By John Jarvis

Inspiring Hughes Marino Mini Goalers!

Thanks for recording and sharing some great family history in November. Our friend Colleen created a scrapbook detailing her family’s trip to the Dominican Republic where they celebrated her parents’ 50^th wedding anniversary. David Moran, who moved to San Diego earlier this year from Ireland, shared some awesome history and photos about his family.

David explains: “The first photo is from our family farm and dates back to 1950, taken at the end of the ‘threshing’ of the corn crop. Pictured are all the local neighbors who would travel around to each other’s farms to help each other harvest their crops. My granddad is pictured third from the right of the photo with his hands on the belt of the threshing machine. There was always a big celebration at the end of the threshing season and it helped foster a close community spirit in rural areas all over the country which continues to this day.” The next photo is of the farm from 1979, where David’s 88-year old Grandma still lives, and also 300 feet from where David grew up!

For my part, I sat down with my Dad and recorded 45 minutes about his childhood in Elmira, NY. My favorite discovery—he and his friends learned to ice skate, not on a pond or at a rink, but on the sidewalks when they would freeze over! Wow.

With just one month to go in 2017, we have a simple, easy, fun final task.

The December mini goal is to:

Work on a Puzzle with Family or Friends.

There is something about puzzle time. We sit together and concentrate, each with our own strategy about edge pieces and color groupings. Time seems to slow down and conversations seem to bubble up, conversations about the puzzle or about the weather or maybe about life.

Is this experience universal? Or is it just me?

Regardless, let’s get out our puzzles and get to work, because we said we would and because it might be fun. Share the photos with us on social media! A time lapse would be cool.

Happy Holidays to all, and congratulations for being impeccable with your word twelve months in a row.

This is how we grow. Good fun.