DCFL 2003
Originally uploaded by Mike Fields

DCFL – (acronym) Dreaded Christmas Form Letter
——–

If you see a year lying around somewhere, please let me know? I don’t know where mine went. I suspect Bren must’ve eaten it. He’s getting big. He weighs about 60 pounds now. Fortunately, unlike his Dad, he’s increasing his height rather than his width.

I figure before he finishes elementary school he’ll be taller than Chrystine. Speaking of elementary school, Bren started kindergarten this year. He’s doing great in a typical kindergarten class with an aide. Peggy (his aide) has been stepping back some because Bren wants to “do it myself.” Peggy tells us the other kids in his class really like helping him when he needs it too. So it seems that inclusion is working (we are truly blessed to have such wonderful people and support programs available). Bren has friends who like to work and play with him. We’ve already been to several birthday parties this year, including roller skating (Chrystine could’ve been a waitress at Arnold’s on Happy Days, except of course that she wasn’t around in the 50s… and since Arnold’s wasn’t real, neither was it) and laser tag. Bren’s progress has just been amazing. We couldn’t be more excited. I don’t know how much has changed since I was in kindergarten (I can’t remember last week, much less last century), but Bren has a lot of homework. The reading is easy for him, but there is a lot of handwriting too. He struggled with that at first, but he’s gotten much better. One of his favorite things to do now is connect the dots. So just chock writing up as another obstacle that Bren is conquering. He really is a special kid. He teaches us so much every day: like, it’s easier to do something if you don’t know you aren’t supposed to be able to do it. To Bren, an obstacle isn’t something blocking his path; it’s just something else to climb on. It makes me wish for that childlike innocence, confidence, and sense of hope and wonder. It’s not like that is taken from us as we get older. Somewhere along the line we willingly trade it in for the weight of skepticism and doubt. Whose idea was that anyway? And why do we give it up so easily? It’s a bad trade.

Recently, we decided to reclaim some of that hope and wonder. We went on our first real family vacation. We took a three night Disney Cruise (the ship was named the Disney Wonder coincidentally, or not) to Nassau and Castaway Cay. My parents went with us. Chrystine’s parents weren’t able to go, but we got to visit with them before and after the cruise, so that was nice. We’ll have another big family vacation where everybody can go soon, I know. Still, we had a great time. I think my favorite part of the trip was the aquarium at Atlantis in Nassau. Walking through the glass tunnel with sharks swimming overhead was just too cool. Bren’s favorite part was the three story water slide into the Mickey Mouse shaped pool on the top deck of the ship. He must’ve gone down that thing a hundred times. The stops in the Bahamas were fun, but there was a lot to do on board too. Bren played in the Oceaneer’s Club and was in a little musical production for the parents on stage with Mickey Mouse. We spent lots of time in the pools and arcade, and way too much time in the restaurants. We also got to see a movie onboard and a big budget Broadway style musical on the last night. I would highly recommend a Disney Cruise. It’s a great family getaway. (My next door neighbor is a travel agent if you need a hook-up).

I guess the last bit of news we have is that we have a new member of the family. SETTLE DOWN, it’s just a dog. We now have a seven week old female Beagle named Holly (since we got her “for Christmas.”). I wanted to call her Santa’s Little Helper, but Chrys nixed that. We tried for the last couple of months to find the perfect dog. We visited breeders and rescues, but a simple newspaper ad we spotted before dinner on a Friday resulted in us taking our own puppy outside at 2am Saturday morning. (note to self: get a new puppy when its warm outside).

And that’s me! So, we come to this year’s moronal2 about obstacles. Sometimes we just need to remember we were all kids once. We were brave and confident. We didn’t know there were things we couldn’t do. The world was ours. At least until somebody told us there were things we couldn’t do, and that the world wasn’t ours. And the crazy thing about it is we believed them. Well, forget them! The world IS ours! And there is nothing we can’t do, as long as we believe. I learned that from my son. (Clap if you believe…)

Merry ChristmaKwanzukkah!
Chrystine, Mike, and Brendon