13 Years in Amsterdam, 39 Years Together

Three-Nine — in Paris celebrating 39 years together

Sharene and Harrison’s 2025 Christmas Update

As we write this, it’s exactly 13 years since Fred Koot, our real estate agent (and now friend) gave us the keys to our house in Amsterdam. And a set of keys went to our contractor (and dear friend) Co de Wagemaker, who has spent uncountable hours here working with us to make it a home. It’s been a beautiful ride with so many fabulous experiences. In fact, while we will always treasure our 10 years at Hale Kakahi (our magnificent home in Hawaii), our Amsterdam home is our favorite. After all these years, we are still in love with the Netherlands, Amsterdam, our European family and friends, living in Europe, and we love our life. Grateful is not a big enough word. What a great ride it has been, and we are hopeful that we have many more miles (or kilometers!) to go.

Health Update

Sharene has now fully recovered from her two hip replacements and is walking and biking with renewed energy! Harrison’s Parkinson’s symptoms are still mild and have progressed very slowly over the past year, and with a low dose of a dopamine replacement medication, his quality of life is still very high. Thanks for asking!

Around the World in 55 Days

In 2023 we discovered Baan Khaolak Beach Resort in Khao Lak, Thailand (thanks Regina and Uwe!), and it has become our annual destination for a winter sun break. We have been spending 3–4 weeks each February in Thailand, but this past winter we decided to extend our time away with a trip to Hawaii, which we hadn’t visited for nearly 10 years. How do you get from Thailand to Hawaii? The most efficient way turned out to be via Japan, and since we had never been to Japan and might never be there again, we figured we should see it, too.

So our winter sun break became a 55-day round-the-world trip. We flew from Thailand to Japan and spent 10 days on a partially guided tour of Osaka, followed by Kyoto, then a vain attempt to see Mt. Fuji (completely cloud-covered), and ending in Tokyo. Next we flew to Hawaii, and over the next 20 days we visited Honolulu, Kauai, Maui, and the Big Island, seeing friends on each island and having the special treat of staying for a few nights at Hale Kakahi. From Hawaii it took two overnight flights via JFK in New York City to get us back to Amsterdam. Eleven airplane flights, 12 accommodations, taxis, trains, rental cars — and amazingly, everything worked and neither of us ever got sick!

We’re trying something different this year. We have way too many photos to post, so Sharene created slide shows covering different parts of the year and we turned each slide show into a YouTube video. Most individual photos don’t have captions, so you may wonder, “Who are these people?” But if we saw you this year, you’re probably in one of the videos, along with some beautiful scenery. Here’s the first one covering the Thailand-Japan-Hawaii trip.

Our Busy Summer

Sometime in late spring, Sharene bought a few packs of bright yellow “Hello Summer” napkins (she loves decorative napkins) and started taking pictures of us and our guests with them. The project took on a life of its own and this video memorializes our wonderful experiences starting in late spring and extending into early autumn.

A Quieter Autumn

Things slowed down — a bit — in October, but we still stayed busy with visits to and from friends. Sharene spent a few days in London, we visited Madrid for a long weekend, we had a traditional American Thanksgiving dinner (with a turkey!) at Monica & Jan’s, and in December we took the high-speed train to Paris to celebrate the 39th anniversary of our first date.

Many thanks to our talented friends Stephanie Trick & Paolo Alderighi for their arrangement and performance of the music in this video, We’ll Meet Again.

As we close this year, we are especially mindful of dear friends — and Sharene’s sister — who are facing life-threatening illnesses. We are thinking of you with love and gratitude for the ways you have shaped our lives. We wish you comfort, compassion, love, and aloha, and we thank you for the richness you have brought to our world.

On a lighter note, we have a nice suggestion for you to start the new year: watch the New Year’s Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic. It originates at the historic Musikverein in Vienna and is broadcast worldwide via TV and stream. Each year’s program contains a different mix of waltzes, overtures, marches, and other fun music by Strauss and others, but the concert always ends with the Blue Danube Waltz and the Radetzky March as an encore. In addition to video showing the orchestra, many pieces accompany dancers and beautiful Austrian scenery. Most European countries broadcast the concert live (starting at 11:15 am CET January 1) on one of the national TV stations. In the U.S., PBS airs the concert at 8 pm ET on the 1st (check local listings) and streams via pbs.org and the PBS App on the 2nd. It’s all feel-good music and a positive start to 2026.

Happy holidays to all!

Love, liefs and aloha,
Sharene & Harrison