Heroes:
People in my life who set
wonderful examples for others.

Read about cool people
The Gals of Aspen Hill
Susan Aarhus
Bill Gates
Reed Smith

Bill Gates
For his timeless speech delivered to High School students about things they did not learn in school.

Rule 1: Life is not fair - get used to it!

Rule 2: The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

Rule 3: You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.

Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.

Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping; they called it opportunity.

Rule 6: If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes; learn from them.

Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.

Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life has not. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as many times as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to anything in real life.

Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you find yourself. Do that on your own time.

Rule 10: Television is not real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.

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The Gals of Aspen Hill
For their enduring friendship

Who knew that when Bobby and I moved to Fredericksburg ... almost two years ago, we would befriend such wonderful people. Those shown on the left live on our street: Evelyn, Brenda, Cindy, Wilma, me, Paula, & Jan.

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Things got a bit busy this summer. Please forgive me for not honoring my heroes.

Reed Smith
For his commitment to people

Reed Smith is an angel on earth! There isn’t a day when he does not do a good deed, set a great example, or share a need with others. To name just a few of his quests -- he is a Big Brother, a member of the Lion’s Club, helps in the Falls Run community, tutors students, and is now organizing transportation for a blind child to attend school.

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Susan Aarhus
For her commitment to health and family

On Mother’s Day, 2007, Susan, nearly 5 months pregnant with her 2nd child, participated in her first triathlon. Said Susan, “It was a ‘sprint’ distance, or mini-tri, but felt plenty big enough for junior and I.”

The race consisted of a 250 meter swim, 12 mile bike ride and a 5k run; Susan’s goal was not to finish last!

She placed 149th out of about 168 women ... in 1 hour, 43 minutes. Susan says she’s glad she did the race, even though she wanted to put a sign on her forehead saying “Running for 2 – really I can go faster!”

2008 Update: Greetings Friends! Well, it has taken me a week to recover, but I am happy to report that I and my fellow teammates survived and enjoyed the VA Run Triathlon on Mother’s Day. It was much colder than last year, but once the feeling came back to our feet we had a great time :).

The best news is – our team raised over $650 in support of the VA Special Olympics thanks to you! This year, there were 10 Special Olympians actually racing in the event (up from just one last year). It was an inspiring reminder of what we were all doing there and the good work of the Special Olympics.

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