Oh my gosh, where did this year go??
For us it seemed like a blur with so much going on. For this writer, senility has struck, as specific events for past year have become difficult to remember. The new term is a "senior moment," but when we finally remember, we refer to it as "passing a brain stone."
It has been a busy and prosperous year for young Anthony. It seems like just a few years ago he was a toddler and then playing T-ball. Reality struck and struck hard this year, Anthony turned 16 years old and has made an academic move to the San Dieguito Academy. He is very active on the varsity squad of the Speech and Debate Team, competing in tournaments in Long Beach, La Mesa, San Diego and Carlsbad.
Not only is Anthony swinging lots of verbiage, but a tennis racquet as well. He is very active at the local tennis club and is hoping to make the varsity team at school. Tryouts are in the early spring of 2001. Anthony also spent several weeks at camp in the Los Angeles area. Following in his father's footsteps, he expects to return next year as a CIT, Counselor in Training. After returning from camp, Anthony and his mother traveled to Florida to visit his grandmother.
Carol, however, remains footloose and enjoys retirement to the fullest. Thank goodness she is no longer on the freeways during rush hour. She traveled to Hanford, California for a birthday party for a close friend, to New York/New Jersey for a spell to visit the family, not to mention the myriad of weekend trips. Not only does she travel at the drop of a hat, she can be seen at the local adult school taking ceramics and working with gourds. (All right, for you punsters: she is definitely "outta her gourd.")
She has become a full-fledged docent at the local botanical gardens: Quail Botanical Gardens. She completed the required hours and is now an authority on native plants of the Southwest.
THEN, as if that is not enough, she has learned the basic tax laws and regulations and has become a volunteer for the organization for which she has become a card-carrying member, the AARP, the American Association of Retired Persons. In 2000, she assisted members of AARP in completing and filing their tax returns. She enjoyed that so much she is going to do it again in 2001.
Last, but not least, our worthless cat. His day has become as exciting as this writer's: gets up in the morning, stretches, eats, sleeps, stretches, eats, sleeps, goes outside, uses the outdoors as a liter box, come inside, eats, sleeps, stretches, eats, sleeps, goes outside, uses the outdoors as a liter box, come inside, eats, sleeps, stretches, eats, sleeps, goes outside, uses the outdoors as a liter box, come inside...well you get the idea.
What will 2001 bring??
Our wish for the coming year is that it will bring peace, prosperity and good health to all the readers of this letter. We also hope that in our lifetime a president will be named. We also hope and pray that the NASDAQ will come back off its lows.
Anthony will finish his sophomore year and begin seriously preparing for college entrance in just a few years.
Carol will continue to marvel at the daily enjoyment gleaned from retirement and who knows what activity she will take on next.
And me? Still working, still playing with the radios, still watching time go by and still ushering.
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