When Mary Claire was little, she would talk about a movie or TV show being wet or dry. Kathy and I couldn’t figure out what she was talking about, so we had to get translator Kelly to figure it out. (Older siblings are useful for this.) Kelly went through a list of shows and had Mary Claire tell her which were wet and which were dry. Mary Claire had an immediate answer for each one.

Kelly finally deduced that cartoons are “wet” and shows with real people are “dry”. It was obvious once she figured it out, although I’m not sure why.

Tonight at dinner (some 5 years later) Claire wondered why herself. She decided that she must have thought pouring water in the TV would make some shows colorful cartoons and when the TV dried out, real people would show up. Kelly immediately dismissed this as the reason. I said, “Claire would have a better glimpse into what she thought as a kid than you would.”

“I suppose,” said Kelly, who probably really thought I was all wet.

The big event for the quarter was Kathy and Danny’s trip to Jamaica to work with the Missionaries of the Poor. Like Jeb and Nicole who went a year ago, both reported having an amazing experience working with the brothers and the poor in the slums of Kingston. Kathy, who was very nervous before the trip, cannot wait to go back. Both wrote very inspiring articles that can be found here: www.sjnlilburn.org/documents/NNEaster2005.pdf.

Nicole is wrapping up her UGA undergraduate degree. Her band “The Psychic Hearts” will be playing at Music Midtown in Atlanta. They were one of 14 local bands chosen from 400 who applied to play at this huge festival. Danny earned the starting pitcher position for Brookwood this season, and helped kick off the season with a win. However, he injured his back shortly after that and is going through rehabilitation which includes electric shock therapy (to the back… not head.) He has been accepted to 3 of his 4 colleges (Spring Hill, UGA, and Augusta) and is still waiting to hear from Notre Dame.

Kelly and Claire are very busy with soccer, piano, and art. Kelly scored in her first game. Like their brother, they both injured themselves early in the season and missed a couple of games, but both are back 100%. Kelly received a perfect score for her violin evaluation, and a superior rating in her piano federation. Claire received a perfect score (straight A’s) on her last report card. She also discovered she is a terrific basketball player having just completed her first season.

Jeb joined the Knights of Columbus and went through the secret indoctrination to become a First Degree Knight. It was a very unusual experience, but he can only talk about it with other Knights in good standing.