Well. 2024 has been quite the year! And a lot of changes in the Collier household. Naomi and Tartan started the year off with a trip to Davis Mountains State Park in West Texas, and a hike on New Year’s Day along the Fort Davis trail. (Fort Davis itself was closed on New Year’s, so we hiked back a couple of days later and enjoyed visiting the historic fort.)
While enjoying our time away, we made a decision: I (Tartan) would retire this year, on July 1st. This gave plenty of time to wrap up various work efforts and transition them to the person who would take my place as the Wells Data Principal engineer. Part of this “wrap up” included a trip to Pau, France followed by Edinburgh, Scotland, both as part of the “OSDU” industry effort I’ve worked on for several years. (Two notable items from this: While in Edinburgh, the delegates to the OSDU meeting had the opportunity to eat dinner at Edinburgh Castle! And in October at the fall meeting (after I retired!), I was recognized for my contributions to the OSDU data definitions working group; it was quite the honor!)
From Edinburgh, I went straight to our offices in Bangalore, India to visit the Wells Digital and Upstream IT team members, and share my “parting thoughts” with them. It was an enjoyable but bittersweet time. I got to have dinner with individuals and team members, learned how cricket scoring worked, and figured out the metro system, which might come in handy should we decide to visit in retirement.
Also in the spring, our beloved Creekside Bible Church made the difficult decision to close. It seemed clear that we had “accomplished the mission” that God had for us as a church, and that by selling the building we would have the opportunity to bless many other ministries financially. So, we had our final service in June and completed the sale of the building soon afterward. Naomi and Tartan are now attending The Haven Church in Old Town Spring and absolutely love it; the people are wonderful and the “small church” feel is what we’ve grown accustomed to.
The first week of retirement sort of set the pace for what was to come: we had several days to prepare for a direct hit from Hurricane Beryl, and the following week or so without power as we cleaned up in the aftermath. Then it was off to Denver for a week (where Alex is working), then to Ajijic Mexico for 10 days (this was our second trip of the year, as we went to Ajijic in February over Valentine’s Day), then to Emeryville to visit Kyrie and Nick (and a tour of Pixar!).
In September, Tartan went to Kenya to visit the church we’ve helped start there – Creekside Hilltop Bible Church. It was a great trip; you can read about it on Tartan’s retirement blog.
October saw us preparing to host Abigail and Gilbert’s wedding. After a Hogwart’s Escape Room experience for Abigail’s birthday, it was suddenly time for the wedding. And on The Day, November 2nd, it RAINED. And not just a sprinkle or two. It poured. Fortunately, everyone was flexible. The vows were exchanged during a lull in the rain, and the reception party worked just fine in the giant pavilion tent we had set up in the backyard. It was a day the newlyweds will never forget, and portended Good Luck for the marriage, as everyone was quick to point out! Abi and Gilbert went to Ireland for their honeymoon and had a great time.
This year also saw Aidan transfer to Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas to pursue a degree in Forensic Science. And he continues to participate in a D&D group with friends a couple of Saturdays a month.
Kayleigh has been taking classes at Lone Star College, is working as a full-time nanny to her cousins, took dance classes, and performed in National Youth Theatre’s “Guys and Dolls” this summer. She’s been busy!
We look forward to 2025 and everything that is ahead. Here’s hoping that your upcoming year is a blessed one, and that we all have amazing things to share with each other when we look back at the end of the year!