The State of the Union 2016

Each year, as I begin to write this little piece of drivel for all of you, one of the first things I do is try to identify if there was any sort of overriding theme for the year. This year, that task was relatively simple.

This year, the theme seems to be “trying new things” or “getting out of our rut.” Molly has a new job teaching a new curriculum in a new school. I have been adventurous in the kitchen, cooking with bok choy, kumquats, rutabagas, and turducken. Derek played soccer for real for the first time since he was around five years old. Elise and Pat are considering buying goats. And Clay has been dabbling with making music on his computer.

Elise and Pat

As reported in this space last year, Elise and Pat are no longer residents of Cronlundia – yet, Elise maintains dual citizenship, so I am compelled to include them in this State of the Union newsletter. 

When the two of them moved to the boonies of New Hampshire, and had to commute daily to Boston, we told them “That commute’s going to get old. Fast.” Being young and impetuous (and possibly a little short-sighted), their response was “Ahh, it won’t be that bad.” Now, far be it from me to say “I told you so,” but I think it’s pretty telling that Pat is now working for an outfit much more local and Elise works from home as often as she can. 

Last winter, Molly and I visited them in their new place and explored all that rural New Hampshire has to offer. We visited Peterborough, the town that inspired Thornton Wilder’s Our Town. Apparently though, in Our Town, just about every business closes on major holidays, like New Years Day, so we did not come home with any cute Our Town knick-knacks or t-shirts.

The two of them did come back to our area, along with their wild dingo Indie several times over the course of the year. Max, who never, ever had that level of energy, genuinely does not know what to do with 50 pounds of boundless energy that is Indie. Indie, on the other hand, knows exactly what to do with Max – he bounces on him. It’s like a real-life When Tigger Met Pooh moment each and every time they get back together. Only a version where Pooh snarls viciously at Tigger.

Clay

Clay is continuing his studies in Syracuse’s iSchool. His current interest and focus is in Risk Assessment, focusing particularly on the risks associated with climate change. He also dabbles in the hard sciences as well, occasionally conducting ad-hoc experiments in the laws of physics, turning somersaults on the beach and validating Newton’s gravitational laws from the second floor of his fraternity house. 

Over the summer, in addition to working as a counselor for the ANC Summer Camp, he landed an internship operating the help desk at SEI Investments in Oaks, PA. Apparently his responsibilities involved taking calls from older cranky investors who were unhappy that the website had changed and pointing out to them where the “Reset my Password” link was. It appears that all those years of dealing with his parents finally paid off in tangible ways.

When this school year draws to a close in May, he will be embarking on a 16-day seminar abroad series that will take him to Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand. In preparation for these travels, we have been caning him on a daily basis, as we’re pretty certain he won’t be able to resist the lure of chewing gum while in Singapore.

Derek

Last winter, Derek underwent a growth spurt during which he shot up in height so fast, his back struggled to keep up, which is why he spent the majority of last wrestling season in Physical Therapy. He’s now in a three-way dead heat with Clay and me as to who is the tallest in the house.  We’re all within millimeters of each other, all measuring in at just around 5’ 10”, but I expect it won’t be all that long before Derek shoots past Clay and me.

This past summer, Derek had several momentous things happen. First, he got his first real job getting yelled at by adults on a regular basis for GK Electric. Next, he and I went on a 12-day backpacking trip to New Mexico with the scouts (and neither of us were thrown off any mountains by our fellow scouts!). Then midway through the summer he scored his driver’s license. And finally, as the summer drew to a close, he finally completed the Eagle Scout project that had been hanging over his head for the last couple of years.

Now that he’s sampled what life is like with a steady income and a full tank of gas, he’s been coming to us lately with all sorts of great ideas about how we could pimp out the CR-V or just replace it with a rally car instead. In fact, the very first time he ever drove in snow (with Molly in the passenger seat), he got an opportunity to see what drifting feels like. Luckily no cars or trees were harmed, but Molly was completely unimpressed with that whole nonsense.

Max

In the vein of “trying new things”, Molly and I decided that it was high time to replace our 17-year old mattress and get a newer model. I’d like to tell you that it has revolutionized our sleep experience, but I expect that would be overstating the case. A lot. I can say that Max doesn’t seem to have noticed, other than the fact that, since the new mattress is a much taller model, he now struggles to jump up on the bed in ways he never had to before. He’s not impressed with that.

Molly and Bruce

I take pictures and solve problems. Molly lesson plans and creates problems for me to solve. Hey, it works for us.

See You Next Year

Merry Christmas, Peaceful New Year – Be good, and if you can’t be good, be well.
With peace, love, and joy, 
-    Bruce, Molly, Elise & Pat, Clay, and Derek (…and Max)