The New Millennium

As the new millennium was beginning, Ed and Marge were as busy as ever dividing their time between Ohio, Florida and Virginia. All of us (as well as many of you) have been the beneficiary of Ed and Marge's hospitality down in Florida, including our children, who have spent many of their school breaks down in Burnt Store with their grandparents playing golf, fishing, going to the beach, and playing lots of cards! In 2002, Ed sold the Play Lady II and bought a new powerboat, not only to expand his fishing prowess, but to make it easier to shuttle visiting friends and family around to the local beaches and hot spots. In 2006, they sold their condo on Islamorada and moved to their current residence in Topaz Cove on Sunset Key Circle.

As many of you know, Dad has an immune disorder that prevents him from travelling on planes and cruise ships. Although he is limited to travel by car, he has continually encouraged Mom to travel on without him - something she (as well as all of us) will always be very grateful for. We girls have been on many trips with Mom and the crew from Burnt Store - Chris went with her to Alaska in 2003 and Karen enjoyed a Mediterranean cruise with her in 2005. Lynn joined her on the Russian, Scandinavian, almost Poland Cruise in 2007, where she never got the chance to use the packets of ketchup she hauled with her all the way from Virginia to put on an authentic Polish pierogie (when due to a problem on the docks that day, they were not allowed to go ashore in Gdansk). In 2006, she went back to Italy, where with Chris, Megan and Ashley, she got her daily gellato fix and got yelled at in the finest museums and churches (no touchie! no flashie!!). We have also enjoyed many a girls weekend with Mom, which was expanded this year to a week in the Bahamas that also included our new sister-in-law Missy and our cousin Anne.

While Mom was off on her travels around the world, Dad was expanding his own universe by focusing on his artistic talents. Throughout the past decade, he has taken many different classes to hone his craft, from watercolors, to acrylics, to oils, and many of us have one or more of his masterpieces hanging in our homes. He has also become quite proficient at tying flies, and spends many of his evenings down in Florida fishing from the docks, dreaming of landing the perfect snook!


As the decade progressed, our own children started graduating from high school and going off to college or joining the workforce. Today they range in age from 15 to 24 and seem to have inherited many wonderful traits and talents from their grandparents. Austin and Jake, who both play guitar, and Michael, who plays clarinet and sax, are all musically inclined. Sagan is using her artistic talents to make guitars, Ashley is at Purdue, studying to be a teacher and Megan, who has both her Pharmacy Tech and EMT certifications, is taking her prerequisite classes to get into a radiology program. Alec was in the Navy ROTC this past year and will be going to Benedictine Military Academy (Army) for high school next year. And last but not least, Glennie, who is quite the entertainer (oh yeah, Cocoa - you know you are!), is studying to be a cop.

We have enjoyed sharing our parent's lives with you over the past few months. When I was growing up, I thought everyone's family was just like ours, with parents who were loving and supportive and encouraged you to follow your own path. However, with each passing year, I realize just how lucky we are to have such great parents - they are extraordinary people and we are truly blessed to have them in our lives.

We look forward to seeing all of you at the celebration on Saturday! Remember, dress is casual and dinner is at 4!