2003
Merry Christmas,
There. The hard part is finished. I have officially started this year’s letter. And I am feeling better already because I just realized that I am getting started a full 3 weeks ahead of last year’s. If I keep this trend going, you could eventually receive our Christmas letter sometime in December. Before I get started with the rest of the letter, guess I should share certain basic Christmas form letter information.
My job is excellent, and my company wins all sorts of awards because of my work. I will soon get a large raise and be making more than most of you. Jane has been voted employee of the century at the hospital. She too makes large amounts of money but really works only because she wants to give something back to the community. She usually saves at least one life per week. Emily is the smartest student in her class. And the prettiest. We expect her to go to Stanford on a full academic scholarship. Or maybe become a model. Sarabeth is the smartest girl in her class but may not go to college. She is being actively recruited by MSL and may turn pro right out of middle school. Or maybe become a model. Kirby and Scout, the dogs, don’t pee in the living room and should bring home the gold from Westminster.
Now that I got that out of the way, let’s talk about our real life.
JANUARY
As I scan over the calendar, about all I can say about January 2003 is that it was probably cold and boring. Looks like a lot of tennis and of course it was indoor soccer season. It is always a soccer season of some sort. Emily had her 15th birthday and in continuing a long-standing family tradition, once again she received no pony. Of course, you veteran Christmas letter readers would have already known that was the case.
FEBRUARY
It looks like this month is a lot like last month. The word “tennis” is scribbled on the calendar 26 times. We are all in clinics and leagues. I believe that it was somewhere in this general part of the calendar that I won another second-place trophy in a doubles tournament. I really don’t like second place! Emily started her career as a high school tennis player. The team starts with conditioning this month. I will keep you informed as the season progresses. I’ll bet you are on the edge of your seat!
MARCH
Finally, something fun is about to happen. The first week was full of excitement. Jane spent 4 days in Utah at a fancy ski resort. She decided this may be her last opportunity to make the US Ski Team and she wasn’t going to let it pass. A lot of you may not realize that she was the number 1 rated female Giant Slalom racer in Greensburg, Indiana! It was a 4-H project. Anyway, this was going to be her final attempt. She just didn’t want to live the rest of her life saying, “what if”. On her first attempt she... Never mind. I’m lying. I mean she did go to a ski resort in Utah, but it was a work deal paid for by a medical product company. She did some presentations, sat in a couple of meetings, ate great food, and given the choice went to the spa instead of the slopes.
While that was going on Sarabeth was winning her school science fair. Once again, Jane’s genes came in handy. She did a project about the appeal of bright colors and how it affects children’s decisions. She won the grand prize and advanced to the regional competition at one of the local universities. And if it wasn’t for some pesky 5th grader discovering a cure for cancer, she would have won there too. Maybe next year.
Emily made the tennis team. She started with the JV, and then was moved up to practice with the Varsity. They start their matches next month.
While all that was going on Sarabeth had another birthday. She hit double digits. She is now 10 years old and is a young lady, not a little kid anymore. This will greatly affect the type of photos of her that can be placed in this Christmas letter.
APRIL
Nothing happened in April. Both girls had spring break and we must have done something exciting like clean house all week, cause I don’t have anything written down or any pictures. Emily did start the tennis season playing JV but sometime during this month she was moved up to Varsity and played #3 doubles. I got to go watch her a few times and it about drove me crazy. I grew up as a soccer parent, yelling and screaming. I would yell at the refs, and shout words of encouragement to my girls. (Yes Emily, those were words of encouragement) And that was a silly foreign game that I knew very little about! To sit quietly and watch her play tennis, politely clapping after a particularly rousing point was more than I could handle. I can assure you that playing is much easier than watching. After about the 3rd match, I realized that Emily didn’t really enjoy the ride home as I went over the entire match point by point. I guess I have something to work on as a tennis parent. Luckily, Sarabeth has started the outdoor soccer season, and I had a chance to fall back into my comfort zone as a screaming soccer parent.
MAY
Good month. The big event was Sarabeth’s baptism. Kids can have all sorts of birthdays and graduations and promotions. All sorts of red-letter days that make you believe your child is growing up. But this didn’t have anything to do with just living a certain number of years. She had to make a big decision. We helped a little, but she made the decision. My little girl ain’t so little anymore! My mom and sister Nancy came up for the event.
Jane left the family again, this time for San Antonio. She decided this may be her last opportunity to make the US Rodeo Team and she wasn’t going to let it pass. A lot of you may not realize that she was the number 1 rated female Bull Rider in Greensburg, Indiana! Another 4-H project. Anyway, this was going to be her final attempt. She just didn’t want to live the rest of her life saying, “what if”. On her first bull she…Speaking of bull, I’m lying again. It was really just another one of those pampered work trips. She went to a few lectures, a few fancy dinners, and brought home a bunch of those neat little flashlights with drug names on the side. You can’t have too many of those neat little flashlights.
Emily finished the tennis season and her freshman year of high school. Her grades were great, and her tennis improved. Her team won a bunch that they should have won and were thoroughly thrashed by a few of the elite programs. You know, the rich schools. Emily’s most exciting moment during the season was when she was playing a match, and 2 large geese decided her court was the best place around to land. All of the money that I have spent on private tennis lessons and this scenario was never even discussed! Within seconds, Emily and her partner were on the same side of the net as their opponents. It was the 4 of them against these 2 fat feathered idiot birds. The tennis players eventually regained control of their court, and the match continued. Instead of Emily’s photo in the school yearbook showcasing her powerful overhead or serve, I am sure it will be a shot of her waving her racquet and shouting at a big overgrown duck. And I can’t blame them. I wish I had the photo for this letter.
JUNE
Emily is out of school and Sara has another month. Emily got a job. It was the perfect job for her, working at a daycare. Very flexible hours, mostly just filling in as needed. The idea was that she was going to spend a big part of the summer with tennis boot camp in the morning and work during the afternoon. That was fine until she got her first paycheck. She liked that check! She got to play with all these cute kids (see photo) during the day and at the end of the week she got more money at one time than she had ever seen. The heck with tennis, she was gonna be rich! I was a little sad that she spent so much time working this summer instead of playing, because we all know that later in life, she probably won’t have that option. But I imagine learning to work will end up being more beneficial in the long run than learning to hit a good top-spin lob.
Sarabeth was in school during all this, but we did manage to sneak off for an amusement park weekend with the church youth group. It was just SB and I, so we had a chance to do a bunch of that bonding stuff. This was down in southern Indiana, so on the way back we stopped in Louisville for the afternoon. Chased down the Emery’s at a baseball game, followed them home and wrangled a free lunch. THAT is what friends are for! I hope the rest of you can learn from their example.
Two weeks later we headed to Cincinnati to see my brother. We hung out, played a couple of hours of tennis, went downtown and ate dinner. Then we took in a Reds game. It’s amazing what can get done if you write it on the calendar. One call started it all.
At the end of the month Emily went to church camp for 2 weeks. This was kind of special because she signed up to be part of the work crew. Em was assigned to the kitchen gang, specializing in dishes. She now considers herself an expert Hobart operator, washing something like 6000 dishes a day for 2 weeks, which came in handy once she returned home. Her group also got to experience most of the normal camp activities and lots of stuff the other campers will never know about. She loved it and is signed up to do it again this year. I hope they teach her how to cut grass this summer.
JULY
This was our official vacation month. Sarabeth finished 4th grade and had a month off. Jane and I decided on a week and put it on the calendar. In typical fashion, it was the week before that we finally decided on a destination. Gatlinburg, TN. We had never been to Gatlinburg, but decided it was rustic and scenic enough to relax, yet close enough to an outlet mall and arcade to keep the whole family satisfied. We found a cabin in the woods to rent and took it from there. The cabin was set up with a pool table and Jacuzzi. I’m not sure why we ever left the cabin, but we did venture into Gatlinburg proper. I hesitate describing it in a Christmas letter. We were bombarded with everything from genuine Smoky Mountain Saltwater Taffy to official Smoky Mountain Hillbilly Hummel figurines. I also discovered that I really don’t country! But we did love Smoky Mountain National Park. What a neat place. Woods and mountains and waterfalls and streams and rocks. We hiked and waded so much, about all Jane and I could do in the evening was sit around in the Jacuzzi and drink wine. We went into Pigeon Forge one evening and saw a magic show. It was amazing the things the magician did up there on stage. All sorts of things changing and disappearing. Neat, but I’m pretty sure it was all just tricks and not really magic. Vacation was good.
AUGUST
Sara goes back to school. This time as a 5th grader.
Wayne goes back to Las Vegas. This time as a seasoned veteran. There were 5 of us this trip. I spent 4 days among Caribbean Studs, Caribbean Duds, Bald Eagles and Babysitters and had a great time. I won a bunch of money and lost a little bit more. I ended up with enough cash left to get my car out of the airport parking lot. I consider the trip a success and plan on making the Vegas report a yearly feature in this letter.
I added another second-place trophy to the mantle this month. I really hate second place but enjoyed that tournament more than any since high school. The final was a fist pumping, in your face kind of competitive deal that I haven’t been a part of since I turned into a responsible adult. I loved it. I felt like a teenager that day. I felt considerably older 2 days later.
Jane and I celebrated our anniversary this month for the 27th time. I think this thing might actually work out OK. I will need to check with her about that though.
Emily went back to school. This time as a sophomore. *Late 17th century. Alteration of earlier sophumer (probably influenced by Greek sophos “wise” + mōros “dull”).
SEPTEMBER
Jane had a birthday. It was celebrated by the immediate family and a few close friends. A representative of the family delivered a statement to the press.
OCTOBER
This was a good month, because you all know how much I like this time of year. Football season and hayrides and leaves and Halloween. And the end of another soccer season for Sarabeth. A few games and a tournament or two, then we gain two extra evenings a week and one less weekend obligation. Indoor season is so relaxing.
I had a birthday again. It always seems to happen around this time of year.
I went to Atlanta for the big work convention. I had a great time visiting with a bunch of people that I only see once a year. From Florida to North Carolina to Kansas to New York. I don’t see them often, but they are all full time friends. And some are darn fine beer drinkers too.
Sarabeth started her fall break and later on Em got a couple of days off from school too. The family went to Brown County for a few days near the end of the month. We did all the stuff that we usually do. Refer to previous letters for details.
NOVEMBER
What an action-packed month for the Willis family. Wayne zooms to Columbus, OH for a work deal for a couple of days. The highlight was breakfast with Don Overmyer. I guess that tells you a little bit about Columbus. I would have stopped to see Marky and Garry, but they moved and didn’t give me the new address. I guess that tells you a little bit about me.
A week later, the Emery’s came to town. Their beautiful daughter Randi was here to twirl flags and march around with her high school band in a big contest. We didn’t get a chance to do anything real exciting because their schedule was dictated by the judge’s scores, so mostly we all just hung out and talked. As you can see from the photo, they had a wild time here with the Willis family.
That Monday Jane and Sara left for three days camping in the woods with Sarabeth’s 5th grade class. They take all of the 5th grade kids and a bunch of unsuspecting parent volunteers and commune with nature. You would think that a school on a year-round calendar would find a time other than mid November to do this communing. I guess a hike through the woods in a cold drizzle must be good for moral and team building. Kind of an elementary boot camp thing. But they did all sorts of hiking and playing and singing and learning and both of my ladies came back with big smiles, so I would deem the excursion a success.
At the end of the month we met the rest of the Willis family in Louisville for Thanksgiving. The next day I managed to meet Dennis, Lynn and Jackie for lunch. Faithful readers will remember them from the 2001 edition. Anyway, we made plans to congregate here in Indy early this year. You 3 should consider this a not-so-subtle reminder.
DECEMBER
This was a typically busy holiday season. Both girls had Christmas concerts. Emily’s symphony sounded absolutely beautiful. And to my ears, Sara’s was just as beautiful. I guess since the only instrument that I can play is the stereo I really appreciate all of the work they put into their music.
I had another tennis tournament and didn’t come in second. I still hate second place, but not as much as I hate getting beat in the second round. I did win a T-shirt though! Actually, everyone that played got the shirt, but I like living in my own little world.
Christmas was great this year. It seemed more relaxed than in the past. I think since the girls are older now, all of the gift giving has become much more civilized. It’s nice to not have to worry if your children notice the similarity between your handwriting and Santa’s on the gift tags. We had Christmas at home and spent a couple of days in Louisville.
I don’t want to sound like a typical Holiday letter, but I must brag about my wife. Sometime this month, she informed me that she won a major award. Well when I heard “major award”, the first thing I thought of was the leg lamp from A Christmas Story. No such luck, but she did receive the Circle of Excellence in Education award from the AACN. This is a national deal and only a handful of awards were presented to about 6000000000 candidates. A nice way to end the year. I will tell you more about it next year. That’s all for 2003.
EPILOGUE
It was a fun year. One of the neat things was all of the old friends that we managed to reconnect with this year. From “what ever happened to” conversations leading to an internet search to just strange coincidences, we made contact with people that were once a part of our life. Well guess what. THEIR BAACCKKK! My Christmas letter mailing list just got a little bigger. Hey, you people are worth the postage! Drop us a note sometime. Merry Christmas and have a great 2004. What’s left of it.
Wayne
Jane
Emily
Sarabeth
