The Murlin Cousins Reunion
Thursday, December 9th, 2010
When my Mom was a kid, her extended family was not quite as close as our Murphy clan is today, but they were pretty tight-knit. My great grandmother Henrietta Murlin (nee Dwyer) lived in my Mom’s household for the last years of her life, so her children and grandchildren (that is, my Mom’s aunts and uncles and cousins) were paying frequent visits to their house. So although they didn’t do the mass family gatherings that my generations of cousins have been used to, they got to see each other quite a bit. Read the rest of this entry »
It was with no regret that I entered November of 2010. I had been busy as a one-legged kick-boxer over the last seven months, what with all of the traveling to and fro. It wasn’t even bittersweet. I was ready to rest…and to rest on my laurels and let 2010 be the amazing year that it was without having to add to omuch to it. So in a nutshell, I didn’t do anything outrageous or exciting, but enjoyed this month nonetheless. The weather was unseasonably warm for most of the month, although I would have preferred that it be cold, thus giving me even more of an excuse to stay in the comfort of my home, on the comfort of my couch, watching the comfort that is my TV. 
As I mentioned in the last posting, the reunions that are the most treasued and nostalgic are the ones that are with the kids whom one went to grade school with. Continuing on with the last batch of kids who went to Fairbrook Elementary with me, are three who attended there for nearly the entire duration of schooling. Matt Chopin (at right, in sixth grade) and Deborah Hileman both shared the same kindergarten teacher with me, Mrs. Neff, but we weren’t in the same class. I was one of the morning students, while they had the more optimal gig of sleeping in and then attending the afternoon services. 
Shortly after Christi, my ex-girlfriend and mother of my daughter Ashleigh, made the military move to Little Rock, Arkansas, in the late 1970′s, she was introduced to the little girl across the street. Christi was a shy little girl, eyes fixated on the floor, but when she met little Kristine Sieverding, she had no choice but to perk up when the bubbly little girl began gabbing away. For the next eight or nine years, Christi and Kristine were the best of friends. 
As I was chatting with my old Ankeney friend Pete Bales at the Beavercreek High School reunion on Saturday, July 17, 2010, I remarked, “no offense, but the people it means the most to me to see here are the ones that I went to grade school with.” This was an absolutely true statement in that I think that the friends that you make in childhood are the ones that really stick in your head as the most memorable. In addition to