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Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Return-Path: <trebornotham@yahoo.com< Received: from rly-yb01.mx.aol.com (rly-yb01.mail.aol.com [172.18.146.1]) = by=20 air-yb05.mail.aol.com (v70.20) with ESMTP; Wed, 22 Mar 2000 09:37:53 -0500 Received: from web114.yahoomail.com (web114.yahoomail.com [205.180.60.86])= =20 by rly-yb01.mx.aol.com (v70.21) with ESMTP; Wed, 22 Mar 2000 09:37:20 -0500 Received: (qmail 22513 invoked by uid 60001); 22 Mar 2000 14:37:19 -0000 Message-ID: <20000322143719.22512.qmail@web114.yahoomail.com< Received: from [195.110.144.206] by web114.yahoomail.com; Wed, 22 Mar 2000= =20 06:37:19 PST Date: Wed, 22 Mar 2000 06:37:19 -0800 (PST) From: Robert Hampton <trebornotham@yahoo.com< Subject: Please forward to Liz! Thanks Chi! To: catsag@aol.com MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=3Dus-ascii X-MIME-Autoconverted: from 8bit to quoted-printable by mailman.enron.com id= =20 SAA01177 ATTENTION: This is a lengthy e-mail! Avoid eyestrain! Print it before you continue!! Dear Liz, I wish I=01,d been at the house when you called the other Friday. Robert and I were scrambling about attending to a dozen last minute errands on our last full day stateside. Just that morning he had interviewed at Flint Hill School, a K-12 private school in Oakton, and came back beaming. He hit it off with everyone he spoke with, and they let him know they would offer him the job - Director of Technology - as soon as they checked his references! The Headmaster called the following Weds night with an offer and said he=01,d have the contract in the mail the next day. Of course he assumed Robert would want to discuss it with his wife - as of February 16, 2000, that=01,s me!- before accepting. Thursday night, two weeks ago, Robert called him back to deliver a resounding =01&I accept!=018. He=01,s very excited about the job, a truly promising and stimulating change from strictly teaching. The school=01,s policy is that all administrators must teach a class, so he=01,ll be keeping one foot in the classroom. We were SO very relieved that the salary offered was more than we expected, and we believe we=01,ll be able to live comfortably. Very good news considering that there=01,ll be no second income any time soon for this future NoVa household! Unless I sell a screenplay or start a home-based business down the line - Avon calling?, Tupperware Parties?, Mary Kay?, Amway? medical billing? stuffing envelopes? The Hamptons will, after all, be back in the Land of Opportunity!!! His job starts late July, and we=01,ll stay with my parents until we can find a good place to live. I=01,d like to live as close to the school as possible so he=01,ll be spared the hardships of commuting. The Vienna Metro - the last stop on that line - isn=01,t far from the school, so we could also consider living near other stops back down the line where he could ideally walk to the station and ride from there. That area out there is unknown territory in my experience. Vienna is as far as I ever got while growing up in Langley. I'm hankering to make a home these days, so I'm excited at the prospect of hunting for one. And of course I'll have Mom's seasoned advice and assistance. I even have a few boxes of housewares still in storage at my parents from when Philip and I lived on 10th Street in New York. They haven't seen the light of day in almost 15 years! I have no idea what I'll find when I open them up! Robert has acquired very little, mostly books and CDs, living solo for so long. This is fortunate because shipping belongings to the States from here is bound to be a complicated chore and expensive as well. As much as Robert has enjoyed life here in Roma since arriving in the fall of 1988 to work at the American Overseas School of Rome (where he has been teaching ever since), we didn=01,t seriously consider remaining here. Job opportunities are very limited for someone who is not a citizen of the EU. In that respect it=01,s rather a dead end. For me the charms and pleasures of city living in general are few and far-between at this time in my life. And I find the urban living conditions here even harder to cope with than in the U.S.. The noise and air pollution are greater, and the traffic seems far worse and more chaotic - inadequate roads, more automobiles, and hordes of infernal, spewing, deafening motorbikes that don=01,t observe even the most basic of traffic laws and make every trip an obstacle course. But my greatest pet peeve? The clouds of cigarette smoke everywhere you go! It really is nauseating and spoils the pleasure of eating out or going to a cafe or coffee bar. We flew back to Rome Saturday March 4, having spent 3 weeks with my parents on Hampton Ridge Drive in The Hamptons - how fitting! Robert Hampton was entitled to 2 weeks matrimonial leave (Italian Law!) and the third week was the school=01,s mid-winter vacation. My doctor had no objections to my flying in my 8th month, so I wasn=01,t uneasy about it. Our flight to D.C. via Newark was a breeze because we were on a less-than-full 777, the biggest, most spacious, and most comfortable plane I=01,ve ever experienced. Our return flight was another story entirely - a DC10, cramped, stuffy, packed with passengers (many were bible-toting pilgrims to the Eternal City), dreadfully dry air- it was miserable! It took me almost a full week to recover from that night and the jet lag. Of course at this stage in my pregnancy I=01,m experiencing the occasional acute discomfort, but for the most part it=01,s been a trouble-free 8 months. What a unique sensation it is feeling the baby bumping around in the womb.! I can=01,t help but laugh much of the time, it=01,s such a curious sensation and sight! She=01,s been very active all along, at all times of the day and evening. I=01,m glad to say most nights I sleep quite soundly. Baby is due April 6th, two weeks from Thursday, and the school=01,s spring vacation is April 15th - May 2, so Daddy=01,s Home!!! Mom will be coming over as soon as her 2nd granddaughter is this side of the womb. We returned to find Spring has arrived here! with lots of birdsong and flowering all around: cherry and almond blossoms, mimosa (a new sight and scent for me), daffodils, daisies and violets. I must say I=01,m glad our daughter will be arriving at this balmy time of year. We are still undecided about a name for her, but we agree we=01,d like it to be Italian in honor of her birthplace. We=01,re told she may even be entitled to Italian citizenship! But as with all things regarding Italian law and its interpretation and real-world application, one never knows until one dares to enter the byzantine and infernal world of Italian bureaucracy! We went to the Italian Embassy in D.C. with our marriage certificate in order to get a proper visa for me (tourists are only permitted to stay in the country 3 months at a time), only to learn that the only one that I could apply for is impossible under the circumstances! Because Robert has been residing in the country, he is required to request from the authorities here that his spouse join him. Then once his request is granted he must send the appropriate paperwork to me in the U.S. where I in turn approach the Embassy for the visa. And we learned the other day that the waiting period here just for an appointment to make the initial request is 5 months! There=01,s a possibility that because I=01,m pregnant and have already joined him here I can get some kind of residence permit. We wanted me to be here legally so there would be no snags when it comes time to register the baby=01,s birth. It=01,s all rather exasperating. Even the American Embassy needs to see my divorce certificates in order for us to register her birth with them! I had to go rummaging in my parents=01, basement to find them, and it will be the first time I=01,ve had reason to present them to anyone! The last 8 months have been eventful, to say the least! Our romance started in Waterford (where I was housesitting for the summer) the first weekend in July, and it started with a conscious, expressed, and mutual desire to have and raise a child together. We=01,ve known each other since living in Charlottesville in 1981, and curiously enough he met both Philip, in New York in 1983/84, and Tom, when he and I spent a few days here in Rome in November of 1990 just a couple of months after we got married. Also, we=01,d spent time together over the past couple of summers on Block Island, and I=01,d visited him here back in January of 1998. But not until this past summer were we both truly unattached and free to get involved. We feel it was a beautiful twist of fate that I got pregnant right away. The fact is I=01,d read for years that it can take much time and effort for a woman my age - I turned 40 in October- to conceive. We feel such joy and promise being together and are looking forward to joining the rest of you in the secret society known as Parenthood! Robert is the most wonderful and sweetest man I=01,ve ever been with. He is so good-natured and even-tempered and bright. Life with him just gets better and better. I do hope our daughter has his disposition! So you can see why we felt it was fitting that we get married in Waterford! We arrived in Virginia on Sunday the 13th and made our way to the Loudon County Courthouse in Leesburg on the afternoon of the 15th to get the license. One doesn=01,t need to be a resident of Virginia, and there is no waiting period since the state doesn=01,t require blood tests. Caroline had already made inquiries about the civil ceremony. They aren=01,t performed at the Court House but the Office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court provides the names and numbers of =01&local civil marriage celebrants=018. We called around Monday and found that Mr. Fred Howard was willing to come to Waterford the morning of the 16th. The woman who completed the license for us asked us who would be officiating. We answered and she exclaimed, =01&Well, he=01,s right behind you!=018. We turned around where we stood at the counter and saw a portrait on the wall identified as Fred Howard, Clerk of the Circuit Court, 1969-1981! It turns out both he and his wife are natives of Leesburg. He was a delightful and gracious man, and we were so pleased with the ceremony. The fact is we=01,d given almost no thought to the =01&event=018 itself! Caroline made it truly memorable by making a cake and a bridal bouquet, buying champagne, dressing us that very morning, and taking photographs. I=01,d bought a loose-fitting size 16 deep blue velvet floor-length sleeveless shift on Monday at Marshall=01,s for $10, a haphazard purchase I made on the fly while shopping for an interview outfit for Robert. I=01,d also bought some special tea from Paris at Sutton Place Gourmet across from my parents and packed 4 of Grandmother=01,s best teacups, thinking we could have a tea ceremony of sorts to mark the occasion. Out of the blue (the result of Caroline=01,s prompting!), Robert appeared in one of Charlie=01,s suits! It sent me into a panic - my casual black wool turtleneck under my dress wouldn=01,t do now! Caroline came up with a long and flowing ivory silk blouse and a string of pearls that complemented my dress perfectly. And so the wedding party - Caroline, Charlie, Walker, Robert Michael Hampton, and Jacqueline Walker Brock - took their places in the cabin before Mr. Howard who shortly thereafter pronounced us husband and wife! (No matter that there were no rings to exchange! I=01,ll be looking for one here in Rome. Robert has never worn a ring and is reluctant to do so. Perhaps a tattoo is in order! ) And then we were able to go outside for a photo session because the weather that day was so balmy. Two days later snow and sleet arrived, but for the rest of our visit the weather was very agreeable and temperatures were warm and spring-like most every day. I would love to hear from you! I=01,ve been meaning to get in touch for months. How=01,s Y2K treating the Cox family of Houston? How did you celebrate the New Year/New Millennium? I understand that you=01,ll be going to Tina=01,s wedding with Ella and that Alex and Lucy and Kate and Chi will be there as well. That should be both a memorable reunion and curious event! Boy was it shocking to learn that Mrs. Pafenburg died and that Mr. Pafenburg is now living with Tina and suffering from Alzheimer=01,s and requiring a full-time attendant to look after him. It truly makes me appreciate the good health and life that my parents have. E-mail me when you can! Hope all is well with you. Love to you and Grant, Ella and Sam, AND HAPPY SPRING!!!! Ciao, XOXOXOXOXOXOX, Jacqueline __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com
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