Greetings of the season to one and all! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
2000, the last year of the Millennium as recognized by people who can count, was a quiet year in Athens. No major trips, no major life-style changes, no controversy. We got DSL, which is way cool. We bought a mini-van, which isn’t cool but is way practical.
Music continues to be big around 1 N Shannon. Rob [11th grade, mellophone] and Greg [9th, snare drum] both played in the Athens High marching band. The Marching Green and Gold were the best Class A band in most of the competitions they entered. Once again the band brought home more 1st place trophies than the football team had victories. Now that marching season is over, Rob’s back to the French horn in the AHS Band and the Athens Community Music School older jazz band. He’s in several smaller groups at the High School: brass choir, brass quintet, and horn quartet. Greg is conga drums/xylophone/miscellaneous percussion in the ACMS younger jazz band and plays xylophone in the older jazz band. He’s second chair percussion in the AHS Concert Band – not bad for a freshman.
We continue to be active in Scouting. Cindy is Assistant Scoutmaster for the Troop and I continue to be Treasurer – “Make the check out to Troop 71!” Rob and Greg are weeks away from being Life Scouts, the next grade below Eagle. The highlight for me this year is that I was elected to the Scouting honor society, the Order of the Arrow. This isn’t an especially exclusive honor, but it was very thoughtful of my fellow Scouters to choose me.
We didn’t stay at home the entire year, although none of our travel was ‘trip of a lifetime’ material. We spent a very restful and congenial week at the shore with Cindy’s parents and brothers. We spent a few days in Tennessee for the Fox family reunion. We played in the annual croquet tournament - I won and Greg finished third. Cindy and Greg spent a week at Scout Camp. I went to Houston for a weekend of friendship, baseball, and beer. Found all three, too. We spent Christmas in Michigan. Of course, the guys went to Band Camp. Back in the spring the band went to Virginia Beach. Cindy and Greg were medieval at Pennsic.
Parenthood brings new rewards and new challenges at every turn. Back in the fall, Rob took the PSAT, did better than OK, and is now receiving mail from universities. Having reputable colleges and universities sending mail to your kids is both rewarding and challenging. It’s been a long time since Rob was a cute little toddler – every letter from Columbia or Marietta College drives home the fact that he’s a lot closer to independent adulthood than to reading Good Night, Moon seven times in one evening. Sobering.
Visit our ‘2000 – The Year in Pictures’ web page at www.CivilizationAsWeKnowIt.com to see a photographic record of the past year. Rob and I will be tinkering with it on and off for a while, so check it a couple times.
That’s the news from Athens, where all the children are above average, etc., etc., etc.
Revised 2000/12/27