The Summer of 2009

The summer of 2009 will go down at the Pybus house as a medical anomaly... at least I am hopeful. We literally don't need another year like this. Whenever you put off medical procedures from one year to the next, be prepared to have all the stops pulled in honoring that request.

Emily needed her wisdom teeth taken out and Savannah required a small procedure on her ear. We figured that would be all but just in case, we'd meet our deductibles. We didn't count on a critical bone of one of our children to be in three pieces.

There won't be too many images to go along with this story as the patient insisted that we take no photos. The patient for our major medical event of the summer would be Emily. Just before her 17th birthday

After it was all said and done, Emily's jaw was being held together with three titanium plates and 12 screws. She's pretty sure the worst of the pain was the cracked molar that went undetected for several days after the surgery. Once that was diagnosed and treated, things really started improving.

Emma Nettie Warden Pybus

Last week, our family said goodbye to my grandmother, Emma Pybus. She was certainly one of the most humble people I have ever known. Her husband, and my grandfather, J. E. Pybus, took this picture of her in 1934. She was a hard working woman who never saw much of this world but has left a huge impact on it with how much she taught about love for family. I know I can speak for all of us that we deeply miss her presence.

NYC

Before this month, the last time I was in New York City was February of 2005. I know it was then because Lisa and I were there the day Christo unveiled his Central Park work of art called The Gates. The past five days, Cameron and I have been in the Big Apple at the invitation of his grandmother, Sandra Pybus.

Her desire is to take all of her grandchildren on similar excursions as they graduate from High School. Possibly, not all of her ten grandkids will want to go there. I really hope she gets to do that. We really enjoyed ourselves. It was great to spend time with her and with Cameron after he was away all year at Texas A&M.

We did all the things everyone does when visiting New York. We went to two plays: Wicked and The 39 Steps. Both were very entertaining in completely different ways. We took a boat over the the Statue of Liberty. We walked through Central Park. We ate way too much including calzones at a NY deli and tons of cheesecake for desert. I think the only picture we took of all three of us was this one at the Bubba Gump restaurant in Times Square.

One highlight of the trip was our visit to the Guggenheim museum. I had noticed that during our visit, they were going to host an exhibit by the museum's architect, Frank Lloyd Wright. So just like Lisa and I were for The Gates, Cameron, Mom and I were there for the first day of the exhibit. This was particularly sweet as Cameron had just been accepted to study Architecture in A&M's College of Environmental Design. You can see the two of them seated on a bench in the center of this picture I took with my cell phone.

Nana did one thing just for us boys. She took the two of us to a Yankee's game in the new stadium. This of course, meant I had to add to my ballpark panoramas. I made my way around to home plate and tried to step out from under the overhang to take some good shots. The security there made sure I didn't. I stood there for the longest waiting for the game to be over and for the second game in a row, Alex Rodriguez hit a walk off home run. In the pandemonium of celebrating Yankee fans, I stepped up and took the three pictures I've stitched together and have posted here.

Work Day with Savannah

A couple of weekends ago, Savannah and I helped out clearing brush in the field behind the church. She was a trooper. The only teen girl there. One of the only teens period. We both paid for it though with cuts and scrapes. I should have made her wear jeans but I made the same mistake of wearing shorts myself. Although this wasn't the worst of the thorny plants, this tree had huge spikes. Quite fun to pick up an armful of these limbs and carry them to the wood chipper.

Muster 2009

Muster is a moving event. There's no way to describe it to someone who hasn't been a part of it. This post is not meant to explain what Muster is. Only to make note that we went and that we are proud of our son and the things he's accomplished this year. I do have to explain that there are several Muster ceremonies, not just the one on campus every April 21st. Muster is held all over the world and there was one in Tarrant County where we live but the one on campus is most certainly the largest.

This year's speaker was Robert Gates, Secretary of Defense and former President of Texas A&M. We sat to the speaker's left as this cell phone picture indicates. In the section just to our right and only a few rows up was Bush, 41. We also got to sit behind Cameron's good friend Sara Alex. (Wish I'd known she was in Maggies... I let something slip I shouldn't have.)

The other reason to write about attending Muster is to relate Cameron's involvement. Muster doesn't just happen every year. It takes planning. And like any major event, there's a committee. The Muster Committee has a huge responsibility to make sure one of A&M's most hallowed traditions goes off without a hitch. It's a great honor to serve on the Muster Committee and there were only two freshman that asked to serve. Cameron was one of those two freshmen. This honor came through his involvement in Fish Aides, a Freshman Leadership Organization.

In February, two months before Muster, by chance I happened to meet Rusty Thompson, A&M faculty advisor to Muster and he was very complimentary toward Cameron and his involvement. Rusty is an Associate Director for Student services and it was great to hear that out of 47,000 students, Cameron was already making a mark.

As for the ceremony itself, it was moving. Muster's purpose is to remember the Aggies that have passed in the previous year. Secretary Gates made a point in his speech to read the names of every Aggie soldier that lost their lives in Iraq where he had signed their orders. It was painful to hear him talk of how hard that task has been. Most Aggies who are remembered that night had family present to light their candle. Cameron held a candle for one such Aggie who could not be represented by a loved one.

The following morning, Cameron and the rest of the Muster Committee got to have breakfast with Secretary Gates. Ironically, that was Secretary's Day. And yes, I think Cam wished the Secretary of Defense for the United States of America 'Happy Secretary's Day'.

CORRECTION: ... oops...

Possibly it's my age... trying to think what to blame it on... but a recent conversation with my sister made me aware that indeed she did NOT get a vehicle her freshman year in college. All faith has been restored in my parents' sense of fairness. :)

The Motobecane

When I was a freshman in college at ACU, I was a depraved child. My parents decided that it will not be necessary for their kids to have a car during their first year away from home. Oh the humanity! Of course this steadfast rule held true until our little sister went off to school... but that's another story. I gained something special as a result of that rule and this begins a documentation of an attempt to restore it to it's original luster.

I'm talking of my 1978 Motobecane Super Mirage. I put hundreds of miles on this beautiful piece of machinery. From trips around Abilene, all over College Station, riding with my older brother in Austin and a 500 mile 'vacation' he and I took from Houston to Corpus and back in May of '82. It even helped me win a coveted Intramural Championship shirt.

Dave picked this bike up for me in Austin in the Fall of '81 from an actor needing some cash. At least that's how I remember the story. I had been borrowing my roommate's Schwinn to get places and it was killing me. I had to do something. Abilene is a small enough town that you can ride a bike from campus to the mall in about 15 minutes but not on a Schwinn.

I've taken the wheels to a local bike shop to be rebuilt. The front will get new spokes, tube and tire. The rear will need a new hub and gear set as well.

I'm stripping the bike down to the frame but I'm not sure what I'll do about the paint. It's rather chipped and pealing in places.

'tar baby

From the time Savy started telling us what she wanted for Christmas... I think this was way back in September... until a few weeks before, the desire remained consistent. Years ago, she had begun picking up my old guitar and teaching herself little bits and pieces. She'd get on the Internet and figure out chords and short pieces of songs and really displayed some natural talent. So when she consistently kept asking for her own guitar, I was very willing to oblige.
The shopping was quick. Quicker than I thought I would be happy with. We drove over to Mr. E's, just to look mind you, and sat in their guitar room for a little over an hour. There were several upper end toys in there but right in the middle of the room were several starter guitars. The sound of these were really quite nice. We left there with a little black beauty made by Ibanez.

When Savy told me we had to come up with a name, one immediately came to mind. First of all because of the instruments color but second, how from the moment we got it home, it was stuck to her side. Of course the name, that has also now stuck, is 'tar baby. I had to explain the name's origin to our 13 year old because Disney has completely locked away in 'the vault' that politically incorrect film and any related paraphernalia. Why the apostrophe-tar, you ask? It's a guitar... 'tar baby... do ya guit it?