1992

Wow, you let someone write your column just once (thanks, Kelly) and suddenly you are inundated with stuff. Lots of people coming out of the woodwork! I will go in chronological order, so as to make sure I am way behind the times for at least the next few sets of notes!

Ashley Roberts-lse e-mailed me in December with news of the birth of her second child, Lindsay Tyler Acklin, way back in late June. That was the good news; the bad news was that her parttime job got upgraded to full-time while she was on leave, so she decided to give it up for good and "figure out what I want to do with my life. Turns out I do a pretty good impression of a stay-at- home mom, so I am sticking with that for awhile."

One day after getting Ashley's e-mail, I got an e-mail from Wayne and Jen Frederick Bantner with news of their twin girls in October. That makes four Bantner girls—and think about their poor future. I know I wouldn't want to be a potential suitor facing up to a dad like Wayne! Talk about intimidating. Yeesh.

Michelle Beaulieu Cooke checked in with her 10-year update in November. Some of the highlights: she and her husband (Dave) were blessed with the birth of Acadia Christine Cooke in July (the big debate is whether to make her a skier or a snowboarder). Michelle is director of the violence prevention program at Connecticut Children's Medical Center and an instructor of clinical pediatrics and community medicine at the UConn School of Med. She runs a ton of community programs, way too many to mention here, has a masters in public health from UConn and is actually toying with the idea of going back for a Ph.D. (because, you know, she's not busy enough). The Cookes live in Durham, Connecticut, on property that abuts a Christmas tree farm that occasionally pastures cattle (nothing like waking up to cows mooing and pooing).

Michelle has caught up recently with Mike McCune, who is still in Burlington as a sportscaster, and Kellie Houston, who works for a marketing company called Youth Stream. Michelle also promises to write again before 2013.

I think I only have room for one more thing right now—so how about Carl Swenson and his amazing cross-country (Nordic) skiing career.As most of you may know, he won his sixth national championship in the 10-kilometer in January at Black Mountain in Rumford, Maine, beating 201 other skiers. Then, in March, he made history by finishing fifth in the 50-kilometer race at the world championships in Val di Fiemme, France; it was the highest a U.S. skier has ever finished in the race that is considered the sport's most venerable (by the way, this world event happened after I was supposed to turn these notes in...I love being late with this!).

Next time: Jon Kohl, Mark Carlson, David Miller...and you, if you send me stuff!

1501 Central St., Evanston, IL60208; (847) 491-7503; m-mahoney2@ northwestern.edu