Carolyn and I had had a great time during our first Summer together in 2001. Life had taken on a whole new meaning for me as I really felt that I was the head of a family for the first time in my life. Whereas Lisa could be more independent at times and really never played the part of a Mom to Ashleigh (or Briana), Carolyn seemed to relish the thought of becoming a stepmom to both girls. The trip that I most enjoyed was the earlier trip to Florida. I’ll never forget a man at a fast food restaurant telling me that I had a ‘great looking family.’ He went on to comment ironically just how much Ashleigh looked like Carolyn and Briana looked like me.
We spent the Summer engulfed in many activities, going to Bear Creek church with the occasional Sunday morning at Ascension. We went to the Ascension festival, took frequent trips to Friendly’s (and occasionally the horrible Robin’s 50′s Cafe) , often visited Carolyn’s sister Jeanette, watched M*A*S*H and Sex and the City on DVD, and attended my Laurel and Hardy tent meetings. I had been a bit lackluster with the meeting schedule as Carolyn and I began to forge our new life together, so in order to make good on my ten meetings a year commitment, I was forced to cram four meetings relatively close together: July 8 (a batch of animal shorts at Charles’ house), August 12 (more shorts at my house), September 9 (Trains and Automobiles theme at my house), and September 23 (a picnic at Dad’s house that featured Block-Heads).
Carolyn and I also attended our annual Summer associate manager’s outing at Coney Island, taking Ashleigh and Briana with us for a day of family fun. It had been forever and a day since I had been there and we had a great time playing some miniature golf and some of the carnival rides. Carolyn and the kids swam but I opted out and just played ping-pong. In the prize drawing I won a basketball and Nancy the HR Coordinator announced me as the ‘star’ of the bagging training video.
The fam at the Eagles Nest in July. Carolyn’s great-cousin Nedra was visiting town and the family threw her a huge party.
Carolyn’s Uncle Donnie (her Grandpa’s brother) escorts Nedra onto the dance floor
In between all of this fun activity, life went on. We’ll stop briefly in this posting at an end-of-the-summer bash that was held at Bob’s house, where my Mom was living. This was our second annual (and last to date) cousin’s party. This party seemed much, much (much, much) more subdued than our first party that saw some of our wildest times ever. From my perspective, this one was particularly tame for me as I drank very little and infrequently after I met Carolyn, who had no tolerance for alcohol in her significant other. (The two of us at the party can be seen at the top of the posting).
I recall that Denise had just started working in downtown Columbus in the political arena, and she was pontificating on the latest and greatest political news. We also played ping-pong in the garage. But most of all, we generally enjoyed each other’s company during the last real outing of the Summer.
My cousin Susan was smart enough to take some photos of the event, which she dated as taking place on August 31.
Debby, Chris, Danny, and Cathy playing cards and sucking beers
Awww…it’s Denise and Chris. They’d have made a cute couple had they not been related.
Charles masterfully dominates the ping pong table
New politico Denise discusses “poly-olitics”
Summer ended and I was pleased with life. There would be some very memorable and personally historic events taking place during the Fall of 2001.
2001 will continue…
Can you imagine how much additional time you would have to spend on this site if you had always carried a camera around with you back then? Some of these short postings would end up long or multi-parters. Good thing Susan saved the day.
p.s. – More pictures of me please.
Chris
March 17th, 2009
Speaking of spending/wasting time…for the record, I spent about six hours this weekend looking for that photo of my family at the Eagles Nest. I had pulled it out before for future use and just couldn’t locate it anywhere. It turned up under the cushion of my couch.
Brad
March 17th, 2009
So it was filed under cushion for Eagles Nest?
Would you like to hire a wandering librarian to organize your collection?
Chris
March 18th, 2009
It made sense at the time. Especially since there was also an actual eagle’s nest that had been assembled under the couch cushion.
Brad
March 18th, 2009