2008 Westbay Family Newsletter

Another year is almost over, so it must be time to post a recap of what has happened in our small corner of the world. I did not sit down and put this together in time to print out and send a family newsletter with our Christmas cards, which may be just fine with many people. But for those interested, here are the highlights of our past year.

2008 started like most years, with everyone returning to work and school after the 2007 holidays. It was life as usual for the winter and spring. Our first big adventure of the year came in June, when all three of us traveled to Scotland. Ben's high school band was invited by the Grapevine Convention and Visitor's Bureau to send a group of students to Scotland as part of a delegation which was going there to establish a sister city relationship with the West Lothian district in Scotland, just outside of Edinburgh. A total of 37 band students (including Ben) went on the trip, and Pat and I went along as chaperones. We all had a very enjoyable time, meeting local residents and band students, participating in the Marches celebration in the town of Linlithgow, visiting and playing at some local schools, seeing interesting sights such as Edinburgh Castle, and playing a concert for the sister city, or "twinning" as the Scots call it, document signing ceremony. You can find a few videos that I took while we were there at my YouTube page. Some photos from the Marches (not taken by me) can be found here.

As soon as we got back from Scotland, I started rehearsals for a play at the Runway Theatre here in Grapevine. The play was "Laughing Stock" by Charles Morey, a very funny show about a New England theater company producing their summer season and their trials and triumphs in trying to mount the productions. I played the artistic director of the company, something of a straight man part to the funny characters around me. The production was one of the most fun that I have worked on, with a great group of people. We had full houses several nights, and everyone who came to see it seemed to enjoy it. That's what it's all about, right?

Soon, August was upon us, which meant marching band camp for Ben, and eventually the start of school and football season. Marching band took just about all of our attention during the fall, with football games and/or band competitions every weekend in September and October. The highlight of marching band season was the trip to Indianapolis in November for the Bands of America Grand Nationals meet. It was the first time the Colleyville Heritage High School Panther Band had ever participated in the Grand Nationals, and everyone was excited about it. Pat and I flew up so we could see the band compete, and I pitched in as a Pit Dad, helping to load and move the band equipment as I have done every year of Ben's high school career. The band performed very well, probably the best they did all year, but they missed going on to the semi-finals by just three places in the ranking. Although they were disappointed about that, the kids all had a good time on the trip, as did we parents who were there.

Besides the Scotland and Indianapolis trips, we have visited Pat's and my familes, and I recently went to Las Vegas to play poker with some of my blogger friends (trip report on that, and more poker blogging from me, here). Ben has applied to several colleges, and has been accepted at the University of Oklahoma and the University of Texas at Arlington. He won't know if he has been accepted by his first choice, Texas A&M, for a few more months. Pat and I still find it hard to believe that Ben is a senior and will be graduating from high school in June.

All of us have been in good health, we are happy to say. Pat and I are still employed by Verizon and EDS, an HP company, respectively. Ben is having his struggles in school but overall is doing well. We are thankful for our good fortune, and for our friends and family. We wish everyone out there a new year filled with peace, joy, and harmony. If you want to reach us, you can e-mail us at texas DOT westbay AT verizon DOT net.

Best wishes to all!