Happy New Year, friends and family! Welcome to 2025.

Anne and I have been married for 20 years. Sylvie is 17. Evan is weeks away from 13. In all of these years, we’ve never gotten it together to write an end-of-year letter to commemorate the major and minor life events of the previous twelve months. This year, at Sylvie’s urging, we’re giving it a go. I hope it’s been worth the wait. (Or, after you see the length of this letter, you may be thankful that it only comes once every 20 years.)

It’s been a particularly full year for us. Lots of travel and new experiences, many moments and milestones to celebrate, and a few losses that have been tough.

Sylvie

Sylvie is a junior at Albert Einstein High School. She started the college search this year and took her first unofficial tours while we were on spring break in Pittsburgh in March. We learned that if you post one family member outside a campus building with the dog while others are touring inside, you can gather lots of intel from undergrads who stop to ask if they can pet your dog.

Also in the spring, Sylvie took a backstage role in the costume shop for her school’s production of Beauty and the Beast. She learned a lot about how to quickly repair broken zippers during scene changes and how to avoid the scent produced by teen-sweat-soaked Beast wear. It was fun and educational for her, and we all enjoyed the production, especially the costumes!

If you know Sylvie well, you know that she’s a big sports fan. She’s been wearing Steelers jerseys since the day she was born, literally. (More on Sylvie and the Steelers in Mark’s section.)  

Following her passion for sports, Sylvie started playing field hockey as a freshman, and she loved it (well, except for the running). She had to take the 2023 season off following major jaw surgery (orthognathic, not injury-related). She continued to be part of the action as the team manager—schlepping equipment, keeping stats, and cleaning bird poop off of sticks when needed. This fall, Sylvie was finally back on the field as a member of the JV team. While not making varsity was a hard hit, she persevered, was a JV captain, and got a ton of playing time. She’s committed to keeping up with training this coming year and doing off-season clinics to continue to build her skills. We’re really proud of her resilience and commitment.

Sylvie got her driver’s license on November 8, and we’re all enjoying her new-found freedom to take herself where she wants to go. She even offers to give her brother a ride sometimes. With her learner’s permit, she’d driven on almost all of the long trips we took throughout the year and never made us nervous. Except for that one time. (What happens in Ohio stays in Ohio.)

Evan

Evan is in the 7th grade at St. Anselm’s Abbey School, a small Benedictine boys school in D.C. One of his favorite teachers this year is Father Peter, an 85-year-old, robed monk who teaches earth science, drives around campus in a golf cart (“The Monk Mobile”), and is known for his sharp and occasionally biting sense of humor.

After Evan’s theatrical debut as an Oompa Loompa in the school production of Willy Wonka in Fall 2023, he continued his stage career as one of the narrators in the spring production of James and the Giant Peach. He joined the cast for the school production of Newsies! this fall, but this time with some reluctance. The show has a ton of dancing and choreography, which was a new challenge for Evan (and pretty much the whole cast). 

After months of rehearsals, the cast performed to a sold-out house for every show, which was a school first. Evan was part of the ensemble as a “Newsie.” Several relatives traveled to see his performance, including my sister Jill and brother-in-law Jim from Boston, Anne’s parents Pat and Al from Knoxville, as well as second cousins Abby and Clay who are now living in the D.C. area. Between these visitors and our local friends, Evan had a solid fan club at each show, and he really appreciated their support.

The kid who thought he was not and would never be a dancer is ready to put his jazz boots and tap shoes to the test again! We owe a special thanks to our neighbors, the Fishers, for those basement practice sessions that got Evan over the hump and willing to audition.

Anne

Anne turned 50 in July. She’s not one for big parties, so she planned a bunch of dinners out with local friends and took a few weekend trips with others during the year. Her biggest celebration was with her college friends, all 1973 and 1974 babies. They went to the Isle of Palms, near Charleston, in early August, where the heat was too oppressive to go outside. But the weather didn’t matter because they still did the things they always do on these trips—cook, eat, drink wine, nap, repeat. 

Anne shared a milestone birthday year with her mom, who turned 80 in June. Al is right on Pat’s heels, turning 80 in January. They’re both in good health overall and still able to drive to Silver Spring to visit us a couple of times a year. And we still manage to put Al to work on house projects each time they’re here. 

Anne has really gotten into pickleball in the last couple of years and plays weekly with a group of friends. I always know when one of them can’t make it, because that’s when she asks if I’m interested in playing. 

Also really taken with Newsies!, Anne’s 2024 Spotify Wrapped was completely dominated by songs from the show. She asked Evan if he could talk to the director and get her into the cast. He (Evan) kindly said “no” and explained that he thought she “might stand out too much.”

Anne is going into her 20th year at Circle Yoga Cooperative in DC, and she’s been the Executive Director for 10 years. She took a break from teaching yoga back in 2019, when they were in the middle of a renovation project at the studio. That project was completed in February 2020, and then you know what happened… It took nearly 5 years for the studio to recover and get back to a place where she felt like she had the bandwidth to teach again. Because teaching is so different from the day-to-day demands of running a small business, she’s happy to be building that muscle again. She also feels lucky to work with great people at Circle Yoga.

Mark and the 2024 family travelogue

Summer started with a bang when I began a 25-week sabbatical from The Motley Fool. I had earned 5 weeks of sabbatical for every 5 years of employment, and I’d been at The Fool for 25 years. So, on June 1, I bid adieu to Zoom meetings and said hello to my true calling: sloth.

Six months of time off gave the family and me time for travel like we’ve never had before. Evan and I kicked off the summer with a 2-week whirlwind of doing all sorts of tourist stuff in the DC area that we’d never done before, like going to the top of the Washington Monument, visiting the Spy Museum and the NSA Museum, and exploring a bunch of other things. It was a blast.

In mid-June, we left for our first trip off the continent as a family. For her 60th birthday, my sister Jill rented a house in Castro, Italy, for the month of June, and she invited family and friends to come visit. We were in Castro for a week and had a really great time: eating fantastic food, swimming in the pool and the Adriatic, eating gelato, and learning some history along the way. We also got to spend some great quality time with Jill, my brother-in-law Jim, my nephew Ian, and his girlfriend (now fiancee!) Rachel. Such a great time. Thanks, Jill!

After our week in Italy, we spent 6 days in London. Highlights of that leg of the trip included the food at Borough Market, riding the Eye, seeing Hamilton (which Evan had never seen), the Tower of London, Shakespeare’s Globe, and touring the Churchill War Rooms, where I picked up a little something: a fresh case of Covid. I shared that souvenir with Anne and Evan after we got back home. Sylvie got left out.

At the beginning of July, I drove Sylvie and a few friends to UNC Chapel Hill for a four-day field hockey camp. While they were brushing up on their skills, I spent a few days by myself on Lake Norman, near Charlotte, where I took an eFoil lesson. What’s an eFoil? Picture a surfboard with a hydrofoil mast descending from the rear. Imagine the surfboard is just a giant battery, and at the bottom of the mast is an electric motor. Now picture that motor propelling me forward and the hydrofoil lifting the whole board 2 or 3 feet out of the water. Now picture me falling. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. That’s eFoiling in a nutshell.

Later in July, we all went in different directions:

Evan went to Camp Hidden Meadows in West Virginia for 2 weeks. He really enjoyed making model rockets, learning some cooking skills, and making his own decisions about when to brush his teeth and change his underwear (read: basically never).

I met up with Jay and Trent, longtime friends from my hometown, for a boys weekend in Potter County Pennsylvania. North-central Pennsylvania isn’t everyone’s first choice for vacation destinations, but it is very secluded and has some of the darkest skies on the east coast. It also is home to the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon. We lucked out with clear skies and cool temperatures, perfect for hiking, biking, and slightly boozy stargazing.

Anne, Sylvie, and Sunny visited Anne’s parents in Knoxville. Sylvie got a bonus visit with her cousin, Elsa, who was visiting from San Francisco at the same time. (Elsa is the oldest daughter of Anne’s brother Tom, and 2 years younger than Sylvie.) Sylvie and Elsa painted candles together, made Boba tea, shopped, and toured the UT Knoxville campus with Uncle Mike Cate. They also had fun hanging out with Cousin Lucy.

August was busy with trips I took with each of the kids. Sylvie and I drove to Latrobe, PA to attend a day of the Steelers training camp at Saint Vincent College. She was aghast when I saw a player in the #3 jersey and asked, “Who’s that guy?” Of course, it was Super Bowl winner Russell Wilson, our new starting quarterback that we acquired from Denver in one of the biggest trades in recent Steelers history. She just shook her head at my ignorance and sighed.

After practice was over that day, we drove to Pittsburgh for lunch and then to Canton, OH, to tour the Pro Football Hall of Fame the following day. We then drove on to Newark to visit my parents.

Two days later, it was Evan’s turn. We drove to Sandusky, OH, for a long day at Cedar Point where we rode just about every roller coaster there that’s worth riding. Most were great, but we both decided that the experience of riding the Magnum XL-200 was the same as getting continually pummeled in the groin. Not great.

After Cedar Point we spent a day and a night at the Kalahari resort, because Evan loves indoor water parks. It was fun, but not as good as Great Wolf Lodge. Lesson learned. After the Kalahari, we drove down to Newark to see Mom and Dad. Then, home again.

Things calmed down a bit when my travel buddies had to go back to school and work. Sylvie and I managed to squeeze in a late September trip to Pittsburgh for the Steelers vs. Chargers game. We were joined by her friend Aelis and her family, who are die hard fans of Justin Herbert, the Chargers quarterback. The Steelers won 👍.

I did a solo 3 day trip to Tangier Island, VA in early October. Tangier is a small island in the middle of the Chesapeake. Because it is sinking due to rising water levels in the bay, it may not exist in 50 years. I decided to make it a “tech detox” weekend, leaving my phone on the mainland and bringing only 3 books and an old journal to occupy my time. I’m happy to say I survived being so disconnected, though it made checking into my AirBnB challenging. I enjoyed the quiet time away.

In late October, I met up with my best friend Jay to go to another Steelers game in Pittsburgh, a long-standing annual tradition. It was momentous for being the first start for Russell Wilson, old #3 from a few paragraphs above. The good guys beat Aaron Rogers and the New York Jets 👍. I can’t remember the last time the Steelers lost a game that I attended in person, so clearly I’m a lucky charm.

A tough year for my parents

My parents had a tough year. In January, my dad was diagnosed with bladder cancer which sent him on a year-long journey of chemo, radiation, and surgery. My mom kept track of all of the appointments and medications and my dad dealt with all of the physical unpleasantness that treatment brings upon you. I’m happy to report that in November he was given the all clear, which was a relief for all of us. I was glad to have had the time to get over and see them several times during the year to visit, especially with the kids. Mom and Dad always say they enjoy the chaos that we bring to their home.

An unexpected new start

My sabbatical from The Motley Fool was slated to end on November 25th. A few weeks before that date, I met with my boss to talk about what the options were for roles I could take on when I returned. I’d been hearing that there had been a lot of turmoil in the company in the months I’d been gone, a continuation of a year and a half of turbulence that had preceded it, so I wasn’t completely surprised when one of the options put in front of me was a buyout offer, giving me 12 months of salary and 6 months of full benefits. After a little discussion with Anne, I decided to accept the offer. I recognized that, after 26 years, the company and culture I enjoyed for so long had gradually disappeared. The idea of trying something new was appealing.

It says a lot about me that my favorite fictional character is Travis McGee, a self-described beach bum who lives on a houseboat in Ft. Lauderdale. If you’ve had something valuable stolen, swindled, or lost, and you can’t get it back any other way, Travis will recover it for you and take 50% of the value as his fee. This allows him to take his retirement in installments every time he makes a score, using it as a cushion until he finds another prospect. So, I’m unemployed with a nice cushion. I’m going to extend my sabbatical mindset for a few more weeks before thinking too hard about what I want to do next. It’s kind of exciting. It’s a little uncomfortable. But there are much, much worse things.

The worst thing

One of the reasons I was pretty unphased by the buyout offer was because it came on the same day that I got the worst news I’ve ever received: my best friend Jay and his wife Teresa lost their 14-year-old child suddenly.

Jay and I have known each other since we were 12. We’ve been through a lot together, much more than an average friendship for sure. But there’s been nothing quite like this. It is a singular tragedy.

Tragedy forces focus and reflection. In my reflection, I’m thankful and amazed at the good fortune I’ve had in my life. I’m thankful for my parents. I’m thankful for Anne, Sylvie, and Evan. I’m thankful for my brother, sister, and all of my extended family. I’m thankful for my friends, near and far. I’m thankful for my health and the health of my loved ones. And in my focus, nothing is clearer than the fact that nothing is guaranteed.

A tribute to Uncle Mike

At the end of August, we travelled to Texas for the memorial service of Anne’s Uncle Mikel Haug. Mike was a fantastic guy and will be greatly missed.

Mike was a proud evangelist of all things Texas, especially BBQ. He introduced me to the joys of City Market BBQ in Luling and Smitty’s Market BBQ in Lockhart, but I can honestly say that the best brisket I ever had was Mike’s own. When Anne and I got married, we asked Mike if he could supply his brisket for the main course at our rehearsal dinner. Looking back, it was a pretty big request, requiring hours tending the smoker and some real creativity to figure out how to pack all of those pounds of beef into his luggage, but it was a request he gladly fulfilled. He was happy to do it because he could brag to his BBQ buddies that his brisket was so good that his vegetarian niece specifically requested it for her wedding celebration. High praise, indeed.

Mike was a teacher and life-long resident of Seguin, Texas, which embedded him deeply into his community. His wide circle of friends was evident in the huge turnout of people wanting to say goodbye to Mike and offer support to Deb, his wife. After the ceremony, aunts, uncles, cousins, and in-laws gathered at a rented house on the banks of the Guadalupe River. We feasted on local BBQ and drank from pitchers of margaritas made to Mike’s exacting standards — nothing but liquor and fresh lime juice. Kids swam with ducks in the warm waters of the river until the sun set. It was a great reunion and the best of Texas. Mike would have loved it.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch

Right around the time we left for Mike’s service in Texas, builders started a renovation project on our house, one that has been in planning for almost three years now. The project includes a new front porch, a screened-in porch on the side, a new shower in our downstairs bathroom, and a 3-foot dining room extension. Things are happily well underway. So, if you come see us in a few months, we can hang out on one (or both!) of the porches and drink some of Uncle Mike’s strong margaritas. And I guess you can take a shower downstairs, if you really want to. Weirdo.

Randomness

This is just a bunch of randomness that I felt like dropping in. If you’re this far in, maybe you’ll keep reading for a couple more minutes.

Anne and I saw one comedian live this year, Nate Bargatze. Great show. If you don’t know him, I feel confident saying that you’ll like him, no matter who you are. Check him out on Netflix.

I didn’t attend too many concerts this year, but what I saw I really enjoyed. Highlights were the Ratboys, Wednesday, and the Drive-By Truckers on their 23rd anniversary tour of the Southern Rock Opera record. Sylvie invited me to take her to see Andrew Cushin at DC9 which was her first small club rock concert, and I took Evan to see CG5 at The Atlantis, which was his first club experience 🤘.

I have a group of friends in Silver Spring known as the Middle Aged Fanclub (hi guys!). We compete against each other in a thing called Music League. The gist is that periodically one of us (Marcus, the Commissioner) picks a theme and we all submit 2 songs that we think best matches the theme and will be appreciated by the group. A playlist is generated, then we all vote on which songs we like the best. After voting, winners are announced and the snark begins. We’ve been doing this since Covid and it’s a lot of fun. So far, we’ve compiled 94 hours and 36 minutes of music from these competitions. Anyway, I say all of this just so I can let you know that this year I came in 2nd place once, 3rd place once, and one time was in a 3 way tie for 3rd place. It may not sound great, but it’s probably the best I’ve done, and it’s a pretty competitive group, so I’m proud of it.

While I’m bragging, our pub trivia team won once and came in 2nd and 3rd once each, I think.

Which brings us to today, December 9th, 2024. It’s finally getting cold. The Steelers are 10-3. Christmas and New Year’s Day are right around the corner. We hope that you’ve had a good year wherever you are, and we wish you a happy 2025. Remember, as life, and The Bear (my favorite TV show of 2024.. and 2023.. and 2022), drives home: Every Second Counts.

Sincerely and lovingly,

Mark, Anne, Sylvie, Evan and Sunny

p.s. Drop us a line if you feel like saying hi! Mark is at 202-421-3756 and mark.kennedy at gmail and Anne is at 202-441-7043 and anne.kennedy at gmail.