On This Date in 1998

Dear Dox,

What a surprise to hear from you last year. Adding you to our Christmas card list was a shot in the dark. Sorry I waited an entire year to respond.

I just enclosed a note in a card to Dave and Lynn, who now own lakefront property just north of Oshkosh. And that’s about all I know about their lives. We’ve been out of touch for a long time now. The last time I got together with them was at least 8 years ago. We still send them a card every year at Christmas even though they seem to have scratched us off their list. Most of my Oshkosh connections seem to have shorted out after nearly 13 years of inattention. The people I’ve stayed in touch with are all current or former Oshkosh Public Library employees. JoAnna and I have developed an active sports life as spectators, thanks primarily to Andy who now moves from one season to the next without a break. And only in 5th grade. Eddie takes a more cavalier attitude toward sports, preferring to create these fantastically detailed drawings with colored pencils and engage in creative play with his growing collection of Star Wars toys.

In general, things are going very well here.

Dear Dave and Lynn

Well, Dave, we both a major event staring us in the face, a couple of birthday boys who will be reaching the half-century mark. We’ll be glad to help you celebrate. Sometimes I wonder where the time went. I come across a baby picture of Andy and think to myself, wasn’t that just yesterday. Why has he grown past his mom’s shoulders now? Then I think back to what I was doing before I moved to Wisconsin and realize I have lived a very full 49 years.

As you might suspect, we have become comfortably settled in Middleton. I still have plenty of new challenges to keep me busy (and focused) at the library. We’re happy with the house we’ve lived in for the past 11½ years and have no desire to move into more upscale digs, which seems to be the general pattern here. We’ll stick with our starter house, especially after all the work I’ve put into the yard.

JoAnna’s actually between jobs right now. A few weeks ago, she resigned as director of the State Senate Democratic Caucus, and plans to be a stay-at-home Mom for awhile, not the choice that most people would have put their money on. She’s has plenty of options, mostly in the area of lobbying, but she would like to stay involved in party politics. With our secure financial situation right now, she has the luxury of being choosy. At least until spring! Then I might get a little nervous. 

On a whim, I sent a card and letter to Dox last Christmas and actually got a response. He’s still in Ironwood, apparently living the Dox kinda lifestyle that we’re all so familiar with: working in restaurants (“I’ve also worked in at least half the restaurants in the area,” he reports.) and playing ball. He enclosed a 1992 clipping from the local paper: a photo of the softball team he played on for much of his UP career. He plays in an Oldtimers League (35 and older – hey, that’s young!). Here’s a quote underneath the headline, “Booby Hatch cops tourney.”

“Trailing 4-2 into the bottom of the eighth inning, George Boline smacked a drive over the leftfielder’s head for an inside-the-park homer. After one out Doug Doxsey stroked a drive in the right center gap for another in-the-park homer, tying the game.

It just goes to show there are some constants in life.

Sports has become an increasingly prominent aspects of my life. As a spectator. Andy, now 11 and in the fifth grade, observes the full cycle now. Basketball-soccer-baseball-football-basketball. Eddie is in a more manageable rotation: soccer and baseball, but then he’s only in 2nd grade.

Yes, life is different now. No darts. No softball. No bicycling, even. But it’s still as rewarding as it ever was.

June 5, 1992

Once again I have only the dimmest memory of the specific circumstances of going to bed last night.  How far into Nick at Nite's evening line-up did I remain conscious?  I really have no idea.

I almost miss the WAPL board meeting in Oshkosh.  I stop at City Hall and the library to get the checks ready for distribution.  Ilene informs me that Marie has called in sick.  Fortunately, Susan is willing to fill in for the day.

Ten miles into the trip, I curse myself for not bringing along the camcorder.  I wanted to shoot a memory-lane video as I drove around Oshkosh.  It will have to be done at another time.

I'm fifteen minutes late for the meeting, but the group present is still chatting informally once I arrive since they don't have a quorum.  My presence takes care of that problem.  I'm expecting a short meeting, under two hours, meaning that we'll be done around noon, but it takes us until nearly 2 to get through the agenda.  That gives me only the briefest of opportunities to walk through the library and greet familiar faces.  On a Friday afternoon in the summer when the reduced 37-hour work week has one into effect, the possibilities are greatly reduced.   Except for John Stoneberg, who is eager to get back to Eau Claire, the board members eat lunch at Tortilla Flats, my choice -- and my first visit since the restaurant has moved into its new location.  The cheese crisp is still as massive and tasty and filling as ever.

I always experience such a tingle of disbelief whenever I visit Oshkosh, as if I have returned to a special dreamworld.  I did so little here professionally, but so much socially, which is the area I gave more priority anyway -- though maybe I underestimate my achievements here.  I wonder how I would feel about myself today if I were still there, still single perhaps, still content to have biking and drugs as my main sources of pleasure.  I think I'd be an awfully weary, self-loathing man.

Time constraints do not allow any surprise visits,  I think about how much I'd like to see Bob for even a few minutes.  Driving past Dave and Lynn's duplex, I notice a swing set and sandbox in the back yard.   For the people who rent the upstairs apartment?  Or have Dave and Lynn moved elsewhere?  For all I know, they could be in another state.  I haven't been in touch with them for nearly two years.

The Nissan is one of a multitude of vehicles speeding along highway 151.  I return to Madison in time to cash my check at the credit union, but not to contact JoAnna about picking up the boys.

We spent the evening at Festa Italia with Larry and Martha and Michael (and Martha's sister Liz).  It's so much fun watching Andy interact with other children his age.  He makes friends so quickly.