Pictures: (top) At Amy's high school graduation; (bottom left) the first family portrait taken in 11 years; (bottom right) At Noah's middle school graduation, with Noah being sandwiched by Amy and her boyfriend Drew.
Go to the bottom of this post to see a couple of things I missed in the print edition...
There's an amazing calm
this Boxing Day morning, with Amy off to her part-time job and Noah sleeping in
(that's what teenage boys do so well), such that Denise and I have a quiet
breather after the holiday rush. For the first time in several years we're not
in southern California for the holidays and whereas we could use a bit of LA
sunshine and warmth on this gray 30 degree day, it's nice to be in our own home
for the holidays and attend Christmas services at our own church.
Staying at home was a bid
towards stability in a year of many changes. Amy graduated from high
school in May and went off to college in August to Missouri State University
(formerly Southwest Missouri) in Springfield, about three hours southwest of
St. Louis. (Our family has become quite familiar with Springfield, the
site of the statewide Winter Color Guard and Drum line competitions -- and
Amy's team took first place this year!) She has her own car now and comes
home every month or so, or about as often as she's changed majors. To be fair,
when the credits from her college-level classes taken during high school
officially transferred to the university, she became a sophomore, and needed to
declare a major sometime this year. Given that her major is a moving target
I won't list them all, but they are related to communications and health, and
there's no doubt she'll do well whatever the major.
Noah also marked a
milestone this year, finishing middle school within days of Amy's graduation,
and then starting high school in the fall. He's made a great transition
into high school, really hitting the books a lot more than he did last year.
And the beginning of the year was tough for him as he juggled the
increased studies, marching band, Boy Scouts and joining the varsity soccer
team -- an organized sport he's never played before. Perhaps all those
activities forced him to manage his time better, but in any case, it's fun to
watch him grow and develop. He's tackling bigger projects, like fundraising for
next year's Boy Scout camping adventure in Philmont, New Mexico, but it's
listening to his self-perceptions crystallize that are the most fun -- such as
his recent Christmas tree-trimming comment "I'm 15. Why am I having
nostalgia?"
A lot of people have asked
if the house is quieter with Amy gone, and actually it's not. For one thing,
she's not around the house to remind Noah to turn down his video games. (It's
still not clear if her reminders are actually quieter than the video game noise
itself.) But the main thing is that Noah's life has changed so much in the last
few months, just as Amy's has, that we can't really compare anything to a year
ago. The one thing that's evident (to us, if not to Noah), is that this
is his time to be an only child. Amy received full attention for her
first four years, and now Noah gets full daily attention from us, for better or
worse. It is fun to attend all his soccer games and drive him around,
savoring these moments as we know that an empty nest is just a few years away.
Not that Denise and I will
have a lack of possible activities down the road, if this year is any
indication. In addition to building her business as a professional
organizing consultant (www.clearspaces.org, http://www.facebook.com/ClearSpaces) and being a Boy Scout Troop leader, Denise just
became president of the local chapter of her professional organization --
NAPO-St. Louis (National Association of Professional Organizers). She also just
completed 18 months of coaching training, which is part of being certified as
an ADD (attention deficit disorder) coach.
Somehow everything in our busy schedules manages to get to done, and
that's all a tribute to her and her skills.
As for me, I stepped down
from the library board in May after 10 years of service due to term limits, and
then channeled that energy into our church's communications board. It's really
a fun blend of writing and being creative, along with improving our application
of technology in order to get the message out. In a way it foreshadowed
me changing jobs (in the same company - Wells Fargo Advisors), moving to a
business unit that leverages my technical background but empowers me to more
fully use my soft skills. Although my new teammates made this an easy
transition, I miss my old teammates and am still realizing that this is the
first time in my professional career that I'm not in IT
(Information Technology).
And I continue nurturing
my musical creativity - with my Hawaiian band, our church's worship band, and
the office chorus. The office chorus had been in
"merger-survival" mode (because of so much people turnover) for the
last few years, but this year saw the beginnings of the transformation into a
year-round group focused on extending the company's spirit of giving. In the
mad dash of the holiday season, we almost didn't do our annual concert at a
retirement community next door to the office because they had suffered a fire
over the summer. Their only common room was unavailable, and because of
my focus on strategic development I didn't have the energy to brainstorm for
other options. But with new energy from our successful recruiting drive
this year, new leadership stepped up and found a way to deliver a brief
concert. Right after the concert, we mingled with the crowd - of mostly
retired educators - and I heard how much they deeply appreciated it
because the fire really had crimped their spirit this year and they really
wanted something to brighten their season. But the kicker came as we
walked back to the office. One of our new singers was weeping joys of
happiness -- she had been talking to the retirement community's choir director,
and realized that the director was her choral teacher in sixth grade! The
easy path would have been to cancel that appearance and yet through tenacity
and optimism, a not-so-small reconnection was sparked...
And so wraps up a
milestone-filled year, probably the biggest one since 1997/1998 (which held a
six-month period of new baby and house and job). Wishing you peace and
joy in 2013!
Sherman, Denise, Amy and Noah
8772 Pine Ave - Brentwood MO
- 63144
For copies of previous family letters, go to http://marsifan.blogspot.com/, where I hope to build an
online index of personal writing.
Addendum to the print edition (12/30/2012):
- I neglected to mention that Amy got a full scholarship at Missouri State University. Because she can be so modest I didn't include it, but she earned that distinction and would like it included in the holiday letter -- thank goodness for being able to post corrections online.
- I completely forgot to mention that I celebrated my 50th birthday this year, with Denise providing the... Best. Surprise Birthday Gift. Ever. (Yes, that should be done in the Simpsons Comic Book Guy voice). She flew out a college buddy, Bob Coker, for the weekend and we had a fabulous time with Bob at the City Museum - where imagination runs wild, and Amy and her boyfriend Drew returned home for the weekend as well. Whether we ran up all the playground slides I can't say, because the signage clearly states not to do so. So I won't say...
- That I forgot to mention my 50th birthday is the result of either repressing the milestone, or a natural side-effect of the milestone. Reader's choice here...
