Developments

Over the past month we've seen school start, the routine and task list begin with new developments for new ages. Chris and I took a trip down to Christopher Newport University in Newport News. It's very new, very clean and very grand. It's also very staid and sterile. We both pretty quickly noticed that it's also fairly conservative and preppy. If VCU is the edgy end of the VA college spectrum, this is the other end. No tatoos, piercings and even sloppy bulletin boards. Just a lot of izods, docksiders and skirts. So much for that one. Early November we visit Radford and Longwood.

Setting the stage for an exciting school year, Nathan made the 'travel' basketball team, which is the top team. He's thrilled and we're proud. In the short term, he's playing both hockey and basketball. He also needs to realize that he'll no longer be the star of the team, but that playing with better players will make him better. He also continues to take drum and band lessons.

Patrick has just begun taking voice and acting lessons from Dolly Stevens, which together with his piano and band lessons puts him on a solid musical track. Dolly has also just announced that the middle school play will be "Annie," which Patrick should have a good shot at joining. For his 14th birthday, I got him most of his desires; an 88-key electronic piano, a long-board and ibeats headphones -- all of which set me back quite a bit. It's amazing to think that he's a teenager. His age coincides with the death of my father-in-law, Tec and my mother and I often reflect on what they would have thought of him and the progress all the boys have made. What would they think?

And time rolls on. We just celebrated Martha's 51st birthday -- in a low-key way. AFter we both put in some time working, she and I just went out for a nice lunch, then went shopping for a den chair and groceries. Not very exciting, but the weather prevented a hike.