Merry Christmas and Seasons Greetings! We hope you all are well and have had a good year. 2025 was a mostly good year for our family. The main event was the birth of Claire Monroe Linger on January 11. She is Noah and Meredith’s second child, joining her brother Joseph. Claire is a happy baby, content most of the time and able to entertain herself well.
The other major event of 2025 was a sad one. Laura’s mother Nan died unexpectedly in July. She was 91 and was doing well, living independently in her house. She fell and broke her hip, had immediate complications, and died in just a few days. We had expected her to be with us for several more years. We are happy that she lived a long and happy life. She was able to care for her husband Joe as she wished; she remained in her home and never had to deal with being dependent, and she was in good health until her final brief illness. She had the blessing of living to see her great-grandchildren. For the first time in 200 or so years, there are now no members of Laura or Craig’s family living in Kentucky.
Laura and Craig are fine. We have had a busy year babysitting, traveling, and tending to Nan’s illness and affairs. We took two wonderful camper van trips, one in the spring to west Texas and New Mexico, another in the fall to New Jersey, southern New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Cape Cod. We saw our Kentucky friends on our way to and from New Mexico. On the New England trip we were able to visit with Nathaniel and Lisa on the way up through Virginia, met up with Thomas and his girlfriend Annie outside of New York City, then spent time with Craig’s medical school friend Neal and his wife Lynn in Falls River, Massachusetts, and visited Craig’s college friends Phil and Peggy in Boston.
Nathaniel and Lisa continue to do well in Roanoke, Virginia. Nathaniel continues to enjoy his work as a emergency room physician and continues to split his time between the big referral hospital in Roanoke and a small community hospital in Lexington, Virginia. Lisa continues to work as an arts program coordinator at the big university hospital, and continues to manage her dance troupe. They enjoy their bulldog and their neighborhood and friends and church.
Noah and Meredith have a busy household in Raleigh. Joseph now almost three, and Claire almost one, are both happy, healthy children and do well at their daycare. Noah’s job with Slalom Consulting continues to go well. He helps big companies with big data. Meredith changed jobs this year and now works as a Physician’s Assistant at a large cardiology practice. This has been a good change for her and she is enjoying learning lots of new things. They like Raleigh and enjoy their neighborhood and friends and church.
Thomas continues to do well working as a self-employed jazz pianist in New York City. He has plenty of work; he plays somewhere most days of the week. He performs in all sorts of places from restaurants and bars to storied Manhattan jazz venues. He plays with many wonderful musicians and he loves his work. He spends lots of time with his girlfriend, Annie Tai. She is a classical pianist and grew up in Hong Kong, Singapore, and San Francisco. Thomas continues to live in his same apartment in the Sunnyside section of Queens. He has lived in New York for eight years now.
Again, we hope you and your family have a Merry Christmas and a happy and healthy 2026.
Here are some pictures:
