Dear Family and Friends:
Another year has come and gone and we're still here! 2003 was an
eventful year. I overcame some setbacks with my health, went a lot of
places, and did a lot of things. I'm on an IV twenty-four hours, which
gives me some energy, if not to do everything I'd like, then at least
to do something. I teach a class every day at the college and do the
church newsletter. I'm also continuing to scrapbook a lifetime of
photographs, and I only have five years left to do. My genealogy has
been very time consuming. I did finish doing all this for Uncle Carl's
genealogy, and I found a few places where we are related way back. I'm
getting ready to link Carl's genealogy to his sourdough memorial website
I am so proud of my kids, and I very much appreciate the opportunity to
be a mother. Leonard is still writing software in San Francisco; in
addition, he is working on the Wesley Clark presidential campaign in
Little Rock, Arkansas. That's quite a commute!
Susanna is the big newsmaker. She graduated from Brigham Young
University and then married John Chadwick in July. I was busy most of
the spring making the dresses. She didn't choose an elaborate design for
her gown, but it was still tricky redrafting the pattern to make the
dress she had in mind, and it was scary cutting into that length of peau
de soie. Ok, it was really peau de polyester, but it still was expensive
fabric! My dress was made from tablecloths left from the wedding of my
friend Susan's daughter. You can see the results in the above picture of
our family standing on the steps of the Los Angeles Temple after the
wedding.
Rachel is a senior at UCLA. It's been nice for me to have her relatively
near and not trotting the globe this year. She is majoring in European
Studies and working as a research assistant to a professor who is doing
a book about women on the front in World War I.
A sad event of 2003 was the passing of my aunt, LeJeune Whitney. I am
bereft. At Aunt Jeuney's request, I read from Tennyson's "Ulysses"
at
her funeral. This poem was somewhat comforting, and provided me with a
philosophy to keep me going. I think I'll have it at my own funeral. We
buried her in Provo next to my husband, Roy. I think he would be pleased
with that.
After John and Susanna's Utah reception, Leonard, Rachel, and I went on
a little expedition out into the Utah desert to find trilobites. We
brought back a lot of fossils and were thrilled by the adventure and the
time together. We had also planned to visit the new dinosaur site in St.
George, but we couldn't find it, having used all our navigational luck
locating the prehistoric lake bed where the trilobites used to live.
As another year draws to a close, I reflect on our shared memories, and
look forward to hearing from each of you. If you ever wonder what I'm
doing, you can check my weblog at www.crummy.com/jabberwocky and get an
update, or you can write me at franny@inreach.com. I love you and hope
to hear from you soon.
Love always,
Frances
Sat Dec 20 2003 18:53:
