2001

Well, the fears of my wife are about to be realized. The responsibility for cranking out this year's Christmas letter has been placed in my hands. This was not a sudden decision, but the result of a chain of events which began in September when Christine became not just the principal breadwinner for our family, but the only bread winner. For a while, there was a good excuse; I was completing my Student Teaching, and the State of Illinois asks for a three month unpaid internship before they feel they can really turn someone loose on a class full of kids. However, the student teaching gig ended more than a week ago, and my new job does not begin until the second week in January, so my responsibilities around the house have increased (my sisters once told me that I’d make someone a wonderful wife someday). All sorts of things have been arranged, folded, re-arranged, re-paired (or at least tinkered with), or stuffed under the bed, never to be seen again. In the course of taking on household tasks, I also inherited the job of composing the Christmas Letter. Here goes. I‘ll try to keep it brief…

School and travel seem to be the two themes which dominate our lives (I’m sure once kids come around the meanings of these two words will change dramatically for us). We figured that with the exception of the 98-99 school year, at least one of us has been attending school since 1974. Lots o’ school. I have spent this year completing all of my requirements for earning a Masters in Education and am done with school for the foreseeable future. Don’t worry; Christine began a doctoral program in Social Work so the cycle will continue for at least another year and a half (not including dissertation). She’s been plenty busy but through her organizational prowess and solid work ethic she completes most of her assignment several days before the deadline, whereas I cannot recall if I ever began a paper more than a few days before a deadline. Christine is still at St. Ignatius College Prep, and is considering becoming a Jesuit Priest. She was overheard at a staff meeting, saying, “If they just make one or two little policy changes, I’m a shoe-in.” The Society of Jesus was unavailable for comment on this issue.

In the meantime, we’ve been traveling for reasons sad, joyous and Outward Bound related (which can be either, depending on the day). We were in the D.C. area in March to lay Christine’s Grandma Browning to rest at Arlington National Cemetery. We were back East in May to see family and friends in NY, then we headed out to California for the wedding of one of Christine’s high school friends. We made it to four weddings this year, and missed as many while we were up at Outward Bound. Each wedding was special, but those are the topics of other Christmas letters written by other good folks. One trip worth mentioning though, is our drive to Denver for our cousin Heather White’s wedding. We intended to fly out of Chicago on Sept 13, but for obvious reasons air travel was not really a viable option. Members of the family drove in from all over the country in a show of support and affection, and the closeness and joy we felt in the face of disaster was truly powerful. Not only that, but they had these kick-ass shrimp hors d’oveurs which made the whole drive worth it.

That was actually our second drive west of the year. For the second time in as many years, I quit my job when summer rolled around so that we could travel and work for Voyageur Outward Bound School. We began the summer with a trip to Grand Teton Natl. Park in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. We spent several days hiking camping and preparing for our ascent of the Grand Teton. We went up with a guide from Exum Mountain Guides; he was an amazing man, we had a great trip, and the weather cleared just as we reached the summit. We also took a day trip down the snake river in inflatable Kayaks called duckies. We were paddling for less than 5 minutes before we flipped, and we learned that with the sufficient level of fear, you can be totally soaked but still have cotton-mouth. We recovered well, and a pitcher of beer proved to be the perfect cure for dry-mouth.

We once again worked the Ascent Program for Outward Bound, the month-long youth at risk (naughty kids) course. Christine had all girls, I had all boys; it was as challenging and uplifting as ever. Leaving the Northwoods for the wilds of Chicago was tough, but the city has been good to us this fall. We will be seeing each of our families over Christmas, and when we return we‘ll begin taking copious notes for next year’s letter. We hope this letter finds you in good health and good spirits.