2003

                                                                     

(sometimes it's hard to get the whole family together)

                                                                               November 29, 2003

Dear Family & Friends,

I think without question, the high point of my year was the Cubs finally winning the World Series. I admit I had my doubts after we lost that 6th game to the Marlins, you know where the fan reached out and kept Moises Alou from catching the second out of the eighth inning with the Cubs in command with a three run lead and unbeatable Mark Prior on the mound. But coming back to win the 7th game and then to go out and sweep the Yankees, that was something else.

This summer Stephen (19) got his first real job, as a milkshake maker at Johnny Rockets at the shopping mall about a mile from our home. This fall he went off to college at the University of Chicago. He is taking a broad range of courses, including Japanese. He has enjoyed the experience so far and seems to have settled in without much difficulty. It is nice having him so close as he has made it home for a couple of weekend visits already.

I admit that I was concerned that Nicole (16) and Christie (14) would not be able to step up and handle all of the household chores with Stephen away. I should not have worried. I don’t know where the notion developed that teenage girls are messy. Not in this family. Those girls just pitch in and do whatever is needed: straighten their rooms, prepare dinner, do the dishes – whatever it takes, no problem. They share a bathroom and they never fight over that in the morning, never. Just as pleasant as can be.

This summer, Suzanne and I decided we should use up our 800,000 United Airlines miles as we feared that the airline would be liquidated and we would lose them all. It was my job to find a place to take the family. Not easy finding a time and place that would meet everyone’s criteria. I was annoyed with Gerhard Schroder and Jacques Chirac so that eliminated most of Europe (well old Europe anyway). As it turned out the only place that we could get to using award travel was Barcelona so that is where we went. I picked a hotel from a picture on Expedia and we bought a guidebook. Despite the lack of real planning we had a great time exploring old Barcelona. It was a perfect city for a family where certain of the family members tend to stay up until 3 or 4 AM. The day trip to the beaches north of the city was my personal favorite.

Nicole is now a sophomore at Evanston Township HS. She took driver’s education this summer. I know those courses are only designed to cover the basics, but it might have helped if that included what to do when you encounter a STOP sign. My time spent teaching Nicole to drive has made her really appreciate her Mom. Nicole continues to do well in school and she keeps busy all year round with soccer and volleyball. Last Christmas we gave the girls wireless-ready laptop computers so now Nicole can watch Law & Order SVU, while playing Sims online, fixing her nails and doing her homework – its called multi-tasking.

Christie is in the 8th Grade. It has to be tough running a middle school. They have to try and contain kids from ages 11 to 14 and so they really focus on RULES and conformity. Not the greatest environment for an independent thinker. Christie does well in school, but would do better if she fit their template for behavior and performance. She continues to be a person who seems to be equally comfortable in a group setting with her friends or in room by herself working on one of her projects or reading. She has her own fashion sense which I don’t think has been labeled yet, but it is much different from her sister’s. Which is why it amazes me that they can have so many fights about borrowing each other’s clothes (Did I say fight? I meant discussion).

Suzanne (43) continues to work for BP. They cleverly moved their offices from the downtown location where their employees could all take energy-efficient trains to work to a far distant suburb (I think it’s in Iowa) so that they can drive hours to work and use more of BP’s products. Suzanne really enjoys that scenic fifty mile drive on Interstate 294. She tells me every morning how much she loves it.

Speaking of energy reminds me that Suzanne and I will be celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary in December. We had to take a Greyhound Bus for our honeymoon trip to Montreal back in 1973 because it was the height of the OPEC oil embargo and you could not buy gasoline on the New York State Thruway on Sundays (gas rationing). Experts were predicting that we would run out of oil in the next thirty years. I guess that didn’t happen.

This fall, in a spur of the moment impulse, I enrolled in a Creative Writing course at the University of Chicago. I was thinking I might like to develop a career as a writer. The good news, I learned, is that unlike business owners, writers seldom lose money. The bad news is that 99.9% of them don’t make any money either.

Yeah, I know the Cubs didn’t really win. That’s why they call it creative writing. Hope you all have a great Holiday Season.

Len, Suzanne, Stephen, Nicole & Christie

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