Barnes Family Christmas Letter 2008
It has been another year of striving. It’s not that the BarnesKids are overachievers, they just strive and achieve and go on to the next thing. You learn it in childhood and you never let the habit go. But there are times to sit back and enjoy, before you get back on your horse for more of life’s ride. With a family now spread far and wide, Thanksgiving and Christmas have become those times of togetherness and reflection when they all return for the photo that repaints the picture of who we are—and ain’t it great!
Ariel graduated from Miami’s MAST Academy and began at the California College of the Arts on the rolling-hill campus in Oakland and San Francisco, with fashion design on her mind. She was one of a tiny percentage accepted, and it was mostly on a set of fashion drawings in watercolor that I hadn’t known existed. The admissions lady told me, with a wink, that they were special—and had done the trick. After a semester of very good grades in classes as Garment Construction, Art History and English, she had superlative writing grades but wants to take her design knowledge and switch to journalism. She’ll be transferring to Florida State in Tallahassee.
Natalia made the jump from Florida International University in Miami to become a sophomore at the University of Maryland, inside the Washington Beltway, to pursue Broadcast Journalism. With her stage presence, her face and voice belong in front of a camera and behind a microphone. Grades are good, and socializing at a major college football school has given Natalia a new view of college life. Old FBI friends are nearby if help is needed, and wouldn’t you know it—it was! An off-campus Halloween house party became a crime scene as someone, (who was not raised right), stole Natalia’s wheelchair! She and friends put up 500 fliers on every available vertical surface, walked a grid search pattern, and friend Harry Gossett got the TV news right on it. No one was untouched by the story of the girl whose “legs were stolen.” In flat Miami she can get around with some walking, but the College Park terrain for Natalia is like a hike uphill with skis. Timmy and Tina Tyrrell were so moved that they drove a couple of hours from Manassas, VA, to lend Natalia a Quickie wheelchair on a second day of news coverage. Then Daniel Johnson saw an abandoned chair in the basement of his 20-story apartment building and nudged it to see the front wheels sparkle and knew he had found what he’d seen on all the posters. A quick call and a tearful reunion of coed and red wheelchair made things better—and the 5 o’clock news!
Gavin, my 6’2,” bearded scholar is in his last year of higher education at the University of Central Florida, ready to receive a Master’s in Mechanical Engineering (Robotics and Control Systems) in May. But his internship at Lockheed Martin is the inspiration for what-comes-next, and they recently flew him to their Dallas facility to interview for the real lifetime job. His options are many and he has found his way nicely.
Sebastian, my most svelte and wiry son, has been at Citrix for four years since his University of Miami graduation and has moved up a few levels. He is now beyond the constant globetrotting as a Project Manager over people and things. What he does with computer software is far beyond me, but when all those years of studying finally get your son where he wants to be—and he drives there in his red Volvo convertible—it makes a Dad proud.
Thomas—that is, Lance Corporal Thomas A. Barnes—the oldest at 28, has had a busy year. He graduated from Parris Island’s Marine Boot Camp in January, with all siblings, and old friend Chris Epstein, there to witness the event. You wouldn’t believe the hell they go through, and part of his was losing 37 pounds in 14 weeks, (from 207 to 170), ending with the three-day final test, The Crucible, where jogging, climbing, swinging, slogging, and general pounding, under a full pack, brings your body to a mental and physical screeching halt—and still you go on, even with “marching pneumonia”! Three weeks before graduation, while hospitalized, Tom held out one much-needed pill for later. It would stave off the coughing spell during a long at-attention ceremony where the command was for not a peep (or cough). That is how my platoon scribe did it. His next posting at Twentynine Palms, CA, took his kid-learned computer knowledge and transformed him into a communications expert. By the time he reached Camp LeJeune, NC, he was able to answer every call and, on his own, read the newest equipment manual, then trained others, foregoing a two-week school, so they would all be further ahead. Then something happened—unique for a Marine of less than a year—the Commanding Officer of the 6th Marine Regiment awarded Thomas the Navy Achievement Medal. He will deploy with his radio knowledge to Iraq in late December, the most protected member of the platoon, he tells me, because they need to have “commo” above all else.
Cynthia would have been in our Christmas photo again this year, but her motherly side took her to New York over Thanksgiving to spend with her daughters, attending the theatre, seeing museums, and wining and dining. I missed her, but even my computer kids could not photoshop her into the annual pic.
As for Wayne, the “retired” FBI guy, this year’s investigations covered the Dominican Republic, Utah and Nevada, Columbus, OH, and even Paramus, NJ, as well as all over Florida. Some special work for a “high-quality-watch manufacturer” client broke a couple of major fraud cases wide open—the kind of work that keeps the PI phone ringing, thankfully. Oh, did I mention Romania? After studying the language, culture, (and intelligence service) for 35 years, I finally traveled there to search for a stolen painting worth about $2 million. Hitting the ground with the language skill and map of Bucharest already in my head was extraordinary. Last, a book-signing enabled me to meet Alan Furst, best-selling author of WW II espionage books, who recommended me to his editor at Random House. While covering the New Jersey lead, I drove across the bridge to Manhattan and found the publishing tabernacle, but could find no one home. You hope a company’s reorganization won’t hurt your chances to publish, and you wonder if anyone actually reads the manuscript. But I will keep at it and go to plan D—or is it E, or maybe F? Just do what you teach your children—keep at it and don’t give up. It will work if you try hard enough.
From all of us, have a merry Christmas and a wonderful holiday season!