Magical times

Ian handed in his book on Friday; 603 pages of comparative private international law on his current topic - European unification of the recognition of registered partnership rules. It's really a very good work. The topic is a Gordian knot that Ian's conclusions have managed to cut through. The conclusions are deceivingly simple; however, they appear simple only because of his clear and focused writing. What is as amazing to me, though, is that after working in on it for four years, he managed to hand it in a day ahead of his deadline. I'm incredibly proud of him.

Neither of us have had a break for awhile, so we've been ignoring friends and many of the other things that make life worth living. Over the past week, our very good friends Chris and Janine got engaged! Last night we finally got together with them at their house and celebrated Ian's good news along with theirs. We all agreed that this is a magical time that we'll all look back on as one of the best in our lives. Lots of firsts for all of us.

While we were there, Chris offered to loan us their snorkeling gear for our upcoming trip to the Black Sea. He probably should have done that before we started in on the wine...