As always, it was a topsy turvey year for us. A lot of things going on, never a dull moment. Lots of valleys and peaks. One valley - Becky's mother passed away and we had to move her father in with us. One of the peaks - going to South Carolina on vacation. Here are some of the highlights:
Joe: (11) 6th grade. His football team was undefeated in the regular season and made it to the championship where they lost 14-6. Joe played nose tackle. Joe won the TVS spelling bee in January, but didn't make it to the finals this school year. He caught the first fish on our fishing expedition in SC.
Chelsea (15) 9th grade: Chelsea finished up 8th grade basketball, played AAU basketball, Played summer league with the school and right before basketball practice officially started, she quit playing. She is now taking medication for depression. I think there are a lot of factors in all this, the transition to high school,breaking up with a long distance boyfriend from Alaska, etc. She seems to be doing better, but we are keeping a close eye on her. Her high school art projects seem to be superb, she is hopeful of winning some awards at some of the art shows. Her 8th grade class went to Washington DC. I was a chaperone on the trip, it was a good time. When we went to South Carolina, she caught a 3 foot shark on our fishing expedition.
Vanessa (20) Junior at Wright State: What a busy life she has now. She is also working full time as a manager for QAC, she is in charge of three shifts. So her life is a whirlwind of school and work. She travels out of state on business from time to time. She is hardly ever at her apartment in Fairborn. She has some time for her latest interest Derrick. We get to see her briefly every once in a great while.
Chad (23) he switched jobs and went with Firestone in Middletown. He is making more money so it was a good move. His love life has been less than spectacular. He got back with April, but that turned out to be a bad move. He went to SC with us, the highlight of the trip for him was seeing the Hunley submarine. He had done a report on it in high school.
Becky - Her mother passed away and she had to stay with her father at his house for awhile. We finally moved him in with us and so we are all back together again. She is still not working due to her back and other problems, she is getting disability now. She uses a cane from time to time.
Chris - I am maintaining as best I can. My truck took a beating this year. In SC Chad rearended me when he took his eyes off the road. Then not to be outdone, Chelsea borrowed my keys to listen to the radio while I did some banking in Eaton. She got cold and started the truck, not thinking that it was stick shift. When she released the clutch the truck jumped forward and hit a brick building. Chelsea: "I thought that it was in park." Me: "It's a stick shift, there is no park..." That little incident did over a $1000 worth of damage to the truck.
Fall has been difficult. I am now the Power of Attorney and executor for my in-laws. This happened about a week before Chelsea had problems with severe depression. Tried and failed to get a managers position at work. Becky had to take care of her father for about a month and a half at his place. So I was Mr. Mom during that period of time. The truck incident with Chelsea. Then while deer hunting, I got busted for not having a duck plug in my gun by a game warden. I have hunted since the age of 14 and have never even seen a game warden. The gun shop sold me the wrong type of plug and I couldn't figure out how to get it installed before hunting season began. Since hunting season was so close, I just did without. The fine shouldn't be that expensive, but it's another source of aggrevation. So I am hopeful that 2004 will begin a little smoother than 2003 ended. A postscript: after the original posting of this message, my log splitter engine failed. Chad drained the oil and for some reason, he did not refill it. The splitter ran for about 5 minutes and locked up solid... So with the $500 deductible on the truck, Fine from the game warden, and cost of a replacement logsplitter engine it is going to be a lean start to the new year.
On the positive side, I did coach the TVS JH summer league team to an overtime championship over Eaton, it was nice to finish on a winning note. So that finished youth basketball, the youth football likewise ended up with winning records and it was nice to leave that in good shape as well. It looks like I am finished with youth sports for the most part - Joe will be in junior high next year. It has been fun, but it is time for someone else to carry the torch.
Looks like Chelsea will not be doing AAU this spring unless she does a 180. Hopefully, this summer she will come around, if not it was fun while it lasted. Once I am sure Chelsea is finished with basketball, I am thinking of looking for a position coaching JH or JV basketball, since I enjoy doing it. The Advertiser did ask me to report on Sports for them and it has been fun to cover the football and basketball games. I don't make much money at it, but I enjoy writing. Although they did ask me to suspend coverage for the time being, not sure what is up with that.
Last modified: Fri Dec 22 10:31:34 EST 2003