December 2007                           

  Dear Friends and Family, Sevgili Arkadaşlar:   

 

Once again, we are filled with warm feelings about the holidays and want to wish you the best in the coming year. 

 

The happiest event in the Yackleys’ lives in 2007 was the marriage of Ayla to Simon. The Istanbul wedding celebration lasted 12 days, culminating with a weeklong Blue Voyage honeymoon with friends in a gullet yacht on the Aegean Sea. Wedding guests flew from the U.S., the U.K, Central America, the Far East and Europe.  Simon, who is from southern England, seems happy living in Istanbul and studying Turkish.  He will tour with his band Stereolab in the U.S. and Europe this spring and summer, and we hope Ayla will tag along so we can see her in Chicago. She continues to work as a correspondent for Bloomberg News Services in Istanbul.

Other exciting developments included my receiving the 2007 Mate E. Palmer Communications Award from the Illinois Press Woman’s Association for my book “Never Regret the Pain: Loving and Losing a Bipolar Spouse”. In the spring, I traveled with 22 friends to Prague, Vienna and Budapest and spent a couple of weeks with Ayla helping her prepare for her big day. I had a lovely time in Colorado Springs in July, took another group of friends on a tour of western Turkey in September after Ayla’s wedding, went to my 50th high school reunion in Phoenix, Arizona in October and spent two weeks at the Tennessee Fitness Spa, a wonderful place for body, mind and spirit. I would love to have you join us next November (see www.TFSpa.com).

 

I continue speaking on mental health issues and serving on the boards of International Women Associates and my condominium building.  I have not missed an opera at the Lyric for last four seasons and enjoy our subscription to three different theaters. I love having John and Joe stop by for breakfast  (even if it is for only 10 minutes) and manage to work out at the gym most days of the week. I do my best to keep up with friends, and am thrilled to help people with their travel arrangements to Turkey and elsewhere.  You are invited on a 10-day trip to Sicily and Malta over Easter and a wonderful journey to Turkey’s Black Sea region and Cappadocia next August (see my Web site www.selyackley.com).

 

John is busy with his asset-management business Be Free Investments (www.befreeinvestments.com) and active with Libertarian causes.  Joe passed his comprehensives and is focusing on a dissertation topic at the University of Chicago’s Near Eastern Languages and Civilization Department.  Both spent several weeks with their aunt and uncle (Nil and Torhan Berke) in Germany and Turkey.  Joe also was in France, Spain and Morocco over the summer. 

 

At this time of the year we are remembering those who are no longer with us, and praying for our friends who have had setbacks and tragedies in their lives.  We continue to hope for a greener, more peaceful world and savvier leaders. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and Mübarek Bayram.

 

Please keep in touch.

 

Sel Erder Yackley   1000 N. Lake Shore Dr. #1608  Chicago, IL 60611 selyackley@yahoo.com