Many years ago on Hancock Circle, Kathy and I were in bed reading. One of us (probably Kathy… she would read ahead) landed on the August 29th Farside Calendar entry. The two of us cracked up for the longest time. Not sure why. Maybe because we had been trying to sell the place for so long? Who knows.

The cartoon has survived all of these years, mostly on the outside of one of our refrigerators. I hope it is in fond memory of a great laugh. Or maybe Kathy hates being in the kitchen…..

Nicole and Danny put on their second fireplace play tonight. It was a five act play that took place at a karate place, in an ambulance, and at a hospital. Kelly alternated between audience member and actor.

The origin of the play was Halloween, since Danny wore much of his Ninja costume. The plot was weak, not unlike other marshal arts films. Often the actors planned the next scene as they fought out the current one. At one point the play stopped as the leading man took a bathroom break.

Kelly took it all in stride. Since so many things are new to her, the unusual play that took place on her fireplace stage was nothing to be concerned about.

Last night, she quickly accepted the bizarre ritual of monsters and fairies ringing our doorbell, shouting, and receiving candy. She was perplexed at first, looking from door, to candy, to parent, to sibling, back to door, then back to candy. After the first trick ‘o treaters left, she seemed to review the bizarre event again in her mind. After a few calls, Halloween became standard operating procedure.

It was the coldest Halloween night I remember. That didn’t stop Ninja Danny and Clown Nicole from scoring over 100 pieces of candy each. Nicole counted 103. Danny gave up on the count. The mid-thirties temperature kept Kelly from her first trick o’ treat.

The two oldest spread out all of their candy to be grouped in piles on the floor. Kelly found this to much to resist, and made repeated raids on the nearest pile, which happened to belong to her tolerant brother. She would rush into the stack, squat while Danny was not looking, and pick up something. If it looked promising, she would hasten back to my lap to share it with me. Most of the things I threw back to Danny, but I couldn’t turn down one of her favorites, a purple Charms pop. She sat on my lap for a long time, enjoying the sucker, and occasionally giving me a lick.

The jack o lanterns that Kathy and I spent hours carving, were a big hit. Both Danny and Nicole had pumpkins from Harry’s that weighed more than 20 pounds but only cost $2.99. Kelly’s pumpkin weighed in at only half that.

Date: April 29, 1992

To: Bev Burrick

From: Jeb Cashin

Subj: April Account Statements

Bev,

Enclosed are my April statement balances for checking and savings. These balances do not reflect the $1,800 I netted from the closing of my town house last Friday. That has been deposited to checking.

I have also included a copy of the letter I sent to Chevy Chase. I have not heard from them yet.

I received a letter in the mail yesterday from the credit bureau that informed me about the report that was generated for you. It pointed out the Chevy Chase item and a judgment against me for $500+ dollars in Dekalb Magistrate Court.

I don’t know if that is important, and I think we discussed it in your office. When the people backed out on the day of closing two years ago, I told them I considered their earnest money in forfeit. They sued me for the $500 plus a bunch of legal costs. The judge let them have their earnest money back. I was surprised.

Let me know if you need anything else.

–Jeb

date:  April 28, 1992

attn:  Joann Hyden

   &nbsp    Chevy Chase

   &nbsp    fax: 301-620-1234

from:  Jeb Cashin (Daniel J.)

   &nbsp    John H. Harland Co.

   &nbsp    ph: 404-555-1234

Dear Joann,

I was told by one of the Chevy Chase Visa customer representatives to fax you the enclosed information. They have no information on the account number listed below, and asked that I have you research it.

I am attempting to get a home mortgage. The only “flaw” on my CBI credit report is with Chevy Chase Visa, account number 4013 0610 2908 1234. This report shows 1 occurrence of 30 days late and 2 occurrences of 60 days late.

I have never used a Chevy Chase Visa card account.

Please research this account and contact CBI to have this item removed from my credit report. I will need a phone number that the mortgage company can call to confirm this.

My business address is:

   &nbsp  John H. Harland Co.

   &nbsp  2939 Miller Road

   &nbsp  Decatur, GA 30035

My home address until May 24 is:

   &nbsp  1234 Hancock Circle

   &nbsp  Doraville, GA 30340

If you have any questions for me, you can contact me at 404-555-1234.

Thank you.

attch. Credit Report

Kathy called me at work today and told me she thought we should get “the test.”

You see, while Kathy was fixing breakfast, Danny said to her, “It looks like there is a baby growing in your tummy.” He then dashed into the living room to tell Nicole his exciting discovery, “Mommy’s growing a baby in her tummy!”

Though Kathy had been having some concerns the past few nights, she had only shared them with me in the privacy of our dark, late-night bedroom.

Where did he get this notion? (Especially since Kathy doesn’t look like she has a baby growing in her tummy.)

Both Nancy and Alice were (and still are) expecting at the farm. Nancy is several months along, so perhaps Danny was jealous that Shawn was going to have another little brother or sister. Fetal envy, one might say.

Kathy went up to buy “the test” along with (for some reason) a mysterious bottle of Clearly Canadian which Tom Finley had just told me that morning was trading low and might be a good stock to buy.

Kathy had dinner started when I came home. We set up the vials and chemicals in our bathroom lab. Having always done so well in science courses, I conducted the experiment. Kathy went downstairs, after her contribution, to check on dinner.

At the end of the test, you are supposed to wait 10 minutes to check the little stick indicator for the color blue. The stick turned blue within the first minute. Danny was equally impatient when he changed his chemical vial blue. In fact, Danny was impatient throughout his pregnancy and even refused to wait for the doctor at his birth.

We may have an energetic little brother on our hands.

I invited Kathy up to see the results of the experiment. There was no doubt. We hugged and talked about it a while, both excited and a bit shocked. Then we went downstairs to make the announcement to kids and introduce them to the blue stick, the only tangible evidence of their new sibling’s existance.

Nicole looked up with disblief from reading on the floor. “Are you sure?”

The directions said the blue stick was 99% accurate. I wouldn’t bet against it. We were sure. She then hopped up and hugged Kathy shouting “Congratulations!”

Danny hopped up and down (which he does much of the time anyway) and clapped his hands repeating, “I’m excited. I’m excited.”

How did Danny really know? I think it was mental telepathy. His young mind is not cluttered with the trivia that blocked the subtle signals from his new little brother or sister’s mind. “Hello out there.” Plus, Danny’s brain and the baby’s brain are traveling around at the same height. Certainly this gives him a clear advantage over the rest of the higher brains in the house.

Yesterday Bennett and Alice invited us all over for pizza. I’m glad they did that, because I had wasted much of the day away sleeping late and then dozing off in the living room.

Bennett made a huge pizza with pan-fryed sausage and roma tomatoes that had less juice than regular tomatoes. Much of the evening was spent discussing pregnancy and birth since Alice just found out that she is pregnant. She told Bennett that I would hassle her because she had so adamantly professed “no more children” to me in the past. But I did no such thing. Didn’t have to.

Nicole, Tayler, Danny and Robert ran circles around us having a great time. They were still running when we left at 10:30. For the adults, it was like having a picnic on the beach. After a few minutes, you quit noticing the crashing sounds of the waves.

Bennett got a new rifle. Some kind of reproduction of an old west single shooter. Shoots the biggest bullets he has. He confessed that was one reason he got it.

As Kathy pet one of the two cats, Jack, Bennett told us about shooting a vicious bully neighbor cat. As it came to attack Jack or Jill, Bennett carefully aimed his pellet gun with the intent to “take the cat out.” The pellet hit the cat in the cheek bone. The owner later told how he discovered a metal glint in the cat’s face and dug out a pellet. “Someone shot my cat,” the neighbor told Bennett. Bennett just shook his head, regretting he hadn’t used live amo. It was a good shot, otherwise.

***

Mom, Bob, and Bennett want me to go to the doctor about my eyes. I haven’t had a problem since Friday afternoon. Alice told the most convincing story, however, about a woman who was dizzy, and didn’t experience it again until a year later when doctors found a massive tumor in her brain. Yuck.

12/11/91

Dear Jim and Andrea,

Thanks for the first day of issue postcard, Jim. I wonder how it gets decided that Notre Dame gets to be on a postcard vs. getting a stamp. A stamp is better because it can be put on a postcard or a letter or even a package. In fact it could even go on a coke can like the one I mailed my brother Ted when I was at Notre Dame, just to see if it would work. Ted still has the bent can and the small letter I rolled up and tucked inside.

Notre Dame Notre Dame… you are always on my mind. Kind of like whatever is always on Willie Nelson’s mind… which reminds me of Father Dave, our Father Dave, who art in Indiana (or was.)

The Macintosh has become an integral part of my family. Most of what I have to do at work depends on the things I know that a Macintosh can do. Kathy writes her papers on a Mac. She also puts out the best elementary school newsletter in Atlanta on it. Danny creates amazing drawings with a Mac. Nicole plays games and occasionally makes entries in the family diary (which is on the Mac.) I have two in my office. I have two at home. And now, since last week, I have one on my lap. It’s called a Macintosh PowerBook. Smaller than a calculus book. In fact it is 1:00 am, I can’t sleep, and I’m sitting in a rocking chair using a PowerBook to type a letter to two of the greatest American’s on earth, James and Andrea ColvinFriend.

There’s a freedom here. I couldn’t do this before, because I would have to turn on a Macintosh in either our bedroom or the kids’ bedroom. Now I am free to stay up all night typing. Hmmm… Free at last. Free at last.

I mention the Macs, Andrea, because for the past month or so I’ve been getting the following reminder every time I turn on our home Mac: “Little Colvin Due.” A reminder calendar opens whenever we start our Mac, and Little Colvin is set on December 15. So I’ve got my whole family rooting for your whole family.

I’m looking forward to you two having kids. I think it will force you to settle down a bit. No more of this traveling all over the world to show people artificial body parts, or rehabilitating old body parts. Time to start getting together with the likes of Kathy and me for a round of bridge. I don’t know how to play bridge, but Jim being a civil engineer and all…

Speaking of civil engineers, my brother Ted is working for the GA DOT building massive roads and bridges. He is in a training phase right now. Most of his life revolves around concrete. Testing, calculating, and pouring. Cashin Family project #1 is to get Grant a diploma by next spring. Project #2 is to get Ted a girl. My sister Carol is coming up on her first year anniversary as a mother. This date coincides with the first birthday of my godson, Eric Ettensohn, son of Bob Ettensohn of Cincinnati, Ohio.

What goes around, comes around. Especially with Ohio which goes around on both ends.

I’ve had at least two striking dreams this year in which I’ve moved in and begun a new semester at Notre Dame. Maybe it’s one of those return-to-the-womb things. (Don’t you like how themes can be fused: Notre Dame, pregnancy, Ohio, Willie Nelson, etc.) In many ways Notre Dame was a womb. Not a lot of room, but safe, warm, and comfortable. Didn’t have to worry about food. Staying clean and laundry were easy. We were nurtured by “Our Mother”, Notre Dame. Instead of bodies, our minds grew. Those we were closest to are now very much our brothers and sisters. And upon birth, we all got a special diaper called a diploma.

And of diapers, at the age of 4, Danny’s single greatest life accomplishment has been learning to go to the bathroom. Learning to ride a bicycle has been only a distant second. Thought I would share that with you, Andrea. Make sure you share it with Jim.

In 9 years, Nicole will be going to college. Tuition is increasing at 7% per year. She’ll start in the year 2001. Notre Dame will cost at least $35,000 per year. I put it on a spreadsheet. It’s scary. May explain my desires to return to the womb.

Jim, when we started Notre Dame, did any of us have a 39 year old father?

No wonder I can’t sleep.

Recessionly yours,

Jeb

Went to Oklahoma for two days last week to work on the price making program that will run off the Macs. Brought home two glass mug boots for the kids. Kathy liked them. She and I both had blue plastic boots as kids. The glass ones are better because you can see the milk in the toes.

Who says we’re not moving up?

Today was labor day. Nicole and I had a nice three days off. Danny would have been off anyway, and Kathy had to work at the Marriott Sunday morning. That’s why we were unable to join Mom and Dad down in Destin.

We watched Eric on Saturday while Carol and Bob went to a wedding. Nicole spent two nights out in a row, Friday night at Lauren’s and Saturday night at Jennifer’s for her birthday. They went bowling.

Ted and Nancy called us up Saturday to go out for Mexican food. Danny, Shawn and Brittainy had a sitter until 10:00 pm. She had another job, but we were lucky to get anyone at the last minute.

It was fun going out to dinner with another couple and no kids. We went to La Casuela’s, Kathy and my second time there. Afterward we drove by to harass Grant who was working at the Last Chance Bottle Shop around the corner.

I drove up on the curve right outside the window just to embarrass him. As we started climbing out, Kathy heard a “Mom! Mom!” which she should not be hearing.

There was Nicole and Jennifer! Jenise had driven them up to pick out a movie at the Movie Stop next door. We all went inside the liquor store and had a chat with Grant whom I am sure enjoyed it.

Ted moved into a new house this weekend (the reason he didn’t go to Destin with Mom and Dad.) I got a tour with the kids on sunday. Much nicer neighborhood and a much bigger house off Briarcliff near Clairmont.

We took the kids to see “What About Bob?” today, which everyone enjoyed, including Ted. Ted, Grant and I played a round of Frisbee Golf at the Livsey Course. Ted scored 7 over par, Grant 10, and I 31. I need to learn not to land them in the street. I thought it was pretty good just to go the distance my first time.

Our agreement with Sharon Applebaum ended saturday. We are not going to renew the contract. Kathy wants to try to sell by owner. This marks our 16th month that we’ve had the house on the market.

Mom surprised us Friday by volunteering to watch the kids. Kathy and I went for some TCBY yogurt and a movie, “Backdraft.” We both thought the movie was very good. Kathy ran into Tommy and Daryl (?) at the concession stand, so they sat with us.

Mom has turned in her resignation at Master Graphics. Just can’t handle the rough environment. I hope she finds a nicer place to work. More professional.

The other night, I brought home a questionnaire for Kathy to complete. She pulled it out after dinner and read the title “HMO Customer Satisfaction Survey.” Danny replied, between bites, “Can’t get no.” We all cracked up.