1999

                                                                                    December 9, 1999

Dear Family & Friends,

Earlier this fall I was flying back from Missouri from a trip to our plant in Willow Springs, Missouri. I had parked at O’Hare, and I knew when I landed that I had one hour to get home in time to pick up Nicole and get her to her soccer practice. I called on the cell phone to let her know I was on my way so she would be ready, and then I drove like a maniac through rush hour traffic using all the shortcuts and alternative routes that I could think of. I made it to the house - called her when I was within two blocks so she was waiting at the curb - and we rushed off to the practice. We got to the field on the other side of town and there was no one there - practice had apparently been cancelled. I was, lets say..disappointed. And I was thinking, does she know how hard I worked to get home so I could take her to this practice? Does she care?

The next day by some strange coincidence I got an email from my Dad responding to a letter I had written about our children’s soccer games. He was reminiscing about how when I was in High School he and my Mom made it to every one of my football and basketball games. And I realized that I had never thanked them or even considered that there might be other things that they might have been doing with their Friday nights and Saturday afternoons - especially given that our High School basketball team won a total of one game while I was a starter (my Senior year they stopped starting me and we won a lot more games).

Suzanne, as you might expect, is not prepared for the Millenium. She would like six more months to get ready. We have not stockpiled any critical resources, unless all those empty QVC boxes in our basement turn out to have some value. Over the last three weeks Suzanne has been working on a transaction with people in some other part of the BPAmoco Empire. I don’t know where they work, but they don’t seem to recognize Thanksgiving or weekends and they start work about 6 PM our time and they work until about 4 AM which gives Suzanne at least an hour off before she starts her regular shift. It occurred to me that if we could hire people like Suzanne we would only need half as many employees.

Stephen is a Freshman at Evanston Township High School - which has about 2,600 students. (I get lost everytime I visit). He played on one of the Freshman Soccer teams and is doing well in School. As an average student, it is hard for me to advise Stephen since his academic record is, well, sort of perfect. I look to Suzanne to give him guidance. (She was not perfect, but she wanted to be.) He is a good kid and helps around the house - most of the time. He listens to tapes of groups that I have never heard of, dresses in those fat jeans and Tee shirts and does not tell us much even when interrogated by his Mom, so I guess he is a more or less typical teenager.

Nicole is also a typical teenager and has been for five years. She is twelve now, and in her first year at Chute Middle School (this is the first year that every child is at a different school). Last spring she won the 400 Meter race at the all Evanston Track Meet and was recruited to join a local Track Club. That resulted in a month of driving to races in parts of Illinois that I had had no need to ever visit before in the twenty-five years that we have lived here - they really do have a lot of corn fields in Illinois. And as difficult as it might have been for my parents watching my basketball team lose by twenty points, it can not have been more of a challenge than to drive for two hours, sit at a track meet for FIVE hours and then watch a race that lasts about 65 seconds. (I guess I am glad she was not running the One Hundred Meters). She is a great soccer player and as much as I try to not be the bragging parent, it is truly exciting to watch her play.

Christie just turned ten and had a nice quiet sleepover with eight of her closest friends. I did not scream at them to turn out the lights and the TV and the stereo and to stop jumping on the couch until 4 AM - which shows how much more patient I have become. I think Christie could make friends with someone on a short elevator ride. She loves to visit with her friends - and this skill has not gone unrecognized by her teachers - who often mention it when we have our conferences.

She plays AYSO soccer and is taking swimming lessons and has even tried an early morning Tae Kwan Do class at her school. She has a kind and gentle nature and it occurs to me that I should have asked her to write about her parents instead of her sister, Nicole but I didn’t, so here is what Nicole had to say:

My Dad asked me to evaluate THEM this year. I guess so he could edit it and take out all the stuff we said about him. I don’t really know what to say since my parents haven’t changed much. But if you think that this means my Dad is a completely nice, wonderful always encouraging guy, then I’m going to have to set you straight. He’s always critissing me and really is not that wonderful or FUNNY! He laughs at his own stupid jokes and is always protesting that he’s “Down” or “With it”. Yeah right! My Mom still watches too much QVC and Home Shopping Network. She also gets a bit moody sometimes. She seems to be getting shorter by the minute. Now, not only is Stephen taller, but so am I! She thought that she might soon be the shrimp of the family and I assured here she would. That’s all I really have to say about my moody and “down” parents.

Well, she is right about the moodiness, but I would never critisssize Nicole even if she can’t spell.

Hope you all have a wonderful and safe Holiday Season.

Len, Suzanne, Stephen, Nicole & Christie

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