2005

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                                                                                                          December 9, 2005


Dear Family & Friends,

Great Moments in 2005

The College Trip

Nicole will be entering college next fall and Christie will be following in two short years. I come up with a great plan to combine summer vacation with a whirlwind tour of Syracuse, Cornell, University of Rochester and RIT. We can hit them all in 72 hours. My plan includes perfect weather and enthusiastic teenage girls. Like most military campaigns, reality refuses to follow the plan. This picture is taken on a bridge to the Cornell campus. We have been walking for an hour…most of it in the wrong direction… it is 102 degrees…and humid…the girls lack enthusiasm…no one wants their picture taken. It’s the high point of the tour.

Christie’s Birthday Party

Every day I drive the girls to school. They are, like their mother, not morning people. On the good days they don’t speak to each other. They have different styles. Nicole is sort of mainstream, Christie is in a totally different stream. One day Christie has deployed her emphysema-red eyeliner, which circles both eyes and continues in a jagged line to her hairline. “It looks like you have moose antlers drawn on your head,” her older sister tells her. She likes to help that way.

I don’t notice anyone else on these daily drop-offs that dresses like Christie. Maybe I’m a little worried. Then she invites her girlfriends over for a party. They are all really nice kids. Christie is the conservative one in the shiny red hair.


Evanston Girl’s Volleyball

Nicole is a setter on the Evanston Township HS volleyball team. Volleyball’s much more complicated than I remember from gym class. I try each year to learn the rules, but the volleyball czars keep changing them. This year they add a libero. No one knows what that is.


The team is special. The girls are very athletic, but what makes them exceptional, is that they play as a TEAM and they have fun. If a player blows a shot her teammates shout encouragement. Their enthusiasm is contagious. I find myself cheering as loudly as Suzanne. Well, not that loud, but you can hear me, I’m sure.

They make the playoffs and roll through the first two rounds easily. They are in the Sectional Championship against Niles North. Evanston wins the first game 25-23. They lose the second game 25-22. The third game goes back and forth. Evanston leads early; then Niles regains the lead; then Evanston rallies. Suddenly it’s over – Niles wins. The girls are inconsolable. They don’t know that they are Champions.


Emily   Nicole   Sydney Holly      Melissa



Cleavage

This summer Stephen gives up his promising career as a milkshake maker at Johnny Rockets for an unpaid position as a lab assistant at the University of Chicago. In the fall he begins his 3rd year at U of C as a Chem major. He continues in the lab. We have long discussions about his work observing cleavage reactions of molecules such as Fibronectin (shown below).

He says he works with other molecules also, but Fibronectin, with its interesting internal homologies and its non-homologous connecting strands becomes my favorite. When he is done cleaving molecules, he indicates he might take the Med school boards.

Weddings

For the second year in a row we are able to convince one of our nephews/nieces to get married in upstate New York so we can all gather for a big family reunion. Last year it was my sister Carol’s son, Adam who married Meg in Canandaigua. This year my sister Kendra’s daughter, Kathleen, marries Chad in Skaneateles.

Kendra realizes that despite the Rehearsal dinner, the Bridesmaid luncheon, the Wedding and the post-wedding brunch, there is nothing scheduled for the Thursday before the wedding so we decide to celebrate our parents’ 60th Anniversary, even though they have only been married 59 years and 10 months.

It’s not a surprise (not a good idea to surprise folks who are close to 90), but it’s a really great party. And the wedding that weekend on the shores of Skaneateles Lake is awesome (except for the bees). Suzanne and I remind our children they have only 28 years left to get ready for our 60th celebration.

Hope you all have a great Holiday Season.


Len, Suzanne, Stephen, Nicole & Christie


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