It is that time of year when we look back with surprise at all the events that have swirled around us during the past 12 months. Sometimes we wonder how we were able to cope with life’s hurdles. Sometimes we celebrated wonderful occasions. It was a year of big decisions and big delights.
Rosemary and Paul started off the New Year as faculty members at Kent State and Walsh universities respectively. This is the first time in over three decades that neither of us is serving as an administrator. Rosemary is a Full Professor, teaching two courses a semester, doing research and serving on school committees; Paul is officially retired, but as Emeritus Professor, he teaches one course a semester and serves as a Faculty Fellow in his college (this is retirement?). There was much more time to spend with one another and to take short trips. (Rosemary’s Dad, Ted, at 94, is living in a local assisted living facility and so we don’t travel far or for too long.)
We did get to D.C. several times to visit our daughter, Malia, who bought a new house this past summer, and our son, Erik, and his wife, Emily, who are in the process of adopting a baby from Korea. After more than a year of planning and hoping, Erik and Emily received notice in December that their son, Jackson, will be coming home with them in the spring of 2012. YES, we will FINALLY be Grandma and Grandpa!
We also took some other short trips this summer. We went to Stratford, Ontario, to see Richard III and Shakespeare’s Will. The lead in both was the marvelous actress, Seana McKenna. In early August we toured the Huron County wine country with Rosemary’s cousin, Bob, and his wife, Judy. We all spent a night on Big Bass Island at Put-In-Bay, famous for the harbor from which the American fleet under Perry defeated the superior British fleet in 1814. Upon return home we found a disaster. Our main water pipe on the ground floor had broken through and we had a flooded TV room. Luckily we caught the problem in time to confine the damage to the one room. The insurance company covered most of the damage, which ran into the thousands of dollars. The recovery job was finally completed in October. What a mess!
This past year, our youngest son, Matthew, “the actor,” performed in various venues in the East. He performed at Lincoln Center and the Kennedy Center with an award-winning choir, singing in the world premier of “A Melancholy Beauty.” We were fortunate to see him perform the role of Peter in “Diary of Anna Frank” at a theater in Greene New York in November. In December we traveled to Manchester, New Hampshire to see him play Uncle Scourge’s nephew, Fred, in a musical version of “Christmas Carol.” His girlfriend, Adrienne, was also in the cast. He will be playing the lead in the musical “Spring Awakening” this coming April and May in Clarksville, Tennessee. We are already planning a trip there! Rock climbing continues to be his passion.
Meanwhile, back on the home front Rosemary and Paul attend the “MET Live” series at our local theater, watch plays at Actors’ Summit (both of us are on the board and Paul has been president for two years), get up to Cleveland to see the “road companies” of Broadway shows, attend the regular season of The Akron Symphony, and the Cleveland Orchestra at Blossom during the summer. Some friends also share our love of small craft boating and we kayak and sail together.
All in all we lead a full and healthy life.
God bless you all with a happy, healthy, and productive New Year.
Paul and Rosemary DuMont
