2003

December 2003

Dear Friends and Family,

Well, it seems that many people think we left the country, fell of the edge of the Earth, or simply went into hiding. This is not the case – we just changed address and didn’t tell anyone, even our parents (though the Bouknights are pretty good at tracking us down). We bought and moved into our first house in December of 2002 – and have been busy ever since with things like growing grass and painting, neither as simple as it seemed. Darryn has found a new calling as an amateur electrician and wood worker. He has a compound miter saw now and is reaching deep into new levels of manhood. We’re thinking about changing his name to Norm and starting our own television show.

I’m still teaching eighth grade Language Arts and loving it. Eighth graders, especially our group at Piedmont, keep me interested and thinking. I was a finalist for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Teacher of the Year last year and the national winner of the ASCD (Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development) Outstanding Young Educator Award. Darryn and I will be traveling down to New Orleans in a couple weeks to receive the award, which focuses on teacher leadership and contribution to the profession. I’m working this year on an article for publication and will probably start my PhD next school year at UNC-Charlotte. I’m starting to do a bit of national consulting – in October I’ll be presenting in Dallas – and that helps keep me busy, as well. We talk about kids, but so far our Dalmatian, Spot, is about as much as we can handle. (He’s very needy – and a big weenie). My sister and brother both have dogs instead of children at this point. Family gatherings are a zoo and my parents are pretty disgusted with the situation.

Darryn is currently working on his architectural registration exams…nine of them so he can become registered and sign off on his own drawings. It’s hard. He is distracted by that miter saw. Darryn feels he should have a paragraph equal in length to the one above, but he is a quiet man. He’s working on that – these days, his mantra is, “I’m not quiet! I just have nothing to say right now.”

We hope all is well with our family and friends. Your experiences and good thoughts please us and are welcome. Take care in 2004.

Best, Jen

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