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December
1999 Greetings
from Thousand Oaks, California The New Year came in with a bang! We were all up early on New Year’s morning at
3:45 AM to get Maggie to the bus and prepped for the Tournament of Roses Parade. We also loaded the buses, a few hours later with
1000 boosters but twenty of our friends. What
a grand time. We all were too tired and cold
to truly appreciate what was in front of us. Of
course, when the Thousand Oaks HS: Lancer Band and
Color Guard passed us by around 11:30 AM, we shouted and shouted and someone thought
they saw Maggie. I had everyone tape the
parade and as TO entered Colorado Boulevard; it was 11:00 and time for a commercial. It was an exciting time for us even if after 7 ½
miles, Maggie said, so what’s the big deal. February found us in Big Bear for a little skiing and snowboarding. Maggie and her boyfriend at the time went off to snowboard and we went to sign Marcia up for snowboard lessons. Unfortunately, the children’s program was sold out so we decided to check out the Bunny slopes. It didn’t take long for Marcia to master the art of falling. We were off to the Emergency Room to get Marcia a cast. This started my year getting to know the local Orthopedists Group real well. She was in a cast for 6 weeks with a compression fracture. But it really didn’t take her too long to recuperate once the cast was off. She has taken up Karate and hopes to be a green belt for Christmas. She practices daily and takes lessons three days a week. She’s in the Black Belt Club and she is very serious about this program. Last Saturday, she competed in a Tournament in Temecula, 120 miles away. She took a first place in sparring and a third place in form. Her trophy collection is on the top of the wall unit in the family room. As tough as a competitor as she is, she still loves to play with dolls and Barbie’s. Maggie is still real involved with
colorguard. The spring guard put together a
program based on the Ally Mac Beal show. It
was quite cute. At parent’s night, I
volunteered for the spoof the parents’ do on the kids show. I didn’t real how difficult it was to
remember the few moves of our program, let alone the program the kids do and do quite
well. She had some minor surgery on her hand
in May and has been in and out of the doctor’s office since then. It is a sports injury due to colorguard. But she won’t give up colorguard. During the summer she went to summer school,
hoping to make fall semester easier for her. It
just made the summer rather miserable since we couldn’t get away because Maggie was
in school. No summer school next year. Maggie got her driver’s permit in August and
is counting the days till her 16th birthday (less than two months). She’s actually a good driver and I enjoy
being a passenger. Fall was a busy season
with competitions with band. Maggie and her
parents along with Marcia were busy with the Band. We’ve
befriended many lovely people and enjoy spending Friday nights and Saturdays, even the wee
morning hours of Sunday with them. Nothing
got down around the house but we spent quality time with Maggie and 230 of her friends. I can’t wait till the winter season because I
long for quiet weekends at home. She and her
boyfriend broke up after 11 months of dating. We
were happy but she still is adjusting to the dating scene.
Her heart was broken but it’s the first of many times. I can always predict
her moods. Each time she colors her hair,
she’s in a funk. At least the colors
have stayed in the brown-red-blond series and not the outlandish blue of some teenagers. She is growing nicely and like any teenager, tells
us what to do as if neither her father nor I have a brain. Mark is busy with N/C
Dimensioning. Actually, he is
looking into changing the name and logo to Acme Machining after the Road Runner cartoon. He’s looking for crate clip art for his
logo. The spring was very long and
depressing. Business picked up in the summer
and has been very strong this fall. He’s
also getting real involved with the girls. On
weekends you can find him behind a colorguard prop or putting together flags for
competition. If it’s not that, he’s
following Marcia to karate tournaments or watching her rock climb. He is considering spending a month at Big Bear and
being a ski bum. He is involved with the
business next door that is trying to build
real-life dolls. It has been an
interesting project with unique challenges that he is enjoying. I completed my teaching credential in
January. I taught at Reseda High School and two community
colleges in the spring. During the summer, I
taught one summer school class and also didn’t feel like I had a summer. No summer school for me in 2000. This fall, I’m teaching fulltime at Reseda
High School. Although, I had wanted to teach
in the same school district as the girls, I enjoyed my experience at Reseda so much, I
couldn’t leave. I’m very lucky to
work with a great science department that eats, talks, shares during each of our nutrition
and lunch breaks. The administration seems
fair and the environment so comfortable that I enjoy going to school each morning. On the other hand, leaving at the end of the day
makes me want to think, what am I doing. My
sixth period class is extremely challenging! But
I do love it and like many educators, I’m trying to find the magic “thing”
that will challenge our youth to become more successful than they are. After three months of teaching, I don’t know
what that is. I sure love the kids and they
know it. Between the children, Mark, his
business, the chickens, cats, fish, etc., we are all very busy. We would love to here from all of you and
honestly think about many of you as we run from place to place. We certainly don’t spend much time at home. We wish all of you a happy and healthy New Year
and that all of your wishes are realized in the millennium. Best wishes and love, Marianne, Mark, Maggie, and Marcia
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