A Re-Hash of the Hash

Today I sent out the Round Robin for 2008: It's kind of the same old same old, but here it is:

March 1, 2008

As with some others of you, 2007 was a Golden Year for us. We celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary and the 50th reunion of my class at the Univ. of Mich. I remember that I didn’t even attend graduation in Ann Arbor because I was so eager to go home and get married!

We were married on June 22, 1957 in the First Congregational Church on Washington Street. The church building is now part of T.C.’s magnificent new court building. It was 90 degrees and windy on our wedding day. The reception was in the church parlor, and it was very modest by today’s standards. For our honeymoon, we took a road trip from Traverse City to Detroit by way of Ontario. We crossed the Straits of Mackinac on the ferry because the Bridge was not yet open to traffic, although it was almost finished.

Since we already celebrated our 50th in the best way in April with our kids on the Caribbean cruise, the actual anniversary day was fairly low-key. We went out to dinner, and Dick gave me a GOLF CAR! It was an excellent surprise.

Last summer was an eventful one - we managed to live through another GenFest reunion, the Cherry Festival, the National Governors’ Conference, the Traverse City Film Festival, and best of all, Laurie, Chip and Dylan’s annual month long visit. We did all of the summery things - boating, the sand dunes, the beach, etc.

We lived in Ann Arbor for seven weeks in Sept.-Oct. during the U of M football season. We rented a cute apartment which was very well located, and had a great time getting re-acquainted with Ann Arbor. The football season was set up so that there were 6 home games in the first seven weeks, so we decided to avoid all the back and forth driving. It gave us a chance to renew friendships with old colleagues from Belleville and we were lucky enough to go to two Belleville Retirees Breakfasts, which was endless fun for us.

For the first time in ten years our whole family was together for Christmas. We were all in Florida with Laurie, Chip and Dylan, and it was such a treat. We rented a house in Stuart for six weeks (Christmas and January) which was only 10 minutes away from Laurie so we saw them every day - we had a wonderful time and did such interesting things. I really can’t get enough of watching the ocean! It’s a great thing to spend time with Dylan especially. He’s still at an age where he really likes his grandparents, and it’s a joy to be with him and listen to him. We realize that in another 2 or 3 years we might not be as “cool” as we are now!

Our next adventure will be a cruise to the Scandinavian countries in May. We’ll be going with friends from Belleville, and we’re enjoying the planning stages.

Today I sent an email about our TCHS 55th Reunion of the Class of 1953, suggesting that we meet at the mixer on Friday night at the Elks Club instead of coming out here to the river. I feel it will be easier for everyone since it is so centrally located and simple to find. Our next reunion will be in 2013! Now that I think of it, the reunion will be over by the time some of you get this edition of the round robin!

Dick and I are both well with some slight exceptions, just like everybody else. I still have limited mobility, but I’m still working on it. We have what Dick’s Doctor calls “gray hair disease”, which means that we’re not getting any younger.

Stay well, spoil those grandkids, and keep in touch.