Barnes Family Christmas Letter 2018
Many ask, over the years, how there could be so many positive things in the lives of my family. Well, it is like the portrait of a grand dame, you don’t paint a facial blemish she has the day she sits for the painting, but an image which is the essence of the woman. So, too, it is with anyone’s family. No need to plow through “warts and all” when there are overwhelming positives. As is now the norm, my children provided their own paragraphs—so it ain’t just me, who sees the world in a positive light! Below is what jumped out for the 2018 portrait of our family.
Sebastian has settled in as Technology Strategist at Appirio, an ideal career move, with less stress, working from home, minimal travel, and better benefits. His new role is exposing him to companies, small and large, new business models, and helping client-companies define their technology needs for years to come. He and Sandy have moved in together, along with bobtail cat, Jude. The couple traveled to a destination wedding in Santa Barbara, then San Diego, and also Charleston. Seb is working on a third book, for young adults, following last year’s Willow Tree’s Gift. The new one is the trials of the young Greek goddess, Artemis, who learns to use her powers in war-torn ancient Greece. It takes the theme of women’s empowerment and weaves historical-fiction and mythology into an exciting story of survival against impossible odds and. Perhaps it will be the next Harry Potter. See his website: www.moralvignette.com
Natalia: Setting her stage, in 1989 she was born with spina bifida, wasn’t expected to live or ever walk. Now, at 29, watch her go. After completing the Baltimore Half Marathon last year in her wheelchair, she caught the racing bug! She did two more half-marathons, a 5k, 10k, and a full marathon in October, which she swears she won’t do again but—we’ll see. Pictured are her nine medals (NOT participation medals), covering 76 miles and countless more training in her little red wheelchair. In the 5½-hour marathon she wore holes in her new leather gloves, giving her a scar on her palm that she’s rather proud of! She caught the attention of Rip-It Events, which sponsors races, and now she is humbled and thrilled to be one of 36 athletes chosen as Rip-It ambassadors for 2019. She continues, as a certified spin instructor, and leads abdominal training classes at Brick Bodies in Baltimore, and a new spin studio, Core Cycle.
She developed a fitness-family around her that she loves, which brought a new goal. It was gratifying to help her students develop physical skills so, eight months later, studying relentlessly and throwing back late-night coffees, she passed her Personal Trainer certification. Of course, she rewarded herself with a big bag of skittles. Some things should never change.
Thomas had a whirlwind year! Last year, he had felt compelled to take care of a Marine in crisis just before the bar exam, and missed passing by a single point. Any improvement would mean success. But the wait for results was harder than studying for the test. He worked for the Marine Corps Trademark Office and couldn’t believe how many dishonest companies infringe on the Marine Corps emblem, the Eagle, Globe, and Anchor (EGA). He vigorously acted against dozens of companies, preventing them from placing the heralded emblem on shoddy products. He also put his MBA (earned mostly in Afghanistan) to good use by introducing two new tracking systems to make enforcement more efficient. So, if you are buying a shirt or hat with the EGA, check for a little hologram tag. If it’s not there, the product is illegal!
Bar results came in April, and the first word on Tom’s screen was, “Congratulations!” His life as an attorney had begun, in the face of the lowest Maryland Bar passing rate in 50 years. He is pursuing positions at the Department of Defense and Veterans’ Affairs, areas where he has a passion. This is also his second year with faithful comfort dog, Weber, a happy black-lab-rescue-mix who comes to work with Tom on Fridays, and adopted the whole office as an extended family. Last, Thomas continues with an innovative small business he began last year, teaching firearms to attorneys, who have represented scores of clients for violent acts, but never fired a weapon, themselves. Now they’ll better understand what it’s all about, and gun safety, too.
Ariel had a pivotal year. She began to feel stagnant and made a few “light” changes. She quit her job, burned some bridges, dumped her boyfriend, and went to Puerto Escondido on the Pacific coast of Mexico (not necessarily in that order).
She’s had articles featured in Format Magazine, Milky Mag, and Ephemera Magazine. Her work consists of essays and humor pieces, but she’s shifting to focus on food and cuisine. She moonlights as a bartender on the Lower East Side, and freelances with food and media-event companies. (Visit her work at www.arielbarnes.com)
She’s been dating Andrew, a nice Italian-Irish boxer/personal trainer, who was raised in South Philadelphia. Things are going well enough that he even met “Mr. Barnes” (also Philly-raised), and has made it into this Christmas letter, unheard of for Ariel’s previous suitors.
Ariel is up at 6 AM, swimming laps at a pool on the Upper East Side. The comfort of an empty lane is worth traveling all the way uptown. (If you swim, you know you DON’T want to share a lane.) She is ending the year strong with a frightening case of gastritis and an essay in Bon Appétit, set for 2019—no connection! She still lives in New York and likes it, but doesn’t plan on it forever, although she would miss jogging across the Brooklyn Bridge, even with the congestion.
Gavin and the Orlando Barnes Clan includes wife Joanie, and adopted now-19-year old Alexis, a sweetie—which makes me an adopted-Grandpa. After high school, Alexis was accepted into the Valencia Fire Science Academy with her sights on being a Fire Fighter. Her first semester saw all As. Even among a lot of much bigger guys—she was chosen to be a team leader, and then class leader, quite an accomplishment, especially, at just over five-feet tall.
Two years ago, Joanie made a career change, from years of teaching anatomy in high school, to become a Diagnostic Medical Sonographer. In the spring she graduated at the top of her class and, after only six months at the Orlando Diagnostic Center, was made Lead Ultrasound Technologist. But that’s her work stuff. The play part for the Florida native, during a trip to Seattle and the winter wonderland mountains of North Bend, Washington, Joanie saw snow fall for the first time. And it is just as much fun for an adult!
Joanie and Gavin took a cruise to the Caribbean and had a blast in New York visiting little sister, Ariel. If you make the 1000-mile trip, it’s worth taking in the solemnity of the 9/11 Memorial and standing in the shadow of Lady Liberty. But a Broadway show was also in order, and they saw Aladdin. The humor is that, for years growing up, and as a teenager on Halloween, Gavin always wore the pale blue costume and mask of the genie.
Gavin’s work-related travels included a whole month in Japan, suffering with everyone through their historic heatwave. Still, he explored Tokyo and Kyoto, trying new foods and drinks and evenings listening to Japanese music at their countless live-music venues. (His new favorite band became Zeze-Haha). But all of this fun aside, the momentous thing about Gavin—traveling, or at home in Florida—he is now the Lead Engineer for the Exoskeleton program at Lockheed Martin—and this is a big deal. He was awarded his first two patents, and was LM’s Inventor of the year! And this in a billion-dollar company! See six minutes of Gavin telling you all about the ONYX: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjqBcibJwms. So, perhaps all those years of being the Genie, and the magic he could do, wasn’t that far off….
Wayne and Cynthia: Over several years, Cynthia and I have traveled to many countries and many states, the latter focusing on the majesty of our National Parks. The last two weeks in August, first we visited her daughter, Marissa, and husband, Haim, in Denver, and were joined by daughter Allison, husband, Jeff, and their son, Dylan. We hiked trails outside of Boulder, and then a more strenuous one to St. Mary’s Glacier. With two-year-old Dylan in a shoulder harness, and Jeff and Haim sharing the Sherpa duty, it sparked the thought of another use for Gavin’s exoskeleton, so all such weary dads would have greater endurance for their tired legs.
A rare dinner occurred with the Boulder Barnes Clan with nephew Wyatt and wife, Amy, organic farmers in Longmont, and niece Dana, with great-nephew Brandon, all gathered round.
For the next ten days the two of us did a CO-UT galivant, which is really worth writing about. National Parks, but also “lesser parks,” labeled “National Monuments,” were impressive.
The litany began with The Black Canyon of the Gunnison, then a narrow-gauge historic railway ride from Durango to Silverton, which actually used to haul silver—by the ton. Canyonlands in Utah is every bit as impressive as the one in Arizona, but without the same publicity or crowds. Then there were Great Sand Dunes and the extraordinary formations outside of Moab in Arches National Park, a place everyone should visit. The way back to Denver took us up to Mesa Verde. Even as kids, you all saw photos of the cliff dwellings from centuries ago. In person, they’re in many locations, and the history, learned from long-resident park service officers, takes you back in time. And one very rare, natural phenomenon was witnessed, a sunset, but more than that. A high storm cloud crept steadily across the plain, with the mist of rain visible 20 miles away. Its timing with the approach of the sun’s rays exploded, but only the falling mist caught the colors in yellow-orange, like actual fire spewing downward, to drench the earth in flames.
And I bought a kilt, actually the whole kilt-and-caboodle. With Northern Irish heritage, and Scotish before that, I found a paternal grandmother’s ancestry in the Henderson Clan and figured it was time to decide for myself, “What are you wearing under there?” (Not much! Lol!)
Butterflies are still very much in our lives, besides Cynthia’s enchanting b-fly backyard garden. She took a spring trip to the Monarch Biosphere Reserve in Michoacan, MX, to see the millions roosting in fir trees. At home, as part of the Monarch Tagging Project, she has netted and tagged 430 monarchs in just over two years. We all know of the thousands-of-miles trip they take to Canada and then down to Mexico, but the tagging seems to show there are “tropical Monarchs,” that spend their lives right here in Southern Florida. For my own statistics, I continue to jog 2.5 miles every other day, with LA Fitness for weights, or yoga, every other, other, day, happy to be doing so at age 71. And I reached another milestone this year with a lifelong donation figure for whole blood of 150 pints. The other giant statistic is that, in October, celebrating what would have been my 47th anniversary in the FBI, I finally managed to pay off all of my daughters’ college loans in a lump, a burden lifted. Children should be given the best start in life that a parent can offer, even if this was a decade in the making, for all of us to be college-debt free.
I would like to give a shout-out to relatives, all around the world. Mine, on the Barnes/Chestnut/paternal side, from the Northern Ireland Chestnuts, Elizabeth Morrison and sister Margaret McClure, and Paula Chestnut in far-off Australia, send their Christmas messages, pages long, too, but all handwritten, something I can only hold in awe. On the maternal side, Barbara Kistler, the Pennsylvania Dutch branch of the family, cleared out her attic and provided turn-of-the-last-century photos of our ancestors I had never seen and am grateful to her.
Next to last, at New York’s Algonkian Writer’s Conference in June, I met Paula Munier, literary agent, par excellence, who might steer my manuscript, (now called) The Spy in the FBI, through to publication. The story is my mission in recruiting a Russian who could identify Robert Hanssen, the most treacherous spy in U.S. history since the Rosenbergs gave up the secrets to the atomic bomb. The FBI’s Prepublication Review Unit has 30 days to review and clear such manuscripts, but they have been holding mine now for over two years! Still, unlike all other submissions, almost all of mine, from decades in the past, used to be classified SECRET. But I am hopeful for better news next year. So many of my Cold War colleagues have passed away that, if I do not tell our stories, they will be lost to history. For Wayne-essays, and more, please visit my website: www.Barnes-Investigations.com
And last, of course, is a new life that has come into Cynthia’s family. Marissa and Haim welcomed Jacob Benjamin into the world on the winter solstice, December 22nd, the shortest day of the year. Good luck and good management to Jake, and may his days be long….
