The Davis Xmas Letter: 2006

Belated holiday greetings from the Davises. I’m getting a little better, with only two years to catch up on this time – and am glad that we still hear from most of you. It’s been a busy two years. I think of 2005 as the year of the back, and 2006 as the year of retirement and moving.

In 2005 both my mother and Halima had serious back problems. My mother fractured a vertebra and had major surgery, from which she recovered well at 88. She’s now walking with a cane, but has sold the house we lived in since 1953 and moved into assisted living in Minneapolis. Halima went to Morocco with her 8 month old son to visit her family, back pain turned to paralysis while she was there, and she was flown back to the US and had major surgery at the U of Pa. They removed a benign tumor inside her spinal cord and they were not sure she would walk again – but after lots of therapy and determination, she’s walking unassisted. She and Imad also have a daughter now, Eman. Since her degree in computer science has not been very useful, she’s thinking of going back to school in nursing.

In 2006 there were lots of changes: Douglas retired in June and in July we moved out of our house and into an apartment across campus. In fact it’s the same house we lived in for 15 years before the big house, but now we’re one floor up. [Note the new address.] It’s a nice sunny apartment with 3 bedrooms [now partly studies] and we’re enjoying it. It’s taken some time to settle in, but we’re getting there. Moving was hard, though, with downsizing plus it being 100 degrees the days we moved. The other exciting thing we did is have Moroccan friends visit at Christmas; Abdelmoula’s mother Aicha was my favorite lady at the women’s center in Peace Corps days. Doug adds: Doug's answer to the 'How do you like retirement so far' question is blogged.

We’re also trying a new plan, spending about five months each in PA and MN, and two in Morocco. Last spring we found a really nice apartment in Rabat, and enjoyed it; we’ll go mid-March to mid-May again this year. Maybe some of you will visit us – at one of these locations??

I’m still involved with selling rugs on the web, especially for women in two villages. I’ve also been leading cultural tours to Morocco each spring, visiting lots of people in their homes. Douglas says it should be called “American friends of Susan meet Moroccan friends of Susan.” I do some consulting too, and last fall had a grant to study the rural population along the northern coast of Morocco, an area I haven’t worked in before. I still have my rug site, with travel too, at www.marrakeshexpress.org

Laila put the finishing touches on her MA in Public Policy last summer in the Idaho equivalent of a Quickie Mart and emailed it in.  She’s now working in Minneapolis with a non-profit that does restorative justice. She’s still into indy music and film and sees a lot in the Cities, plus has ‘gone green’ and given up her car for a bike. In Minnesota in the winter. Hm.

Do keep in touch; we love to hear from all of you.

Susan and Douglas Davis 791 College Ave. #2 [new] Haverford PA 19041 sdavis@uslink.net