CHRISTMAS 8 – 1978
Tuesday, February 1st, 2011
The first Christmas that would be spend in our new house on Winterset Drive came about on Monday, December 25, 1978. As I recall, the transition was seamless. I had had some wonderful, warm holiday celebrations at our house on Echo Hill – but I think I was just as happy in our new digs and would remain so for the 15 Christmases after this one. This was the only Christmas during which we opened our new presents on the hideous family room carpet that came with the house. We’d be replacing it shortly after the first of the year. But I digress… Read the rest of this entry »
My first summer on Winterset came to an end on August 29, 1978 and it was back to the grind – my second out of thirteen grueling years of public school. I returned to Fairbrook Elementary, but this time instead of going to school in St. Andrew’s School next door, I joined the ranks of the kids who were in ‘numbered’ grades in the main school building. While it was true that we were the low men on the totem pole – or as some upper classmen referred to us, firsties – we had to start somewhere. The other big change was that I was now going to school for a full day, which began somewhere around 8am and ended at 3:10pm, as I recall. I braced myself for the big leagues. I had my picture taken on October 9 – at the age of 7 years, 7 days – to commemorate this occasion. 
It was almost like the stereotypical story of the boy who left home to go stay with a rich uncle and had the time of his life and was constantly entertained. The end. That’s a bit what it felt like for the two trips that I recall taking to visit my Aunt Louise and Uncle Carroll. The trip in 1978 was actually the second time I paid a visit to them – the first being in 
As I was chatting with my old Ankeney friend Pete Bales at the Beavercreek High School reunion on Saturday, July 17, 2010, I remarked, “no offense, but the people it means the most to me to see here are the ones that I went to grade school with.” This was an absolutely true statement in that I think that the friends that you make in childhood are the ones that really stick in your head as the most memorable. In addition to