2012 Holiday Greetings from The Bryant Family
This was a year of many developmental transitions. Ben became a teenager, Sam assumed some of the responsibilities of emerging adulthood, and Judy lost her father, thereby becoming part of the older generation for that side of the family.
Ben completed his Eagle Scout project in September and should be applying for Eagle rank promotion soon. He is competing in soccer (his team is undefeated as of this writing) and participating in his school’s band and jazz band, track team, spring math league, and Junior Honor Society as a straight “A” student taking three high school credit courses in 8th grade. Ben advanced his tuba skills at band camp last summer and attended a week-long program for gifted learners, both at the University of Tampa. He also spent a week with our scout troop at summer camp in the Georgia mountains and, with Sam, completed a week of scout youth leadership training. Both he and Sam performed this month in the annual Tuba Christmas concert in Zephyrhills. Ben participates energetically in many social groups. He amazes (and often aggravates) us by simultaneously navigating homework, texting, Facebook, and Skype.
Sam turned 16 and obtained his driver’s license. Earlier in the year, his Grandfather Sam decided to stop driving and gave his car to Sam. He and Dave had an adventuresome road trip driving the car back to Tampa, including a stop at the Corvette plant in Kentucky. Sam has enjoyed the autonomy of driving to school and to practices for his high school’s award-winning marching band. Sam’s greatest adventure was a summer trek at the Philmont Scout Reservation in New Mexico. This backpacking challenge of over 70 miles in 10 days required months of preparation and conditioning. That included taking various long hikes and running the stairs of a skyscraper downtown with heavy backpacks since we have no mountains to train on in Florida. Sam was elected to be the group’s crew chief. Just a couple weeks after he returned, Sam was on another plane bound for Michigan State University as a delegate to the National Order of the Arrow convention. (OA is Boy Scouting’s honor society to which both Sam and Ben have been elected.) It was quite a year of scouting accomplishments with Sam being recognized as the District’s top youth for his service to Scouting. Sam’s skills as a mature, planful leader and thoughtful citizen are clearly emerging.
Dave continues his polygraph business and working part time for the police department. He attended a week of forensic polygraph training in Denver in April and was re-elected to the board of the Florida Polygraph Association. He just had an article on interrogation published in the American Polygraph Association magazine. During the Republication National Convention, Dave was selected for a security detail driving U.S. Senators. He was assigned to Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming. Being politically like-minded, they got along well. The Senator broke with protocol and introduced Dave to Sen. John McCain and gave him passes so Judy, Sam, and Ben could attend the final night of the convention where they witnessed speeches including Clint Eastwood, Marco Rubio, and Mitt Romney. It was an 83 hour work week for Dave, but there was no place he’d rather have been for this historic event even though he was profoundly disappointed with the results of the election.
Judy finished her 31st year as a psychology professor at the University of South Florida (and eighth year as director of one of the doctoral programs) and co-chaired her 35th Yale reunion. Although those milestones should make her feel terribly old, trying to keep up with the boys keeps her feeling reasonably youthful, albeit tired. She served as the scout troop’s Committee Chair and is active with the advisory councils for both boys’ schools and the high school band booster organization. Last August she and Ben attended the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association meeting in Orlando. Judy had administrative responsibilities and Ben presented a poster describing his science fair project about students’ backpack weights.
Rommel the wonder dog turned 9. He’s slowing down some, but still enjoys guarding the house, stealing food, and traveling with the family. This year we took a spring break RV trip to Cedar Key and a summer trip to visit friends and family in New York and North Carolina. Along the way, Sam had the opportunity to check out potential colleges.
As busy as this year has been, we look forward to a 2013 with even more adventure. Life is filled with highs and lows, challenges and opportunities. We hope you will make the best of yours too.