Entry 9

Stowe holds so many wonderful memories. Its magical when it snows and you have to hunker down in the condo with the fireplace crackling. We have a world class sledding hill. One yr. I tried to cross country ski down it, ah not such a good idea. My favorite day though is our family trip to Burlington. We usually save a special movie to see that day. On the way back to the Trapp's of course a side trip to Ben and Jerry's. Its been yrs. since we skied Mt. Mansfield. A few of the black diamond trails are treacherously steep. Although following Jeremy, Julia, and Shashi through the woods at Bolton Valley one yr. almost cost me a knee:-) Its seems like I'm always following one of you to the edge of disaster. Jon recall the Flume at 9 yrs old or that tree at Mad River Glen ?

Mom called me at work to excitedly tell me she had seen a great house. This is in the Fall of '84. I remember the first time I saw our future house. It really did not look a lot like it does now. There still is a picture of it from that time on the refrigerator. We had been living in a tiny tiny real tiny apartment in Danvers so the inside of the house seemed huge. Downstairs was pretty much the same except for the porch. The porch had dark paneled walls and windows that cranked open. Grandma Kelly's room was to become our bedroom with Zach in the computer room. There were 2 roughed out bedrooms upstairs and a bathroom. Each bedroom had a skylight. These rooms were for company. The house cost us $115,000., which seemed like a small fortune at the time. We moved into the house in April of '85. Zach was 5. Its always been a fine neighborhood. Your Mom and I settled into our jobs at Hogan, me as a Psych. III and her as Director of O.T.. I supervised three people, one of them being Keith, and your Mom a whole lot more. Guess who made slightly more money..hint "..Fatha can I have.." In my first supervision with Keith he ate his lunch on my desk and belching asked if it was o.k., a friendship made in Heaven. Joe arrived on the Unit about 5 months later as our Social Worker. He was impeccably dressed and oh so professional. That lasted for about a month. We went on our first buddies' hike about a yr later, Mt. Washington's dry river trail, 17 miles of ouch, owwww, and "..why am I doing this..." For some unknown reason I had the privilege of carrying our tent. It definitely was a bonding experience since we have been good friends for 25 yrs. Over the yrs, thanks to your Mom's patience and good will, we hiked all over New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, and even once in Colorado. Each trip had at least one misadventure, lost car keys, wrong trail, forgotten equipment, bad weather, and in Keith's case terminal flatulence. There is a moment in every hike though where you transcend the discomfort feeling the beauty of the peak, smell of the trees, the sun on your skin, and the rightness of it all. Its really not about getting to the top but how you travel the trail. The awareness of how God has given us a magnificent playground to let our spirits soar. ( Wow a poetic Dad moment ) Zach sometimes accompanied us on hikes along with Derek Rando, and your cousin Jon. Zach made it to the top of Mt. Washington when he was about 11. He used to grumble and I'd say "...just 5 more minutes.." Those were estimated minutes as I am sure he will tell you. I love that he has continued to hike with Elsa. I highly recommend the high places for renewing the spirit. I hope you have embraced the beauty of life today. All my love forever and a day, Dad