Cup of coffee: check. Glass of
water: check. Turned off the alarm since
I’m already up: check. Checked on Ruby’s
covers to make sure she’s all cozy: check.
Looked around for light bulb to replace the upstairs hall bulb:
check. Reviewed Beth’s Facebook news
feed for updates from people I might know: check. Reread last year’s letter for inspiration:
check. Review my Facebook wall for posts
to refresh my mind for this year’s letter: check. Well, it appears that I’ve covered about all
the things I need to do to procrastinate sitting down to type this letter. I might as well give it a go.
Welcome to 2012! Just when you thought it was safe to take
down all of your Christmas cards from the refrigerator or the pantry door, the
Templeton’s letter shows up in your mailbox and gets comingled on the kitchen
counter with all of your December bills.
With some smoke and mirrors, I might be able to convince you that I
mailed this back in December and it was merely lost in the stack of mail and
other paper on your kitchen counter, but then that would be dishonest [and
superimposing our kitchen counter to your home’s kitchen counter]. I encourage you to do as I have done, and get
yourself a drink of choice that corresponds to whatever time of day you may be
reading this, sit back, have a read, and laugh to yourself (or roll your eyes)
as I attempt to take you through what felt like an eventful year (in which, it
seems, not much tangible was accomplished).
Ruby McCollum Templeton (aka
Ruby-toots, and “REE-bear”) turned 5 years old in October and continues to
delight us in almost every way. Her 5th
birthday was a much-anticipated milestone for her. Her 6th seems to be gaining
similar status as we speak. She played
soccer for her first season this year and it was quite an event. I didn’t coach her this year but I’m fairly
confident my coaching acumen will once again be called into action over the
next few years. It’s not clear if she’ll
follow in her siblings’ footsteps on the field.
Ruby seems much more interested in dancing, singing, cheerleading, and
other off-the-field shenanigans. She
continues to be a willing traveler for the big kids’ games, as long as she has
her accessory pack of stuffed animals, toys, puzzles, dolls, etc.
Ruby attended her first
Razorback football game this year. I’m
not sure how many more she’ll be invited to.
The highlight for her was a photo op with the Boss Hog mascot character.
Ruby is in her last year at
The Creative School and will start big girl kindergarten next year at
Vandergriff: her siblings’ alma mater.
Ruby has been a guest many times in the halls of Vandy and already has a
group of loyal fans among Lawson’s and Georgia’s classmates. It’s hard for me to picture this little girl
carrying her tray in the lunchroom next year.
That seems to be my greatest concern.
Georgia Elizabeth Templeton (aka
Georgia-belle, or simply “G”) turned 10 in July and also had a big year. She is a 4th Grader at Vandergriff
Elementary. She continues to compete in
soccer, basketball, and softball, with soccer being her primary focus. Her team had a great spring season from both
the A and B squads with both teams winning big games and several tournaments. Her coach moved away with a job transfer and
the new coach continued to build on their development. They are very competitive, and fun-loving 10-
and 11-year olds at the same time. I
just love cheering for that girl from the sideline, and she is generally
embarrassed by me. I’ll take that as a
compliment.
Georgia competed in the Hoop
Shoot free throw contest and advanced to represent Fayetteville / Springdale to
the state competition in Hot Springs. I
think her nerves got to her in the “quite as a mouse” gym in which they were
shooting, and she did not advance further.
“Dad, it was just too quiet in there and everyone was watching me!” Regardless, we all had a good time that
weekend and scored a goodie bag of shirts, balls, etc. She also advanced to represent her school in
the local Punt Pass and Kick contest this past Fall, and came in 2nd
Place to one of her former soccer teammates.
Georgia’s 10th
birthday brought a baby guinea pig name Reeses to the pack of animals at our
house. In a moment of weakness brought
on by persistent, incessant, manipulative pressure, I agreed to the new
addition. Reeses is a cute one I guess,
but I’m a bit bored with rodent bath time.
Georgia’s soccer travels had
us in Dallas, Tulsa, and Ft Smith this year.
The trips are typically pretty fun, but sometimes Mom and Dad have to
divide-and-conquer for the trips. The soccer
kids and families are fun to be around and continue to be added to the list of
new friends.
[Second cup of coffee
poured…ready to proceed.]
Lawson Ford Templeton (aka
Lawson-bear, LT, or L-dog [which Beth refuses to acknowledge]) is now
officially a 12 year old “tweener”, I guess.
He continues to compete and enjoy playing competitive soccer and
recreational basketball. We had a few
good trips with Lawson’s soccer team including an end-of-Spring-Break trip to
Kansas City in March: the last weekend of Spring Break and we had blowing snow
and subfreezing temperatures. KC /
Overland Park has a great soccer facility and it was a real treat to compete
there. The Fall season included another
KC trip and it was cold and windy again, but this time sans snow. What’s up with the KC weather? We always enjoy our trips to KC. The Fall trip included an opportunity to stay
with some of our friends who had recently relocated to KC from Fayetteville,
and see some other friends who previously worked with me in Tulsa.
Lawson is quite a competitor
and usually plays “all in”. He loves
playing soccer and hates to lose.
Fortunately his team is typically very competitive and has a limited
number of losses. However, occasionally
we’ll be outmatched and the car ride home is not full of laughs and
giggles. And just like a Hog fan in the
old Southwest Conference, he’ll typically blame it on those Texas refs.
Lawson participated in
Cotillion this year with many of his friends.
He does clean up nicely and seemed to actually like the novelty of the
nice clothes and social event. I don’t
expect that he will start wearing khakis to school anytime soon, but he didn’t
fight the tie and blue blazer too much.
Thank goodness for hand-me-downs for Cotillion.
Lawson is really growing up
and getting tall…relative to his previous height. He is now in 6th Grade at McNair
Middle School, which is adjacent to Vandergriff Elementary. We all have to get up a bit earlier to get
him there on time in the morning, and this rudely conflicts with Georgia’s
beauty sleep. Lawson’s school starts
earlier AND he needs the morning pre-school social time before the doors open,
during which he apparently engages in meaningful discussions with his
classmates on key social, economic, and political issues of our times. [“Hey.” “Wassup.”
“Nothin’.” “You’re da beast.” “I
will ‘pwn’ you!” (“pwn” rhymes with “bone”).
“You’re a ‘noob’!”] Yes, these
intellectual giants will be licensed drivers in a mere 4 years and registered
to vote in only 6 years.
Both Lawson and Georgia
attended New Life Ranch this past summer.
NLR is a Christian summer camp in NE Oklahoma. Georgia attended Day Camp, and Lawson went
all-in with weeklong overnight camp.
When we picked up Lawson, he was clearly worn out but had the strength to
declare “Mom, Dad: It changed my life…I discovered Butterfinger candy
bars!” I must admit that’s a critical
point in a young man’s life. One just
never knows what route the Holy Spirit may take in an 11-year old.
Mary Elizabeth ‘Beth’
McCollum Templeton turned [one year older] and is no longer in traditional
educational institution, yet I believe we are always “still in school”. Beth started working part time with the NW
Arkansas Business Journal as their financial and administrative guru. As typical and as expected, she has
immediately plugged in there with new friends and is well-liked by her
colleagues. The publisher is a friend of
mine and routinely confides in me what a blessing Beth is to the company. Of course I immediately send an email to Beth
to encourage her to demand a raise.
Larry Ernest Templeton (me)
turned [what feels like 5 years older] and is just trying to keep up. I’m still working with the healthcare
consulting firm with some interesting and dynamic projects coming up. We recently relocated offices and I am now
the only male in the immediate office.
It makes for some funny events and some interesting conversations that I
happen upon. However, I’m blessed to be
working with such a great group of people.
The Templetons had an
unexpected opportunity to work in a camping trip in January, of all
things. We had some unseasonably warm
weather for the last weekend of January and we made a spontaneous overnight
trip to a local State Park. One of our
friends brought his son (classmate of Ruby) for the trip and we had a great
time. I had reclaimed my mom’s campfire
coffee pot from her camper and let it percolate its first cup of Folgers over
an open fire in almost 20 years. A great
cup of coffee.
Strangely, there were not
many other campers in the campground on that last weekend in January. It may have been due to the Winter Weather
Warnings issued by the National Weather Service that were predicting a massive
snowfall headed our way. It seemed odd
to head to the woods with Winter Weather Warnings on the Weather Channel, but
those wacky meteorologist guys were merely giving us a heads up to the
approaching Storm of the Century that would eventually drop about 24” of snow
in NWA beginning on Tuesday, after our return home on Sunday.
We worked in another camping
trip in the Spring but failed to do so in the Fall. August sported another day trip to the
Buffalo River swimming hole that we discovered last year. Lawson and I even worked in an overnight
river trip complete with camping on a gravel bar of the river. The fireflies on the opposite bank that
illuminated the entire hillside were indescribably excellent that night, as was
the overall experience of river-time with Lawson, my brother Gary, and one of
my good friends from high school.
Our family once again headed
to Destin, FL late in the summer with all of the usual suspects, and a few new
ones. Great trip as always. Long drive as always. When I win the lottery, Beth and I are
considering a place on the beach and maybe one in the mountains. We haven’t won the lottery yet, and we
believe it to be due to the fact we have not yet purchased a lottery ticket.
Beth and I had the pleasure
of going to a Christian marriage retreat in the Fall with some of my colleagues
from work. It was a great 3-day trip at
a beautiful resort. We loved getting
away and also missed the kids tremendously.
We are truly blessed to have so many family and friends help with
childcare and logistics while we were gone.
My oldest niece Elizabeth got
married in October, and Georgia and Ruby were flower girls in the wedding. The
girls had a good time and did all the things they were expected to do. Georgia was concerned about being seen in
such a pretty dress and asked if there would be anyone there she would
know. We assured her that there would
not be many, and those that would be there would not make a big deal about the
dress. Lawson had the honor of escorting
the bride’s mother Catherine, my sister-in-law, down the aisle. He took his role quite seriously and did a
fine job.
Thanksgiving had us
celebrating at Beth’s aunt and uncle’s place on Crow Mountain (a suburb of
Atkins, AR) with all of the traditional vittles. My mother joined us this year and had a good
time with the extended extended family.
Christmas saw us staying in NWA waiting for Santa Claus to visit. And of course we made our annual trek to
Little Rock surrounding the New Years weekend for the annual reunion of our
former church group from our younger days (spanning over 20 years or so).
So looking back at last
year’s letter, it was sent out in February as we were heading to Valentines
Day. I’ll take a little bit of joy here
in seeing that the postmark on this year’s letter is still in January. Cheers to 2012!
John
3:16; Romans 8:28
