Christmas 1999
Well, another year, and another Christmas newsletter. By now you’re beginning to wonder if they will ever stop. No! So here it is… your fifth installment.
Just after writing last year’s letter, we had a wonderfully terrible experience. Becky was driving our new truck to work when just in front of her a truck filled with chicken guts (hey… this is chicken country after all) began spewing out stuff. We haven’t completely figured out what the “stuff” was – perhaps chicken innards or perhaps what some call “chicken doodle” – either way, it smelled bad. It smelled especially bad all over our new truck. After about 4 hours of washing the truck on a mid-thirties day, I could barely feel my fingers, but I could still smell the “stuff”. In a vain attempt to find the responsible party and bring resolution to the smell, I embarked on a wild goose chase (or should I say chicken chase) of phone calls that led me no where. Thus doomed to clean it all myself, I then rewashed the innards mobile each night until the malodorous odor began to leave. Ah, such is life in the “Poultry Capital of the World”.
I guess we weren’t the only people who decided that Flowery Branch was a good place to live. A few thousand additional people have invaded our happy retreat away from the big city this year, and to top it off another kind of foul has moved to our area. In addition to our plethora of chickens, the Atlanta Falcons have decided to move their training camp and corporate headquarters to Flowery Branch as well. This was after our county offered to advertise the Falcons on all fifty trillion county vehicles, buildings, and water towers. They also promised to change the names of all public schools to incorporate the “Falcons”. I’m surprised that there has not been talk of a daily prayer time where we all bow toward their now-under-construction campus which lies just 4 and half miles from our house. Of course, if this increases our property value and improves our quality of life then we’ll be dancing the “Dirty Bird” along with the County Commissioners.
In July, Becky and I crashed my parent’s home in Gainesville, Florida, for their anniversary. While we were there we attended my 10-year high school reunion. It was an enlightening experience. Basically I decided that there was a reason that I hadn’t kept in touch with my former classmates. Many of them seemed to be trapped in a time warp, which kept them from maturing since they had graduated.
This summer also saw North Georgia’s worst drought on record. We’ve been on water restrictions since July. I’ll admit we kept a watchful eye out for the “Water Police” as we were working on a small home improvement project that required a little prohibited “outdoor water use”. To add insult to injury, our local water utility has decided that this would be a great winter for an equipment upgrade – extending our water restrictions through the end of February. They’ve even threatened to limit the Flushes Per Household (or FPH) if the consumption of water is still too high.
Late this summer we had a gathering of the “Fab Five” (Becky, Jill, Kelly, Susan, and Wendi) and their husbands (the More Fabulous Five). Thanks to expert bargain hunting we managed to rent a really nice house on the water at Fernandina Beach, Florida. So as not to be left out of the Famous Cities of America or Florida scene, the brain-trust of the Fernandina Beach Historical Society decided to promote themselves as the “City of Eight Flags”… or was it Nine? That way they could at least say they had more flags than Pensacola. And who are we to judge whether the Mickey Mouse flag should count? We also learned that if you’re going to have a cookout with your friends… it’s easier to just go to Sonny’s BBQ. And that’s one thing Fernandina can be proud of – they have a Sonny’s. We all had a wonderful time, and despite all the grumbling, the pictures turned out pretty good.
Work has gone well for both Becky and me. Becky was promoted twice in less than two weeks at CFC. First she was promoted to a newly created position. Then, after a quick turn over in personnel, she was promoted again to be a supervisor in the Teleservices Department. After some adjustment to her new role, she has really been enjoying work more than she had. It was all an answer to prayer.
We almost decided to make a major move this year to South Florida. I received what seemed like a very generous offer to move down there, but after a lot of careful consider and prayer we turned it down. Since then, God has continued to confirm that it was the right decision. Work at JDA has been good, especially since I haven’t had to travel this year. My company decided to create a more “technical” career path for people like myself who weren’t as interested in dealing with clients as much in a one-on-one role. Unfortunately, I think my new title of “Technical Manager” was just a big ruse to get me to do what I didn’t want to do.
As I am mid-way through completing three years at JDA, my Dad, meanwhile, is finishing up his 30th year with BellSouth. He is doing well, trying to decide what to do next, but both he and my mom are doing great. Becky’s parents are also doing well. Last month they purchased a beach house on Dauphin Island, Alabama, and we are really looking forward to spending some time down there. Our local friends here are requiring photographic proof that Alabama has beachfront property. Georgians tend to think that the only thing good that has come out of Alabama is I-20.
This year, Becky and I decided it was time to shape up, or at least try to get some physical activity back into our lives. So, like all good Americans, we promptly went out and bought overpriced exercise equipment. Becky opted for the Cadillac of Treadmills that basically does everything for you but walk (that’s still the problem). I decided to go for a new Mountain Bike which if nothing else I could claim that “I go Mountain Biking” – forget about the fact that I’ve only managed to bust up my knee, shoulder, arm, and finger. But the pain has paid off as Becky and I have both lost a few pounds, and we will continue if for no other reason than to work off the guilt of spending a fortune on our new toys.
For an early Thanksgiving, we went to Compass Lake with both my parents and Becky’s parents. We boated around the lake and “Captain Dan” attempted to flush the beaver out of his lodge. We canoed and I won’t mention how badly my parents beat us (or rather cheated) in our little race. And then there was horseback riding with our tour guide, the Marlboro Man – although I think he may have been smoking Camels. Of course, there was a lot of good food – a regular “feeding frenzy” – along with games of “Pass the Pigs” and a card game that my mom likes to refer to as “To Compass Lake and Back”.
I guess that’s about it for this little update, but we look forward to hearing from you (since if we don’t get at least a card from you, you’ll be purged from our database). We hope you have a wonderful holiday season and a very blessed Christmas.