Round Robin 2004

Dear friends,
It’s a gorgeous day on Memorial Day weekend – sunny, breezy, and mild. We’ve had a tough winter, and a cool and rainy spring, so it seemed like heaven to be able to get outside and plant some perennials this morning.
It was so nice to sit back and read all of the letters, and look at the pictures. The pictures are really fun, aren’t they? Especially all of those wonderful grandchildren!
It’s a sure sign of our advancing age when we’re all having such health problems. I remember how at the 45th reunion in 1998 we were all giggling because our conversation was about blood pressure medication, among other medical stuff. Dick nicknamed us the Giggling Grannies. But now it seems the problems are getting more serious, and nobody’s giggling. You are all in my thoughts and of course, I’m hoping for the best for all of us
We’ve had another quiet year, staying in town to be near Mother. She is doing well, and still living in her own home. She now has home help 2 days a week, and is quite satisfied with it.
We really enjoyed our get-together last summer, and look forward to 2008, assuming that the world will survive until 2008. Since our reunion, Laurie and Chip have moved to a new home in Palm City, Florida, and Dylan has now completed Kindergarten. They are all coming here for the month of July this summer.
Our new hobby is geocaching, and it’s taking up quite a bit of our time. It’s great because it gets you out of the house, and into the woods, and exploring places you would otherwise never see. www.geocaching.com will give you an overview if you’re interested. All you need is a GPS (global positioning system) and a computer. You enter coordinates into your GPS, and then go out in the world and try to find the exact spot where something is hidden. There are caches hidden all over the US and in 200 foreign countries, so that wherever you travel, you can pursue this hobby. We’ve been at it for a year now and have found 330 caches. You may think that this sounds silly, but you can’t beat it as a hobby for retired folks who like to get out and about.
We are still working with the Medicare-Medicaid Assistance Program. Trying to understand the new Medicare Act and the whole Discount Drug Card situation is driving us crazy, but we’re getting training to try to understand it better. Dick is making presentations at senior citizen groups and trying to answer questions. The whole thing is quite confusing and ineffective, if you ask us.
Our travel is limited because of Mother, but we did get to Florida in March to see Laurie and Chip’s new house. Our Florida kids are still flying with American Airlines. Tom is in San Diego, senior scientist at Cymer Corp, and becoming an intrepid mountain biker. Jana is in Washington, DC at Congressional Quarterly, where she is Director of Product Development. She is also on the board of the Washington Imrov Theater. Grandson Dylan is into soccer, PlayStation, Harry Potter, biking, scootering, geocaching, and T-ball. Next week he starts tennis lessons. He asked his Mommy “What are you going to sign me up for next?” She said, “Well, I was thinking about golf…” He just rolls his eyes.
Have a great year, and stay healthy!