Dear Family and Friends,

Happy belated New Year to all of you. We are hoping that this will be a healthy and joy-filled year for all, culminating in a Democratic victory in November.

On a more personal note, this momentous (more about that later) year has begun well for us. Barry has just published an article in an online journal about his step-grandmother, a heroine of the French Resistance during World War II. Check it out at http://www.jewishmag.com/121mag/petite-mama/petite-mama.htm.

On the health front, the year started out well.We met with Dr. Miklos on January 4 where we made the decision not to have any more testing done until May 2, 18 months post-transplant. Despite the results that show the graft staying steady at around 50% Barry, 50% donor, the good news is that Dr. Miklos has pronounced, for now, that Barry is in complete remission. They cannot find any cancer cells, and we are all celebrating that. He feels strongly that constant testing will drive us all crazy, and that as long as Barry is feeling and looking well, which he is, there is no need for this kind of (warrantless) surveillance. Besides which, they really don’t understand completely what the mixed chimerism (50% Barry, 50% donor) means anyway, so it will not be treated.

Barry is in an active email correspondence with his donor. She is a lovely young woman and we are all looking forward to meeting her in person one day. It turns out she is half Ashkenazi Jewish and half Mexican which was quite a surprise to us. So Barry is now ¼ Latina. Go figure.

2008 marks a lot of milestones in our lives. I turn 60 (yikes!) later this month and we’re going to Jamaica to celebrate with our three daughters, two sons-in-laws and one fiancée. So if we are out of touch from 2/15 – 2/23 you’ll understand why. April marks the 40th anniversary of the Columbia Strike and we will be in New York to commemorate those events which were so very meaningful to us. Recognize the handsome young fellow second from the right on the ledge of Low Library in April of ’68?

And in June Barry and I celebrate our 40th anniversary with a trip to Turkey.

We are enjoying living our life in a more normal, yet quieter mode, working out twice a week with our terrific personal trainer, going to our wonderful Saturday morning yoga class, spending a lot of time at home and resuming a much more limited social and cultural life with friends.

Love to all,

Bonnie