From fires to rain

Hello again, it's been a while. Several significant developments of late; the fires are all over, thank God, and winter has started a bit early. San Diego got a significant storm about 10 days ago, and now it's raining again. Currently, I'm in Riverside, CA, at UC Riverside, with a group of high school students doing a campus tour, in the rain. I'm beginning to think we're in for a wet winter. But that's not the "big development". My dad's been diagnosed with cancer, but fortunately it's been caught early, stage 1. The lymph system appears to have been affected, however, and the doctors are discussing strategy and therapies. I'm flying back in a few days, just to spend a little time with them. My mom's worried sick, probably more than is necessary, it doesn't appear to be life-threatening. Of course, it's still a major concern, and everyone (especially my dad) wants it behind us. This little experience landed up being the subject of my Christmas letter this year, it's had a profound effect on me too.