Countdown to 30 - 2002

I was born on December 16th, 1978. For the 30 days leading up to my birthday, I'll be posting (mostly) pictures and (a few) stories about the years gone by.

In the spring of 2002 I got married!  Rather than show you the regular, boring, staged, official picture - here is a picture of the rehearsal:


In the summer we celebrated the anniversary of my maternal grandparents. Here is a shot of me with my sister:


She is going to be mad that I posted it, but I love her anyway!

Countdown to 30 - 2001

I was born on December 16th, 1978. For the 30 days leading up to my birthday, I'll be posting (mostly) pictures and (a few) stories about the years gone by.

2001 was significant for many reasons, but aren't they all?  Unfortunately, 2001 was the year I was diagnosed with my Kidney Disease, FSGS.  This is the year that I went from skinny to fat, and it only took a matter of weeks.  More details on that story is HERE.

2001 was also the first time that I made the trip out to Wyoming!  Anny's parents live at the base of Casper Mountain.  I have been several times (and we're going again in the spring) and it's beautiful out there.  It is funny, though, that I have never seen snow fall out there, but there has always been at least a foot on the ground! 



Yes, the snow on Anny's jacket was my fault.  How can you be around that much snow and not throw a snowball or two?

2001 was also the year that I (we) moved from Maryland down to Manassas so that I could work as the Office Manager at Camp Glenkirk.  It was a great experience for the most part, and a time of my life that I would never change. 

Countdown to 30 - 2000

I was born on December 16th, 1978. For the 30 days leading up to my birthday, I'll be posting (mostly) pictures and (a few) stories about the years gone by.

Here is a shot of Anny and I at the end of the summer when folks were going somewhere nice.  You will probably notice that I didn't bring nice shoes, so I'm wearing tennis shoes.  I have sure changed since then! (and holy cow, that's a big belt buckle!)



In the fall of 2000 Anny moved to Tennessee to work at an environmental education facility.  She was there for months and we only saw each other a couple of times.  We each had phone bills that were incredibly high, but in retrospect I would say that it was worth it.  We made the long distance thing work, and work well.

(Again, I notice how skinny I was then. I think this is the last skinny picture there is of me.)

Countdown to 30 - 1999

I was born on December 16th, 1978. For the 30 days leading up to my birthday, I'll be posting (mostly) pictures and (a few) stories about the years gone by.

The Spring of 1999 was hard, but in May my brother graduated.  Since I don't have a picture of him and me together, here is a pic of me and my best buds at the Baccalaurate Service.  Charlene's sister and Bryan's brother graduated in the same spring...



I met my wife Anny in June of 1999! We shared some things in common, and worked on others over the years. We actually share a birthday, though the years are different. At the end of the summer, most of the other staff went back to their colleges, but I was doing the Community College thing and Anny was already teaching, so we were both here.

It's hard to believe that we ended up together sometimes, especially since I remember very vidly a conversation on a hike in 1999 (or early 2000) in which she said "I will never get married until I'm ready to stop having fun!" Yeah. That's me, the guy that got to take away all of her fun times and tie her down to marraige. What can I say, that's what love will do!

Sharing a birthday meant that my family went a bit crazy and baked two cakes - one for each of us. Here's the proof!


(HERE is my post with a bit more detail on the way we met and our first year together, if you haven't heard us ramble on about it before!)

Countdown to 30 - 1997 & 1998

I was born on December 16th, 1978. For the 30 days leading up to my birthday, I'll be posting (mostly) pictures and (a few) stories about the years gone by. (It seems my math was wrong, so I started a day late. "30 in 29" does not have the same ring, but it will have to do!)

1997 was the first year that I worked at Camp Glenkirk. That place changed my life in many ways, all for the good. I think about it often, and always fondly. Anyway, here is a picture from my first summer, looking much more like an ape and a human:



In 1998 I returned to work at Glenkirk. My second summer was much better than my first, mostly because I was more comfortable with the people and program, having done it the year before.

Here is a picture of me canoeing on the Shenandoah River. It is a bit scray to know that I was once that skinny!

Countdown to 30 - 1996

I was born on December 16th, 1978. For the 30 days leading up to my birthday, I'll be posting (mostly) pictures and (a few) stories about the years gone by.

I graduated from high school in 1996. It was such a shock that the principal stuttered my name! (I know you're surprised that I could not keep my mouth shut long enough for the picture.)



Because I know that Charlene wants to see another picture of Bryan pop up, here is another from graduation day:


I remember my first day of college in the fall of 1996. Since I went to a middle/high school that required uniforms to be worn, my first day of college intimidating! I could wear whatever I wanted. Okay, it was honestly overwhelming more than anything else. I would have traded it for uniforms in a hearbeat!

Countdown to 30 - 1995

I was born on December 16th, 1978. For the 30 days leading up to my birthday, I'll be posting (mostly) pictures and (a few) stories about the years gone by.


I went to the Junior/Senior Banquet with my friend Chere', who was a Senior at the time. Here I am, all dressed up.


I hosted a Halloween party in 1995. I invited four girls and three other guys (me being #4, for parity). Only the guys showed up. I spray-colored my hair neon green. Since the girls didn't show up, we guys (yeah, Allen, Bryan and Joe) hopped in the car, shirtless, and went to the McDonalds drive-thru. Yeah, we were rebels.

Countdown to 30 - 1994 (oops! Updated)

I was born on December 16th, 1978. For the 30 days leading up to my birthday, I'll be posting (mostly) pictures and (a few) stories about the years gone by.

Here is my class picture. I believe I was allowed to pick out my clothes this time, and that is a rainforest tie. Guess they could not get me to smile, either.



(forgive the earlier post - this is corrected)

Countdown to 30 - 1993

I was born on December 16th, 1978. For the 30 days leading up to my birthday, I'll be posting (mostly) pictures and (a few) stories about the years gone by.

This picture is still from freshman year, but it was the spring of 1993. Our school did a regular trip out to Ocean City toward the end of the year, and here is me (middle, looking like an idiot) with my peeps.



It's funny, but I distinctly remember that day. Those trips were always fun, though I have yet to figure out how they related to education!

Countdown to 30 - 1992

I was born on December 16th, 1978. For the 30 days leading up to my birthday, I'll be posting (mostly) pictures and (a few) stories about the years gone by.

Okay - I've got nothing for this. I'm guessing that since it was freshman year of high school, I chose earlier in my life to not keep any pictures or such.

I will take this space, then, to acknowledge that in 1992 I met my best friends to this day - Bryan and Charlene Harrison. (She was not Harrison at the time, but that's okay) The three of us went through some interesting years that I would not trade (most of) for anything.

I like to take credit for clearing the way for them to date - and therefore marry and have children - because Charlene used my parent-cred to snag permission to go out with Bryan. It was a classic "if he's Robert's friend, he can't be bad." I think her parents still believe that, and honestly it's one way I try to keep my self together. I always want to be the guy that only knows good people.