Aaron's Birthday

Quick, look down at November 7th for Aaron's finished birthday letter.

Long Time Ago

Dad sent pictures . . . I feel so old.

Me & Luke in BermudaRight after we brought Riley home
Ha ha, remember the pineapple palm tree?

Happy Birthday Aaron!

Dear Aaron,
Here are seven birthday cakes. I made them for you.
Sorry, I took a bite out of one. Perhaps you noticed that the one with red dots has eight candles. That's for seven years of your life plus one to grow on.

I'm glad to hear about your Tae Kwon Do victory. Actually, I am really impressed. You broke four boards . . . in a row, or stacked? How do you do that without hurting your hand?Not everyone gets trophies for winning. That is quite an accomplishment.

Thanks for writing to me on my blog. I read your note to my friends and they said, "Wow, your brother talks very precisely. He sounds really smart." I bet you're a good worker in first grade. I remember in first grade we added up big numbers and learned to tell time and we wrote down stories that we made up by ourselves. You should ask Mom to go through some old boxes in the attic to find those stories. My favorite part of first grade was science, because we learned all about animals and where they live all over the world and how they survive in the desert and in snowy places. I did a report on amphibians. I bet you know what amphibians are, I don't have to tell you.I have lots of friends on my hockey team. It is really fun and we crash into each other a lot, but that doesn't hurt much. We have only lost one game so far. It's a really good team. We always wear green. I think we are going to win the championships and then I get my picture on the Champ Wall. My roommate Sammi is good at volleyball and her team just won the intramural championships. Her team was all freshmen and Resident Advisers from my dorm, and all of them are my friends. I bet the other team was mad because they were all hotshot seniors.
Resident Advisers are older students that live on my floor, and they help us with problems and stuff. They're like big brothers and sisters to us. My RA is Tim. The RA on the floor above us is Andrew, and he's my friend too. We tease the RAs a lot but they're nice.

Are you going to go skiing in Oregon? There is lots of skiing here in Colorado. Colorado is famous for ski mountains. Colorado College sponsors some ski hut trips. I think I might go stay at a ski hut for a weekend with my friend Molly and she can teach me to Nordic ski. Unfortunately Chelsea cannot come with us because she is sick with mononucleosis. Chelsea and Molly are my running team friends.Both our girls and boys running teams are going to the really big deal NCAA Division III championships of all colleges in the country on Saturday. It's like the Super Bowl, but scarier. We have one boy who might win it. Tell me how soccer is.

Happy seventh birthday. I love you.
Love,

Fall at Home: Pictures from Dad

Luke. Stud.

Aaron: How's soccer? Do you play tough like me? Speaking of tough, I don't think it's fair to dress up like a ninja for Halloween if you really are a ninja. It's like Obama dressing up like Obama.

Sam Wasson

I just got word that Sam Wasson died in a car accident at 3:30 in the morning on Tuesday. He's a year older than me, going to LMU, and in the same tight circle of friends as Lauren Alcantar. We were in The Music Man together. So many of my friends and running teammates were close to him, and it's not fair. I remember him singing or playing the guitar for Lauren's memorial service in July. It's not fair that their group should have to lose another friend, especially Allison Francis who was best friends with both him and Lauren Alcantar. I don't see why that would have to happen. He was very unique and outrageously funny.


So if you see any of these people tell them I'm very very sorry:
Allison Francis, Jimmy Wilcox, Jake Gardner, Carrie Dunn, Erin Franey, Natalie Nourigat and most of the Carrie Scott friends, Ellen Nye, Beth Fagan, Rachel Wojo, Caitlin Cruickshank, Olivia Kingsley, Brendan Cleary, Charlie Neville, Tony Moneta, Kohle Kreitzberg, Sarah Rosenbloom, Blake Bye, Matt Peterson, Maddy Bennett, Aidan Willis, Mariel Wuilloud, and about a million other people. I could never hope to make so many loving friends.

Good News

I had a run yesterday! My first in two weeks, and my knees were fine so I went for 50 minutes. I have been taking meticulous care of them (I massage and ice every morning at the trainer's.) This is awesome because it means I'm in the home meet on the 22nd.

Dad emailed some pictures with captions:

Dad: Your closet had one gold shoe, why only one? Maybe you have it.

Kate: I lost that one at a meet last year, but it doesn't matter because I have a newer pair of the same model here. And I lost two Sauconys (I think) at SWCC but there was only one in the Lost&Found. One might string it up over the front desk and see if it stridulates for its partner.

Dad: Aaron on his first day of school.

Kate: Aaron on his last morning of freedom.