2012 – Fifty Shades of Bray

~~Fifty~~ Five Shades of Bray

I was putzing around in the attic last week when I came upon an old Hanover Storage moving box. It was marked Honeymoon. Wow, how’d this escape the horrifying space cleansing purges of the past 31 years? Like a paparazzi peeking in on the Duchess of Cambridge’s vacation, I smiled and opened the top.

It lay right on top, slightly yellowed, and clearly suffering from a T-Bone with a Bloody Mary, but otherwise intact. No ugly editing scrawls and there on the bottom the signature of my bride, the terrorist, and the happy groom, yours truly, totally legible in what my chicken-scratch must have looked like 500,000 check signatures ago.

I recalled having it sprung on me like the Gangnam dance phenomenon; right after the stewardess delivered my first Mary on our Honeymoon flight. I reclined with a smile on my face and my Ray-Bans on my nose. We had made the flight despite just two hours of sleep after a sixty minute torture test drive from Buffalo to Toronto in Bray’s Monza that Sunday morning nearly 32 years ago. We were on our way to Hawaii and two weeks of fun followed by a lifetime of devotion. Ah, married life. Then she slid the document in front of me.

“What’s this?“ I babbled.

“It’s our Contract” she whispered and her eyelashes batted -..- “You dumbshit” in semaphore code.

“Come again?” I offered completely confused.

“That’s exactly what won’t be happening to you until you sign this Contract” she smiled offering up a pen. “And don’t bother to read or negotiate. Just sign it” she said while I winced.

So there it was. I picked it up and held it in my hands (remembering how I had stubbed my Mary on the seat tray putting it down to grab the paper, spilling the drink on the paper. CONTRACT typed probably with my own Smith-Corona typewriter (probably the most advanced ever manufactured) on the top of the document.

“I need a cigarette. Can I have one of your Larks? My Camel Lights were emptied by three last night” How hard it must be to spring one of these on someone with today’s flying rules.

It was a list of things she wouldn’t do. No this, No that. Never-ever those. I remembered what an odd assortment of constraints it had seemed at that moment and shook my head at how she had remained true to its contents without having kept the document at the ready for referral.

I will not sweat. Wow. That’s become Bray’s motto. Bray didn’t sweat this year when we skied at Beaver Creek or Vail in March, connecting with the Flowers, Vieths, James and Kira. She made her 8th trip to Ethiopia in January to train SelamtaFamilyProject.org mothers on the sewing machines she bought (with your contributions…thank you!) along with Joy Wasz. Why Ethiopia? Because the temperature never goes over 75 on account of the altitude. Bray played Mah-Jong more than most people play crosswords or sudoku combined. (December Temple Beth-El tournament champ too!) Have you ever seen anyone sweat in Mah-Jong? I got several golf games in with Elizabeth this year, but Bray joined only when the temperature was less than 75.

I will not do blood. I guess this was a warning she would never visit me in the hospital, which is almost totally true after nearly 32 years. I take cabs home from the hospital. Moreover, Bray does her best to avoid any chance of seeing her kid’s blood. James’ rugby games this year for the Boston Rugby Club as a wing…Bray saw one. She did put the eye blinders on for the post-op convalescence when James had a surprise appendectomy in August. Elizabeth’s Tough Mudder and half-marathon in September and October…sorry, Mah Jong tournaments prevented her attendance. John’s cross country trip this summer? “Billy, could you check John’s new Facebook post to see if I can look at it (i.e. no sign of blood)?” Mitch-a-palooza X the day after Thanksgiving went off without any cuts from broken bottles or hospital visits while raising a remarkable $3,000 for the SelamtaFamilyProject.org project. If Bray was a vampire she’d have to be on IV for nourishment.

I will not stay at a Day’s Inn. I don’t know what she had against Day’s Inns, but this marks 31 consecutive years without hitting one. Well, as the kids remind me, there was one in Colorado Springs once, but brother Jimmy booked that night so that violation was not on me. We had two great trips this year to London/Paris/Berlin in the winter and spring with a few stories to share in person about baggage security and Mr. Springsteen. We spent four weeks at our lake house in New Hampshire with visits from the Sweatts, Dawn Nicoloff Fleming, Stanley Weil, Doug Bray, and the kids. And included an evening with the Doobie Brothers and Chicago for my birthday after taking in Bruce and his E Street Band at Fenway with James for his birthday (Thanks T-Bags!). The other highlight was clearly the Sweatt’s canoe excursion that ended up looking like the last trip of the Costa Concordia (and Brian would have given Captain Schettino a real run for his money at the Breathalyzer table). We hit a Hampton Inn for Jessica Sweatt’s wedding to Luke Saalfield in June. Eli followed her mother’s lead and opted for the “rustic country retreat” instead of the Day’s Inn when she was Maid of Honor for a Carolina wedding and got asked to dance by a southern gentleman.

I will not leave Florida in April. I remembered how this one had given me pause when I read this on the plane. “Oh that’s just for when the kids are gone and I’ve stopped working” she had said. She lost me at kids so I had ignored “stopped working” altogether. Of course now it dawned on me how I’d been had on Bray’s 2011 rental property strategy for places in Sanibel and Fort Myers. The Fort Myers place got an upgrade in 2012 as we added our first pool to any house I’ve ever been associated with (“It’ll make it easier to rent”). So we visited Florida a couple times in April to see Bray when there were no Mah-Jong tournament conflicts and got to hang with new boozehag friend Pam Hopkins as well as with Paul and Becky Freas. We also got to enjoy our kids and Geoffrey Greene who came down to help the “Going off like a North Korean Rocket” team capture the Trivia Tournament (see attached picture) and put golf balls into the water hazards. Bray also reunited with the now retired Karen Haley Allison from Buffalo, who now lives down the road, Dawn and Debra Bramwell also visited.

I will not take out the recycle. This recollection had made me LOL in the attic. When I first read this I asked her what recycle was and I clearly remember her saying “What are you asking questions for? You’re just an accountant, just sign it.” As time moved along I learned what recycle was and lo and behold, Bray never does recycle, well recycle the way most of y’all know it. We did recycle the Dartmouth 77s including Messer’s Replogle and Silver, on our front porch for their reunion in June. We also recycled the Colby Sawyer alums in the area (and the College made a nice gesture in recognizing our contribution to help build a turf field in New London made of recycled tires). I recycled Bray’s Coor’s Lights from her expedition to the Bills-Jets game with James, Betsy and friends, the Klinges’ and the Turoff’s. Mr. Springsteen was recycled twice at the Meadowlands in September with the Engels then three nights later with Eli for her birthday. Bray’s SelamtaFamilyProject.org Porch sale of recycled stuff rose over $6,000 for the organization. Finally, after seven year-ends, and six years living near the epicenter of recycling in Newark, NJ, we announced in November that I would leave audible.com at the end of January and, hence, I am recycling my resume. We had a great run at Audible and I am enormously proud of the contributions I made to help the missionaries there, but the time finally arrived when I realized it will be more fun and impactful to use my skills helping another team substantially improve their situation. Did I mention there were no Mah-Jong leagues in Newark? Bray is very happy about any new adventure involving a change of venue.

I’ve come a long way since I signed this contract with Bray. I realized looking at it how lucky I was to marry someone who knew exactly what she didn’t want. I also have realized how lucky I have been that Bray, as well as our kids and many of you, have helped me enormously in the past 15 months to find out what I wanted when I finally understood there was something I didn’t want to do. I am most appreciative of so many of you who physically and silently offered me support on October 22, 2012 through FB and in person as I celebrated one year of *notting*, and this really helped me find my stride through what had been a challenging year. As when Bray gave me this contract, I have realized that in adventure, there is nothing to fear when you have friendship and support of so many. Please let us know if you ever need a roof in Hanover (or a vacation in Sanibel ☺) or if Bray, our kids or I can ever be of any help to you or your family. Living up to this Christian Grey-like contract would have been impossible without y’all as part of our journey.

Peace brothers and sisters,

2010 – Mitchileaks

mitchell_family_2010 http://MitchiLeaks.com/2010

We have hacked into the computers in the Mitchell household (six which is not nearly as stupid a number as TVs (18) or skis (60+) although Billy Bags would no doubt argue he was a ski instructor and cable guy long before he was an internet guy to rationalize them) and extracted the absolute dumbest emails/letters of the year. Check out this collection of deeply buried correspondences:

Dear Dartmouth President Kim,

Why has this become the year that Dartmouth combines a parent’s GPA with their child’s to determine if the senior makes Phi Beta Kappa? Our daughter has had an incredible 4 years but will lose out because I blew off too many classes in The Building of the Atomic Bomb in 1976? Captain of the Womens Club Lacrosse team, member of a sorority AND a fraternity, champion Beer Pong player; she can do so many things I never could. Why? Can’t we get this rescinded now that she is working for Wyman Worldwide in Rwanda, helping bring quality health care to African villages and writing a blog at www.eligoesaroundtheworld.blogspot.com? …WHM

Check out this outrageous request by Bray:

Dear Continental,

Can you please send us a Frequent Flyer number for our dog Elle? She travels with me all the time to our new RENTAL HOUSE (3 TVs) ON A GOLF COURSE in Fort Myers. If I had a frequent flyer number I would take her to Berlin or London when I visit there with my groomer, or perhaps even take her to Ethiopia when I visit there each year to help out Selamta.org. It would be really helpful if I had this by February when we go to Berlin to visit our daughter who will come up on vacation from Rwanda, followed by my fifth trip to Ethiopia. I’m going to help train the kids how to use sewing machines. By the way if you would like to help pay for sewing machines for this project, you can send me a check for $160* per sewing machine…DBM

James got into the act on his Facebook page this fall:

MitchellPalooza 8 is around the corner. Sure my Mom is in town but she will be in bed by 12. It’s my first trip back to Hanover since moving to Dallas to work for Robert Half and I am psyched to see everyone. Rugby down here has gotten me in shape for the Turkey Bowl, and the party with Eli Skyping-in should be great. Bring $5 for my mother’s sewing machine project. ($700 raised)…JWM

Here’s a letter from Goucher College which we think may have been forged:

Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell,

Can you please send John back to Baltimore? The school he taught at last spring is crying out for him. He did such a great job with the Art and Math classes. We miss him down here and he could finish up his Masters much easier than in if he stayed in Hanover watching your house and “guarding” your beer pong tables. …Goucher President

Matched by….

Bray and Bill,

Thanks so much for letting John work with us at Dan and Whit’s General Store while he works on his paper for his Masters. Everyone in Norwich loves him. We can see he wasn’t born in NH. …Dan Frasier

Can you believe this was sent out?

Dear Sun Valley Police Department:

Enclosed please find a check for $50. Please let my usher and Dartmouth classmate Harry Griffith park in the handicapped spot near the bottom of Baldy. He is getting old and he really can’t walk back from the hill too far after dominating everyone on the steeps. We had a great visit there in March, and this is our tribute to his prowess. …WHM

Here’s a failing business model…

Mr. Mitchell,

No, we will not sell you a $200 parking pass for a lot at Cowboy Stadium today. We can’t print parking passes online cuz this is Texas. When you visit in tomorrow, September 19, to see your son in his Dallas job as a recruiter, visit his apartment with pool and take his friend Kira to dinner, please park over by the Rangers stadium and park for $5 and walk to the game (unless you wake up at 6am and arrive by 7am and convince the “guards” you belong in the RV lot there in which case it’s free )…Jerry Jones

Check this gem out of Bray’s Gmail account (dbraymitch@gmail.com) …

Karen Reeves,

Please don’t let Bruce come to Hanover unescorted. When he came in June with the family for the Class of 1980’s 30^th reunion, it was fine since you were with him and he behaved. Plus it was helpful to donate our Porch to the Thursday night kick-off celebration. However he came back without you in October to visit son Billy (Dartmouth ’14) and it was a mess. He kept Billy out way too late, and he dragged all these co-eds back to the house for Billy’s peanut butter and jelly omelets. We just can’t sustain this drag on the eco-system. …DBM

We found this on the inbound messages:

Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell,

We wanted to alert you that we have put the following citizens on the Must Watch list for consorting with you: Odence (Gatekeeping at Winter Carnival), Griffith/Barshack (Speeding on Exhibition in Sun Valley), Klingons (Dancing to I’m a Believer at Ricks on LBI), Weil/Sweatts/Dougie (Lake nights), Eldred (Midnight WaterSkiing), Engels (Dancing at Hair onstage…See Facebook), Reeves/Grossman/Morris (PB&JOmlets at reunion), Ross (American Idol), Lovejoys (that lead singer knows the words to Build Me Up Buttercup now!), Bartolotta wedding (Hold that bus!), Barb Holch/Vicki Corse (travelling to a party eh?), Archdeacons (Getting Bray’s rental business going), Freas (Florida highlight), Conklings 50^th Anniversary (Nice Head 360s Sam) …TSA Security

Finally….

Bray, why the hell can’t we win a friggin Lottery? You keep picking these numbers up (797979 as a tribute to our Class winning its 5^th Class of the Year Award this year) but it may be time to change. I know you are honored to have been adopted by our Class, but we might want to consider a random selection. If we win I know we will be able to pay for all our friends to come to our 30^th Anniversary in May which won’t have to be in Newark. At our wedding the over/under would have been 30 weeks….which wasn’t a bad bet as an under, just a loser…we need to have a party for this…like the 5^th with Fogcutters….WHM

Cheers Ya’ll

2011 – Occupy the Mitchells

Dear Friends,

We’re sure it will surprise few of you that we are big supporters of the Occupy Movement. We think we have exceeded the Movement’s allocated quota for location occupation this year. Here’s a rundown of our various efforts to support the Movement and be part-recipient of Time’s Person of the Year award:

Occupy Africa: The year started out with our daughter Elizabeth (aka Eli, Betsy) supporting Wyman Worldwide in Rwanda studying solutions to scale health care in African villages. Early in February she got support from Bray who vacationed with her on a Kenyan beach before heading to Rwanda to kiss gorillas on Valentine’s Day. It was then on to Ethiopia for Bray who had some nice success with her sewing machine project in Addis Ababa at the Selamta.org home. She really enjoyed sharing the fun with Joy Wasz. Thanks to everyone who supported her efforts; she will return in February ’12 with more sewing machines. If you are headed to Ethiopia and have room for a spare sewing machine let us know: we have the machines/money, transportation is the issue.

Occupy Florida: Bray and our dog Elle spent a healthy part of the NH mud and rainy seasons in Florida doing their best to resurrect that state’s economy. Our “rental” property in Fort Myers got a new bathroom (no porta-potty’s for our Occupy sites) and Bray settled into a regular Mah Jongg routine to pass the occupy time down there. Realizing that if the house actually was rented, her Florida occupy opportunity would be lost, Bray and her Mom decided to buy a bungalow in Aunt Nancy and John Conkling’s beach cluster on nearby Sanibel Island. That site also got a nice makeover and is available for weekly rentals (good rates for friends). I visited both locations (Seeing Paul and Becky Freas during one visit), played a little golf, did some biking and deem them suitable sites for occupation. Barb McKenzie Holch and Debra Bramwell both paid visits to Bray as well. In a pinch (i.e. when we are lucky enough to have both places rented) Bray visits the Beisswenger’s on nearby Usepa Island.

Occupy New York: Eli returned to the US in May and jumped right into the fray by finding an apartment in midtown to share with cold occupiers where she gets to walk to work at nearby IMS Consulting. She has fun with HS and college friends at the Yale Club and has found the local Buffalo Bills bar with her visiting brother and naturally mother. Bray continues to leave Occupation propaganda in as many theatres as possible with Cathy Engel her most ardent collaborator. Ann Demas, who recently moved to Brooklyn can be spotted carrying pamphlets as well.

Occupy Boston: James left Dallas early in the year to establish an Occupy foothold in Boston. He was soon joined by Geoffrey Greene who has become the sous chef at the Ames Hotel down by Government Center where he can sneak food out to other Occupy supporters. James is working at GL Advantage where his firm helps advanced degree graduates with debt (call if you have a candidate!) He plays rugby nearly year round and continues to make progress toward joining that top 1% with his fantasy football winnings. He paid a visit to the Tuscaloosa Occupy site to see the first LSU/Bama game with some HHS buddies and visits Dallas regularly to check in with Occupier Kira Batura who searches for needy Corona consumers with her beverage distribution firm.

Occupy Dartmouth: John-o joined the Occupy crowd in Hanover after finishing up his Masters in Education from Goucher College in July. John-o spent the fall working at many Upper Valley schools as a substitute teacher while helping coach football at Hanover High. He is preparing to head to Ethiopia in February, then Colorado in search of a permanent teaching gig. We had several D79 mini-reunions during the year including a well-attended Kentucky Derby event, Homecoming in October with two dozen classmates including Stanley Weil and Freda London and a November game that Bruce Reeves and Laurie Laidlaw assisted with occupation. The kids’ Mitchellpalooza IX party went off without a hitch at Thanksgiving raising $900 for Selamta.org, and the Turkey Bowl was played on a snow-covered Baker Library lawn.

Occupy Snow: We occupied Vail for MLK weekend staying with the Flowers, hit the Skiway for Carnival with Odence, Burr Gray and others, Jackson Hole in March with the Klingons and Harry Griffith who showed up for an epic powder day and finally back to Vail for Christmas with all the kids. Bray got me a GPS watch for Christmas last year and we had fun winding it up to see how many times we could bust 60mph. Two bucket list items: Corbet’s Couloir with James in March who then let an old man 2x his age (full disclosure: I was on race boards vs. his powder skis) take him down (once)in the Nastar course at Christmas. Boomers can still bring it.

Occupy Canada: The Canadian Mounties failed to prevent occupations at the Eldred’s Lake Papineau for full moon waterskiing in August as well as the return of the Booze Hags (aka Gina/Dawn/Chris) to Camp Sherkston outside Buffalo later that month. Both these locations are officially certified “occupy” sites with no internet or television service.

Occupy Cooperstown: James’ Rugby Sevens team made it to the National Championships in San Francisco, not quite Hall of Fame but on the way. After years of kidding people about not making it to the Accounting Hall of Fame due to my latest spreadsheet, I opened an envelope in May to discover I had been admitted to the CFO Hall of Fame for Tech dudes in New Jersey. Bray was inducted into the Bannanagram Hall of Fame in December; nobody in the family can handle her.

Occupy Newark: Five years have passed since I joined Audible and we took up workday residence in a Newark apartment. Not only is it a short walk to work or a 20 minute train to NYC, but we saw the Devils(Penguins with Lovejoys and Eldreds for New Years), Nets, NCAA Hoops (with Steve Silver, Stanno, Dave Turino, Howie/Lori Turoff, Brian Sweatt ,Klingon), Taylor Swift, Foo Fighters (Foy Sperring) and Paul Simon all within three city blocks. Plus Elle gets to chase squirrels in Military Park where we can visit a true Occupation. Ah, City life.

We have had another memorable year and look forward to occupying space and time with more of you in the near future. We’re not sure where we are in the Occupy wealth chart, but when it comes to friends and memories we’re confident you help us get into that top 1%.

Thanks and Cheers

2016 – Mitchellfactchecker.wtf

Mitchellfactchecker.wtf

Just the transparent truth to chug by

It was a rugged year for facts…she said, he said, she played, he worked, well he sorta worked…so you see what we mean…

First let’s tackle some of the seemingly egregious statements made by her majesty:

“I’m a Grandmother” In a matter of speaking there is a shred of truth here…The child is not named Debra or Bray or Mitchell but Mekades, one of the children we sponsored in the Ethiopian Selamta Family Project, did give birth to a little boy this past year.

“All my kids have advanced degrees” (as opposed to “Are smarter than me”)…There she goes using that DVR remote to fast forward through the commercials again… While true for James who got his MBA in 2015 and John who has had his MS in Education since 2012, Eli/Elizabeth/Betsy is just two (successful) terms into her MBA at Columbia/London Business Schools. She has connected with D friend Al Sinsheimer in London and we got to go to theatre with her in September before classes in NYC.

“We visited a dozen countries in the past year” Well, you could fit all the names in an egg carton, let’s see…We did visit Ethiopia with the Waszoos less than 365 days ago, and had a great weekend in Canada with all the Eldreds, Goose Gleason and Ann Sargent. Betsy did some yeomans work here with a side trip to Iceland on the way to class one month and a very secret excursion to Beirut another month, Denmark last week…throw in re-fueling stops in Turkey and Germany, hmmm…James and John certainly travelled coast to coast as we shall discuss below but countries? Geoffrey Greene took a break from his cheffin’ in Boston to visit Belize with his girlfriend…we thought about going to Cuba…not quite a dozen…

“We went to over a dozen weddings”…and technically no divorce parties…Bray and I went to six including the rowdy Eldred wedding in Charlottesville for Liz and T staying with little bro Earl Grossman, the Chapman wedding for Hope and the Earl of Condom Freddy in Nashville with a more well-behaved D/Hanover crowd (aside from Wes), the Charlie Goodman Holch wedding in Annapolis which Barb orchestrated; it proved once again you can have an enormous amount of fun in the back yard, the Chris Johnson wedding in the Utah hills where Sue did a marvelous job planning and we saw an incredible bull elk gallop nearly a mile in a field on the way home, the Chris LaSpada wedding in Jersey with so many from our Hunterdon county days and the Andrew Flowers wedding in Newport, RI where it appropriately nearly snowed at a beautiful fittingly outdoors service…missed the Lovejoy wedding (though we sent James and did lead the crowd in Build Me Up Buttercup with a mic at the Flowers wedding), John was a Bridesmaid at Caroline Curries, and an usher at a Goucher friend’s, Betsy at three college and SPS friends’, James went to a Lovejoy wedding solo, was an usher at, well he attended a couple of Charlotte weddings……see over a dozen…what tremendous fun all of them were!

“I touched the Stanley Cup” as did James and Pop….thank you Ben, Avery, Cari and Carl Lovejoy!

“John-o bought a house”…In fact he signed a contract to purchase one and secured financing, but alas the seller killed the deal…but the good news is he is in the market to buy a house…and hopefully that day is coming soon.

“Billy gave me a budget and I stayed on it”…this is akin to staying on the road going 120mph, yes technically it was stayed on but how many years of budget were consumed to complete the 12 months is another topic!!!!!

“I could have made up any budget variance with Mah Jong winnings”…maybe for one account in one month…Bray Bray had a power year of Mah Jong playing well over 120 days, though it came in bunches with torrential time in April/May and September/October/November in Florida complemented by weekly games in Park City and Hanover. She has a great group of reliable friends she plays with in Florida including Buffalo boozehag Karen Haley, and reconnects with old friends like the Crandalls of Chatham on Sanibel. As for the winnings, while the amount might have offset one account variance in one month (well maybe two months), all winnings went to Selamta, a worthier solution.

“Billy’s retired”…just like Brett Farve’s retirement, only which one? …I have indeed not been working since January, though I have had some fun helping a couple of entrepreneurs on some projects that haven’t totally panned out and have enjoyed catching up with some former CEOs about certain opportunities they are either jumping into or looking at…we’ll see how long I stay “retired” but I certainly won’t be working again until the snow melts; and hopefully if my “retirement” ends, it’s more like George Foreman’s (came out of retirement to win Heavyweight Championship before selling grills) than Brett Farve’s .

And now statements made by the condescending preppie braggart with the madras pants and jackets and endless Facebook posts:

“I golfed or skied every other day this year”…hmmm depends on how you measure this…114 snow ski days, 48 golf days, 31 days water skiing = 193 days…pulled a fast one piling on <two hours of water skiing to exceed 183 days, though if anyone saw your heaving chest after those 90 second water skiing runs they would laughingly agree that’s worth a day.

“Our dogs effectively climbed Mt. McKinley” first of all get with the program preppie…it’s now called Denali, and then chug…4 times up Mt. Kearsarge and 3 up Mt. Cardigan = 7k vertical…so Mt. Mitchell they climbed maybe but nothing west of the Mississippi.

“I finished 5^th in the country for NASTAR ski racing, all age groups” …sure for number of different days raced you lush…get a job!

“I skied with over 100 friends this year”…were they still your friends after you took them down Chute 4? Yes indeed we did have a great year of skiing fun, most notably the Griffiths, Reeves, Klinges, Flowers, Vieths, Volnauki, Grossman, old boss Barry Marshall, several other Dartmouth folks, Debbie Breed, and Hanover and Exeter friends in addition to some great folks we have met in Park City…and yes, everyone who went down any of the chutes was hootin’ and hollerin’ at the end…and thanks to the Sweatts and Cathy Engel who visited PC and did not ski, but I think would love to come back.

We broke the record for fundraising for a 37 year out class and led every Dartmouth class in the number of givers…yawn, for the 17^th time in 18 years, and that’s your job? Of course, would you want to be the one serving as Head Agent when that streak ends? So yes, it’s an assignment that’s not just a fun resume builder but I do enjoy working with a bunch of great folks including Laurie Laidlaw Deacon, Stanno Weil, Dave Philhower, Jim Feuille and my old Information Booth compatriot Peggy Epstein Tanner.

“I led the Class of 79 as we stormed to the front of the Homecoming Parade” You’re not very good at asking permission, are you? This true story is actually funnier than it sounds…thanks to Martha Beattie for keeping us out of jail. Sorry that we jumped ahead of you President Phil…Thanks to Juan Currier and Buddy Teevens for letting the MVP tackling machine join us.

“Our oldest car has the least mileage on it”…is that because you are too cheap to replace it or too cheap to put in the jet fuel required to drive it around? What is it with you baby boomers and these classic mid-life crisis cars you bought?

“We bought our 5^th house” …sure, pathway to the Presidency, real estate, that’s one way to get a job…and you want to teach people how to manage their money? Do as I say, not as I do huh?…our Rope Ferry Road home remains on the market, awaiting the right buyer. Bray did seize the opportunity to see if we couldn’t work our way into a new cable television show à la Chip and JoJo’s Fixer Upper by buying a little (sic) rental property in Elkins, NH about 150 yards from the non-winterized family lake house. Stay tuned for time and channel information.

“John Mitchell is a full time high school art teacher”…this is getting boring, True…John stayed true to his heart and waited and got a wonderful job in Hartford, Vermont as an Art teacher. He is also Snowboard Coaching and leading a 4^th/5^th grade flag football!

“James Mitchell broke 80 in golf” and yes on a real course. He is getting good practice with some new friends in Charlotte NC. We got to see my boarding school crime partner Steve Slattery (who never wore madras) when we stopped by on the way to the Eldred wedding in April. James continues to do well starting a consulting business for Robert Half in Charlotte.

“Eli Mitchell bikes to work” at CVS in Woonsocket, Rhode Island from her Providence townhome. She also plays soccer and kickball, helps kids learn how to drive as a Big Sister and continues to do very well at CVS where she works in pharmacy analytics. Oh, and did I mention that she is Head Agent for her Dartmouth class in her spare time when she’s not going to school – and got recognized for outstanding performance this year?!?!?!

“We’ve got a bunch of great friends that we send a Holiday Letter to” …Truest statement yet!!

Happy Holidays

Mitchell Family Holiday Card