2004

                                                                                     December 5, 2004

Dear Family and Friends,

I took a Poetry course last spring. As we awaited the late arrivals one evening, three of the six women in the class of eight were talking about their babies – all of them had kids under two years old. One of the women turned to me and asked if I had any kids and I said proudly, “We have three teenagers!”

They all stopped talking and stared at me with a collective look of fear, awe and sympathy. I told them that their babies were going to grow up to be teenagers one day and it really wasn’t that bad, but I don’t think they were convinced. Maybe it was just my imagination, but after that they seemed to go a lot easier on me when we critiqued each other’s work.

Christie, our youngest teenager, will turn 15 this month. She is in her first year at Evanston Township High School, joining her favorite sister Nicole who is a junior. For years I tried to get Christie to run with me, but she refused, claiming it was too boring. Then, this fall I hurt my knee and stopped running and Christie immediately went out for the Cross Country team. And she did really well. Of course she was well rested having spent most of her middle school years sleeping, watching television and playing video games.

Christie has her own distinct fashion sense. Today we went to church and she was a brunette (hair color changes weekly) with gold highlights. She wore a short skirt with fishnet tights a baggy sweatshirt and her trademark furry white boots which Nicole has pointed out are not really boots, but slippers. And she had little black teardrops painted on her cheeks.

Nicole will soon be 17. She played JV soccer in the spring and was on the Varsity volleyball team in the fall. This summer she got her Driver’s license. I promised not to write anything embarrassing about that experience. I can tell you that there are 14 pictures of the Illinois Secretary of State in the Deerfield facility and that they have several really mean examiners. And if you are thinking of buying a new car, we now know that the rear bumper of a Hyundai is no match for the front bumper on an Acura.

Nicole is starting to think about college, but so far she has not wanted to burden us with her plans. I keep suggesting really expensive schools and that strategy seems to be working as she has eliminated all those schools from consideration.

Stephen turns 20 this week. He is in his 2nd year at the University of Chicago. His courses this year include Japanese, chemistry, some kind of advanced math (the kind where they don’t actually use numbers) and a literature course where they read exciting stuff like Machiavelli’s “The Prince” and St. Augustine’s “Confessions”. Stephen’s view was that Augustine could have used a good editor, but I think it might be that his wife and kids deleted all of his really good stuff.

Stephen has his mother’s commitment to studying and hard work which is good because I think he has found this second year to be quite challenging. In the summer he continues to work at Johnny Rockets as chief milkshake maker and dishwasher which is probably excellent motivation to stay in school.

Stephen comes home occasionally on weekends to visit his parents and sisters. Coincidentally, many of those weekend family visits occur when his girlfriend Ali, who attends Boston University, is also home. Those kids sure do miss their families.

This summer we closed the engine remanufacturing business in Phoenix that my partner Tom and I had operated for the last fifteen years. We sold the equipment and the Phoenix house so I no longer fly off to Phoenix every other week. I don’t miss O’Hare and United Airlines, but I do miss seeing Tom and Carol and all of my Phoenix friends. I liked the business despite its difficulties. Now I have to find a real job.

Suzanne is doing well at BP as a Managing Attorney. She has a long commute, but in typical Suzanne fashion, she uses the time on the way to work to call her Mom, listen to audio-books and call me with reminders on school events and Doctor’s appointments that I need to attend to. She avoids rush-hour traffic on her return by not leaving the office until midnight.

Suzanne was concerned that I might get bored or frustrated as I searched for a new opportunity so she provided me with a list of about 50 home improvement projects. I replaced a faucet (which is still not leaking after two weeks) and I would have completed a few more projects, but I had to spend a lot of my time monitoring the Cubs’ pennant drive and taking care of SAMMY. Wait till next year.

Hope you all have a great Holiday Season.

Len, Suzanne, Stephen, Nicole & Christie

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