Saturday, July 17, 2010
House in Transition-- Week of July 12, 2010
Hi Everyone--
This week was more than a bit stressful, as we uprooted all of our belongings in the foyer, living room, Roger's office, kitchen, breakfast nook, and dining room to install new flooring in the foyer, living room, and Roger's office. (We did the breakfast nook and kitchen last week so everything from the other rooms moved to that area.) As that saga unfolded in our house throughout the week, Emmy went to art camp every afternoon and then spent every other spare minute on her 4-H projects. Chelsea was at the College of Wooster for tennis camp until Thursday, requiring me to drive up there (for the fifth time in two and a half weeks!) and fetch her. As of 10 p.m. on Friday evening, though, all of the girls (except for Britti) were home, and the floors were finally finished. Today, we spent the bulk of the day on putting all of the pictures and furnitures back where they had been.
As we look ahead to next week, Emmy has 4-H food judging on Monday and photography judging on Tuesday, plus soccer camp on the mornings when she's not at a competition. Chelsea will celebrate her 16th birthday with friends at Burr Oak State Park on Tuesday thru Wednesday, and, when we're home, we'll all continue working on the deep cleaning of our house that has been our big summer project. (Roger and I are both teaching online courses, and, fortunately, they have been going very smoothly.)
We hope that you have a great week! I'll post pics from judging and birthday stuff next week-end, if not before.
Christie
This week was more than a bit stressful, as we uprooted all of our belongings in the foyer, living room, Roger's office, kitchen, breakfast nook, and dining room to install new flooring in the foyer, living room, and Roger's office. (We did the breakfast nook and kitchen last week so everything from the other rooms moved to that area.) As that saga unfolded in our house throughout the week, Emmy went to art camp every afternoon and then spent every other spare minute on her 4-H projects. Chelsea was at the College of Wooster for tennis camp until Thursday, requiring me to drive up there (for the fifth time in two and a half weeks!) and fetch her. As of 10 p.m. on Friday evening, though, all of the girls (except for Britti) were home, and the floors were finally finished. Today, we spent the bulk of the day on putting all of the pictures and furnitures back where they had been.
As we look ahead to next week, Emmy has 4-H food judging on Monday and photography judging on Tuesday, plus soccer camp on the mornings when she's not at a competition. Chelsea will celebrate her 16th birthday with friends at Burr Oak State Park on Tuesday thru Wednesday, and, when we're home, we'll all continue working on the deep cleaning of our house that has been our big summer project. (Roger and I are both teaching online courses, and, fortunately, they have been going very smoothly.)
We hope that you have a great week! I'll post pics from judging and birthday stuff next week-end, if not before.
Christie
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Quick Praise! July 13, 2010
After 16 months with us, Ellie-Kate now has a completely clean bill of health in terms of her heart. We had a follow-up visit with the pediatric cardiologist today, and Ellie-Kate was good as gold. Unlike last year (when she screamed for the entire visit), Ellie-Kate was poised and sweet. The doctor tried to shake my hand, but Ellie-Kate was sitting on my lap, and she reached out and shook his hand instead :) After an EKG and physical exam, the doctor looked at me and said, "She's perfect. Her heart is perfect." We are so grateful that she has been given such a great report, without any intervention from us at all. We know that we are truly blessed. Thank you, God, for blessing us with such an amazing little girl and for allowing her body to heal. We give You all of the praise and glory!!
More soon--
Christie
More soon--
Christie
Reunion reflections...
After my 30th high school reunion, I drove from Warsaw, Indiana, to Wooster, Ohio, and I dropped Chelsea Meagan off at tennis camp. With over eight hours on the road, I had lots of time to think... The reunion was awesome because it brought Corinne, Carolyn, Michelle, Shari, and I back together for the first time since my wedding at Burr Oak in 1999. Beyond that small group, though, I was so happy to reconnect with others from our class, and I was struck by the unique opportunity that reunions afford us to share each others' life journeys, not just during our school years but beyond.
In some ways, the reunion seemed like "Brigadoon" (a play in which the characters of a small town come to life for one day every 100 years). For most of us (especially those who have long since departed from Warsaw), our high school peers come to life only during reunions. We drop in on their lives once every five years, reconnect, and then allow the memories and people to drift asleep until we drive into town for another reunion.
Unlike Brigadoon, though, classmates don't collectively fall asleep for those five years between reunions. Over the years, we have earned degrees, experienced marriage (and sometimes divorce), suffered loss of loved ones, pursued careers, raised children, and, well, changed beyond the wrinkles that now crease our faces. In that way, perhaps, a platonic version of the play, "Same Time Next Year," compares more adequately. Even though we leave reunions only to return five years later, our peers don't stay static, and our quest during the short week-end involves revealing the highlights of our own lives and getting "current" with the most important details about our peers.
As in "Same Time," I think that most of us feel grateful for the moments that we get to have together. No, most of us don't live in the same place, and, no, our lives no longer intertwine directly. Yes, we celebrate our special connection that, some 30 years ago, we grew up together. We performed in plays, sang in the choir, played in the band, competed in sports, danced, drank, and, overall, experienced the drama of high school that many of our own children confront now. Those events so long ago served as a foundation for what we've done since. As such, even if we haven't been together much in the past 30 years, we still understand each other much more easily than people who haven't been with us "since the start." We know the "backstory;" we "get it."
My 15 year old is addicted to the movie, "Now and Then," and she insisted on watching it as we drove to Warsaw for the reunion. Ah, the perfect precursor for a reunion... If you haven't seen it, check it out before your own next reunion. Now, as we did then, we still get to share bits of each others' lives. If you're reading this post as part of the WCHS Class of 1980 and you attended part of the reunion week-end, thank you for allowing us to reconnect with you, to continue being part of your life's journey. If you're part of our class but you didn't come back, please let us know what's up on facebook or send messages to the reunion committee. Even if you weren't there, you were missed AND discussed. We remembered you, thought about you, wondered about you, because you are inexplicably part of us. We can't remove you from our future any more than we can dismiss you from our past.
To the WCHS Class of 1980, thanks for the memories. I'm grateful for being part of your life story, and I appreciate your role in my own.
Christie
In some ways, the reunion seemed like "Brigadoon" (a play in which the characters of a small town come to life for one day every 100 years). For most of us (especially those who have long since departed from Warsaw), our high school peers come to life only during reunions. We drop in on their lives once every five years, reconnect, and then allow the memories and people to drift asleep until we drive into town for another reunion.
Unlike Brigadoon, though, classmates don't collectively fall asleep for those five years between reunions. Over the years, we have earned degrees, experienced marriage (and sometimes divorce), suffered loss of loved ones, pursued careers, raised children, and, well, changed beyond the wrinkles that now crease our faces. In that way, perhaps, a platonic version of the play, "Same Time Next Year," compares more adequately. Even though we leave reunions only to return five years later, our peers don't stay static, and our quest during the short week-end involves revealing the highlights of our own lives and getting "current" with the most important details about our peers.
As in "Same Time," I think that most of us feel grateful for the moments that we get to have together. No, most of us don't live in the same place, and, no, our lives no longer intertwine directly. Yes, we celebrate our special connection that, some 30 years ago, we grew up together. We performed in plays, sang in the choir, played in the band, competed in sports, danced, drank, and, overall, experienced the drama of high school that many of our own children confront now. Those events so long ago served as a foundation for what we've done since. As such, even if we haven't been together much in the past 30 years, we still understand each other much more easily than people who haven't been with us "since the start." We know the "backstory;" we "get it."
My 15 year old is addicted to the movie, "Now and Then," and she insisted on watching it as we drove to Warsaw for the reunion. Ah, the perfect precursor for a reunion... If you haven't seen it, check it out before your own next reunion. Now, as we did then, we still get to share bits of each others' lives. If you're reading this post as part of the WCHS Class of 1980 and you attended part of the reunion week-end, thank you for allowing us to reconnect with you, to continue being part of your life's journey. If you're part of our class but you didn't come back, please let us know what's up on facebook or send messages to the reunion committee. Even if you weren't there, you were missed AND discussed. We remembered you, thought about you, wondered about you, because you are inexplicably part of us. We can't remove you from our future any more than we can dismiss you from our past.
To the WCHS Class of 1980, thanks for the memories. I'm grateful for being part of your life story, and I appreciate your role in my own.
Christie
More Reunion pics-- July 10, 2010
Vondria Andrews Bergen and Christie Beck-- old drama buddies!
Jaymee Hanson Disbro, Maureen McElroy Goodman, Christie Beck, Corinne Maheu Houghton, Michelle Boxell, and Carolyn Daghlian Stec
WCHS Class of 1980 Reunion Party-- July 10, 2010
Lynn Sanders Banks, Christie Beck, Corinne Maheu Houghton, and Carolyn Daghlian Stec
Carolyn Daghlian Stec, Michelle Boxell, Sally Olinger, Shari Bibler Skaggs, Corinne Maheu Houghton, and Christie Beck
Carolyn Daghlian Stec, Christie Beck, Corinne Maheu Houghton, Sabrina Handgen, Sara Coon Martin, and Michelle Boxell
Carolyn Daghlian Stec, Jeff Franks, Shari Bibler Skaggs, Michelle Boxell, Corinne Maheu Houghton, Christie Beck, and Kirk Wyman
Carolyn Daghlian Stec, Shari Bibler Skaggs, Michelle Boxell, Corinne Maheu Houghton, and Christie Beck
*We held our 30th class reunion at Spikes, a fun bar with an outdoor stage and sand volleyball courts. No one got on the volleyball courts, but a few of our classmates certainly managed to get on stage by the end of the night! What a great time of catching up!! Over one-third of our nearly 400 person class attended the reunion. We took lots of pictures, encouraged peers to sign up for facebook, and caught up on new events in our lives. I think that I have the youngest child, but several of my classmates now enjoy young grandchildren. As Corinne noted, many of us are entering a new phase of our lives as our children head off to college, get married, and start families of their own. How cool that we get to catch up in such a fun and touching way!!
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