December 1997 (written by Thom)

It's been a wild and wonderful year out in the country and as usual, there have been many changes and lots of excitement in our lives. However, 1997 seems to have been the year of weddings.

In February, Barbie got married in Colorado and I was asked to give the bride away. Then, in May, our friends Stef and Hien got married and Ian and I were the wedding coordinators. This was one of the more unusual weddings I have ever been part of in that there was a Man of Honor and a Best Woman. As they had been living together for years, this was more of a celebration for all their friends than a formal wedding. In August, Kathleen got married, and finally, our friends Chris and Sue got engaged, and we just heard that Carrie has also got engaged.

The beginning of '97 started with all the Inaugural festivities in DC and the surrounding hoopla was loads of fun. The whole Smith-Martin family hit a bunch of the inaugural balls and celebrated Clinton's inauguration with great style (although Val was most unhappy that Cliff insisted on pulling up to the Millennium Ball in his new Ford Ranger, which Val said - a. did not look too classy, and b. made getting in and out in her ball gown extremely ungainly as the seat was about 5 feet off the ground!). Regardless, it was loads of fun.

In June, Ian and I took our friends Susan and Laura on a whirlwind tour of the U.K. It rained every day, but we ignored that and we went from pub to pub, taking a few sights on the way. We zoomed through London, Cambridge (where we punted down the Cam drinking wine and scaring the other tourists), Durham and various castles throughout the countryside. Eventually, sick of the rain, we hopped a plane and spent two days of decadence in Amsterdam before heading home.

As usual, in August, we went for our long weekend with a bunch of friends' whitewater rafting in Pennsylvania and then headed up to Fire Island for a week. I had never been there and was amazed at this tiny island off the coast of New York - there are no cars or road, only tiny boardwalks connecting the houses and restaurants. It was founded in the 1920's by New York artists and is utterly beautiful and relaxing.

August to November was the Renaissance Festival and we spent most weekends out there completely outfitted. It's always so much fun and we are planning to go to the Colorado Festival next year. It was at the RenFest that Chris proposed to Sue, which was very romantic and resulted in a raucous afternoon.

We're now getting ready for our Christmas party and Christmas itself, so all in all, it's been a busy year so far!

The big news for 1997, however, is that I quit my job in May and decided to go private. Martin Medical Services opened its doors in June and we have just hired our first employee and signed a lease on an office. I am doing medical public policy and government affairs consulting as well as arranging public and healthcare informational meetings. It was very stressful at first; but Hoffman-La Roche signed me on retainer, and I have done three conferences so far and have many more lined up for 1998. I am also working on Du-Pont Merck, Celgene and Home Access for retainer contracts, so we are both breathing sighs of relief (Ian has told me, however, that I have 24 months to make a fortune so that he can retire and be the pool boy!). I have been traveling and have been to Denver, Mississippi, Florida, and New York (four times) in the last two months - the frequent flyer miles are racking up!

Health wise, we are both pretty good. Both of our counts are up, however, so these protease inhibitors seem to be working and there are many new drugs in the pipeline so, knock wood, we will be around for a lot longer. It's hard to believe that we have been living with this crap for 12 years now. On that note, we are quite excited as I am working on the pharmaco-economic model of AIDS and may be asked to present it in Geneva next year at the World AIDS Conference.

Our many animals are well, and we have two new kittens, Emma and Sabrina, who live in the stables and feast on all of the moles, rabbits, and chipmunks, which spend the summer eating all of my lilies. We planted over 5000 tulips, daffodils, and other bulbs this fall so next spring should be rather spectacular. We still feel that moving here was the best thing that we have ever done and have made many new friends over the last year.

That's about it for this year. We wish you and yours health and happiness in the New Year and hope that 1998 will be wonderful.

All our love