This letter, perhaps better than a formal essay would, expresses our purpose in scheduling a reunion and in setting up this website, because it is lifted verbatim from our correspondence (except that any email addresses mentioned have been altered to confuse spambots). "Marti" is Marti (Mrs. Robert) Stevens, née Smith; "Ellie" is Mrs. Gary Minion. For those unfamiliar with email conventions, the lines that begin with a ">" character are quotes from a letter of Vicki's. This letter was my response.
From - Mon Dec 8 13:45:58 1997 X-Mozilla-Status: 0001 Message-ID: <348C4066.65D @ acsinc.net> Date: Mon, 08 Dec 1997 13:45:58 -0500 From: "Steven W. Parrish" <"Steven W. Parrish"> Reply-To: Steven @ acsinc.net Organization: The School of Tyrannus X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.0 (OS/2; I) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: vickimerritt @ ibm.net Subject: Re: Buzzard pix References: <3470E5BF.63D9 @ acsinc.net> <34716C92.7A22 @ ibm.net> <3484E1D1.282B @ acsinc.net> <3486B0EA.305C @ ibm.net> <19971205.083807.3558.1.Robert.Stevens @ juno.com> <348BCC0C.5504 @ ibm.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit The Merritts wrote: > We > have the remains of the Prizm on film, if Steve would like a gander. I > can't attached a photo to juno-mail. What? should I post that, too? > The Minions are in touch with the Simmons by e-mail so she said she > could help track LaVon down for us. He is still a Methodist pastor, she > thinks perhaps in southern Missouri now. We definitely gotta find him. > It's folks like Ellie who > have kept fairly close ties over the years with particular classmates > that I need to work on estabishing 'links' with. Who knows how current > the CIU mailing list *actually* is? This allows me to bring up a particular point. I have never been an assiduous correspondent; folks have had reason to complain of me on that account before now. Without a dedicated secretary desk complete with stationery, stamps, and all the gewgaws and flummery that go therewith contained in a known limited space, I just never get a rount tuit. Technology is great. I love it for its own sake, but it also makes replying to letters *so* much easier. At the very least, we should collect the email addresses of the Buzzards on-line, and have it available to send to classmates on request. Can't just post it on the Web without precautions against spambots, and of the ones I've seen, I don't know how effective they are. > Ellie & I do]. Sounds like a small world doesn't it? :-) Vicki Actually, it's a little flock. > All the more reason I hope this 25th anniversary will help us establish > some new 'links'. Transcribing those letters made me somewhat long for > those days when we all felt a degree of connectedness. Life hasn't taken > any of us exactly where we expected and I know some 'mates' feel > embarrassed to admit to the group that certain failures have cropped up > in their lives. But just working on this thing and sharing with you and > Marti has been so encouraging, I wish it could be communicated to all > the ole Buzzards out there! :-) Vicki I once saw a brief essay by one Adolphe Monod, in which he said, (near the end of his life) that he regretted mainly having attempted to lay out his own plans rather than to follow the one that the Lord laid out for him, day by day. Looking back at my own newsletter postings from the '70's, I am tempted to smile at the naïf that wrote them. When I was 18, I was out to win the Triple Crown; When I was 21, I would settle for a win in any of the three races; When I was 25, I was trying to place; When I was 30, I was trying to show; When I was 35, I was just hoping to finish; When I was 40, I was trying not to break a leg and get shot! (Author disremembered) :-> Nowadays, I can appreciate the experience of Moses, who cut short a promising career and spent the 'best' years of his life sheep herding out in the boondocks. As he found out, it ain't over 'till God says it is. The Lord's plans are infinitely better than any I can make. There is contentment and peace in simply following Him day by day, taking what comes as from His hand. -- +--------------------------------------------------------------+ | Steven W. Parrish steven @ acsinc.net | | http://analog.acsinc.net/tyrannus | | So I'm paranoid; that doesn't mean they *aren't* after me. | +------===========================================-------------+