11th time since 1997. I love these folks who champion the human level in organizations, and a great deal of my business comes from these conferences. On arriving in the Miami airport on my way to speak in So. America, someone in a large crowd called out, “Aren’t you Barbara?” When I answered, “Yes,” he said, “I heard you speak at a SHRM conference several years ago and loved your message.” It is a small world!
For the first time, I was able to take Gavin, 14, and Kinsey, 11, to the National Speakers Association convention in Indianapolis to attend the Youth Conference. They had a wonderful time, made some new friends, and hope to be able to go again next year. I love reconnecting with speaker friends from all over the world.
August brought an around –the –world trip beginning in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where I was speaking for the TMI / TACK international Conference. There were 200 attendees from 40 different countries. My friend from Illinois, Nancy Cobb, joined me there after a 36 hour trip—Tampa to Detroit to Seoul, Korea, to KL. On the flight from Seoul, I met a lovely gentleman who was a professor at Nottignham University in KL. He invited us on the following Sunday to go to the Batu Caves, and then treated us to a typical Indian lunch and a visit to his family home. We explored KL, including the Twin Towers, and discovered their two passions are food and shopping – much to our delight! 😉 The conference was delightful, and they included us in all the festivities, so it was a wonderful visit.
From KL, we flew to Budapest to join our other friends, Jane Meyer and Phyllis Hendry, for a “Romantic Danube River Cruise.” We were on AMA Waterways, a family owned company which I would HIGHLY recommend, The food, the ship and the service were the best I have every experienced! We visited five countries – Hungary, Austria, Slovakia, Germany, and the Czech Republic. We especially loved Prague, an amazing walking city, the little town of Durnstein, Austria, with its tiny shops and lovely cottages bordered by flowers, and the Mozart concert we heard in Vienna. One of the most poignant memories for me was visiting Terezin, a concentration camp in the Czech Republic.
September included a trip to NYC to emcee the Guideposts national meetings, and In October I had a fun long weekend with my SHRM buddies in Louisville, KY, where we attended the St. James Art Fair for 2 days, played Scrabble and drank lots of wine! I flew from there to Phoenix where I spoke for the Maricopa Health System at the delightful Desert Botanical Gardens. The next day a new friend and I did a tour of Taliesin, Frank Lloyd Wright’s interesting complex.
In late October I was asked to speak in Cartagena, Colombia, for FENALCO, the largest retail association in So. America. There were 1200 people, most of whom spoke no English so there was an interpreter which is always an interesting experience. My friend, Barbara Sadek, came with me and we so enjoyed the Old Walled City, the shopping, the fresh fish (especially the ceviche), and even one night at a nightclub dancing the Merengue! We also had a great adventure at one of only 3 mud volcanos in the world about an hour outside of Cartagena. You can read more about this on my blog, www.barbaraglanz.com/blog.
Although in the last 3 months, I have been on 4 continents and in 8 different countries, my heart is still in the Pacific NW where all my children live. I’ll be in Portland for Thanksgiving and in Seattle for Christmas. Garret still has a wonderful job with Microsoft, Ashley is very involved with the kid’s school, Gavin, 14, is deeply into video games, and Kinsey, 11, loves horses and the theatre. Gretchen and Randy are in Portland, OR, with Owen, 7, and Simon, 5. Randy is head of IT at a local company, and Gretchen teaches electives in photography and arts as a volunteer at the boys’ school. The highlight of the year for the boys was coming to visit me in Florida in March and going for the first time to Legoland. Erin, who just bought her first home in Portland, is a national agent for a company called True Collaborative Fashion which represents 5 socially responsible designers. My favorite, “Prairie Underground,” is available in many specialty contemporary boutiques. Erin does shows in SF, LA, NYC, and LV.
In this new chapter, I have started taking ballroom dancing lessons, I just won a golf lesson, and I am thinking about many options in my life – perhaps even purchasing a second home in Chicago, Portland or San Diego. I feel so very blessed to have my work and family and friends all over the world. Thank you for your love and support. May your holiday season and New Year overflow with joy.
Blessings,
