The Terrible Catsafterme

It was almost like the stereotypical story of the boy who left home to go stay with a rich uncle and had the time of his life and was constantly entertained. The end. That’s a bit what it felt like for the two trips that I recall taking to visit my Aunt Louise and Uncle Carroll. The trip in 1978 was actually the second time I paid a visit to them – the first being in McLean, Virginia in 1973 – but this was the first one that I remember. Read the rest of this entry »

As I worked my way into the final couple of weeks of the year, I just sat back and rested on my laurels, pleased with what I had done through the year, happy that I’ve gathered some great experiences, met some interesting people, and created a nostalgic time capsule of memories that I can always return to should I wish to reminisce. But once I crossed over into the new year – in this case 2011 – I thought to myself  “holy crap! I’ve got to do this all over again!” The truth is that I thought that I could wind down on the adventures after 2009, so as I entered 2010, I didn’t make any promises. I didn’t set out to raise the bar…but I did. Read the rest of this entry »

This was the third year in a row, following the great Christmas Day departure of 2008, that the Murphy Christmas gathering did not take place on the holiday itself. Whether I like it or not, this seems to be the wave of the future. So far the gathering has been pushed forward only a maximum of two days after the holiday, but I shudder to think what will happen when Christmas comes on an early weekday. But despite the non-holiday status of the gathering, these parties seem to be just as fun as they always have. This year my Mom hosted again (the first Christmas gathering she’s had since 2007) to a packed capacity house. This one came a little bit earlier than normal also. It began at 1pm, so folks who were going to work the next day would have time for the Sunday-evening-wind-down. Read the rest of this entry »

Yikes! That number is a bit scary. Forty Christmases here on earth, each one unique, and each one special. This year I really noticed how the Christmas celebration began the moment that Briana arrived. Ashleigh went to pick her up on Wednesday, December 22. We met at Chik-fil-A for dinner and then went shopping for our last-minute gifts at Target. Although Ash and Briana did their usual locking themselves in Ashleigh’s room, they did venture out for a bit so that we could all watch some Christmas videos of our Christmas celebrations from 2004 and 2005. Read the rest of this entry »