The past 4 months

It's been a while since our last post.  We've been grieving the loss of David, who died unexpectedly on August 04th.  Sometimes we intentionally think of him and reflect on times we have had with him.  More often, though, something will happen that will trigger a memory and the pain is jarring.  Our hearts are broken for Angie, Matthew, and Austin in particular.  We have become closer to them all since his death.  A shame that's what it took to be more involved with one another's lives.  But we are thankful, nonetheless.  The last photo we have of him is from our January holiday get together earlier this year.  He was always smiling.  We miss him.

On August 02nd we flew to NC.  We toured Duke and stopped by my mentor Rick Hoyle's office on campus (he was attending a conference out of state).  That evening we eagerly arrived at Blockade Runner and promptly embraced the sun and the beach.  It began pouring the next day, as we made plans to leave.

School began.  Jobs continued.  We got to go to Toyota Day at Kings Island.  Elizabeth invited her friend-since-age-3, Emily.  Michael invited former teammate Gabe.

Elizabeth had an in-depth biology project that involved collecting 50 different species of leaves and labeling them.  Rosemary and Angie brought her to Frankfort's Salado Wildlife Preservation where they have an impressive range of already-labeled trees.  Perfect!  Elizabeth meticulously created her project notebook and earned 275 of 250 points for her extra efforts.

The four of us attended a fairness event downtown.  We are working to pass a sexual orientation non-discrimination law in Georgetown.  We knew several of the speakers and support them all.

We celebrated Steven's birthday in Frankfort.  Soon after, we grieved the presidential election results.  We still do.  To try to cope, we continue to boycott much of the political news.  Still not sure what happened.

On the other hand, Steven and I were ridiculously proud when Elizabeth co-presented two presentations during GC's sexual assault awareness and prevention symposium.  Steven attended.  I continue to hear words of praise from colleagues even now, two and a half weeks later.  Those who didn't recognize her assumed she was a poised psychology major.  Shocked to discover she's a 16 year old junior.  She is so confident and such a gifted speaker.  Again, so proud!

Mary and I attended the Lilly conference on Miami University's Oxford, Ohio campus.  We had much interest in our poster during our presentation session.  Our topic related to teaching strategies that effectively reduce students' hindsight bias in the classroom.  Our poster won Best Poster of all the posters at the entire conference!  We managed to drop by LBJ's as well.

Elizabeth passed her driving test so she can now drive alone!  The next morning she dropped off and picked up Michael from practice, because Steven and I were both at work.  Michael's first game of the season is Tuesday.  Last week was a scrimmage.  I worked concessions and spotted a rat under the sink.  The other volunteers ran away screaming.  I continued selling candy and drinks.

We spent Thanksgiving Day with the Huffs.  Rosemary hosted for the first time.  She began with a heart felt prayer about David. It was our first holiday without him.  We managed to laugh and be thankful as the meal progressed.  Matthew's girlfriend Kristin was at their home, preparing a full meal for her family that evening.  Austin's girlfriend Ally was with us, although she and Austin left to attend Ally's family's dinner meal.  We stayed long enough to complete a 500 piece puzzle and get exercise competing on the wii.

The next day Mom visited us for a couple of hours.  Here Elizabeth is opening one of the gifts Mom brought, a lego piano.  We won’t see Mom during the Christmas holidays because she’ll be spending a couple of weeks in Nevada and California with Mary and Bennett’s families.  Lucky!


We are heading into the home stretch regarding the semester (for me) and nine weeks (for E&M).  Steven has been relaxing at times this holiday weekend with his three buddies.  Most of the time, though, he is completing his list of things to do that I create.  And continue to add to.  Christmas letters are addressed and ready to go, our holiday decorations are complete, and our mums finally lost their luster and are ready for pick up.

We hope all is well with you.