November 18, 2001

 

Season’s Greetings from Quinn and me J.  I love taking time each year to remember all of you, our treasured friends and family.  I hope your year has been full of joy and blessings, as ours has.  What a year.  Life keeps getting bigger and more fun.  Here’s a quick update:

 

Quinn started the year as a 5-year-old in Montessori preschool.  He’s now a 6-year-old in Kindergarten and he’s reading real books all by himself.  He’s taking tap, piano and swimming and he loves to wrestle with me after school and watch videos to relax.  We went to see Harry Potter for his birthday.

 

I started the year as a Microsoft certification trainer at Quilogy, an IT consulting firm based in St. Louis.  They began laying people off in February, and in June they let me go.  Hey, it was great, I was able to thank them for a fabulous 20 months during which I got trained up and certified.  Since then, I’ve been staying about half busy teaching on a contract basis.  This has given me extra time to take exams and travel with Quinn.  He and I did lots of fun summer things, such as go to the Iowa State Fair a couple times, camping at Ledges State Park and a weekend at Oceans of Fun in Kansas City.  In September, we took 3 weeks to do The Big Trip Out West.  The photo below was taken on the incline railway at the Royal Gorge in Colorado.  I had never been with him around-the-clock for so long before.  It really gave me a deeper understanding of what it’s like to be 5.  We had a blast.  For more, please see www.donsevers.com.  All the photos and commentary are there!  While traveling, we saw great Uncle Bob and Aunt Judy in Tucson, as well as great, great Aunt Ruth in Phoenix.

When we got back from our trip, I filed for divorce from Anne.  We’d been talking about it for 5 years and it was just time to face facts and move on.  We’re still in the same house while we work out the details.  I’ll probably move nearby so it’ll be easy to work together in raising Quinn.  He’s the most important thing right now.

 

So, we’re facing change and the unknown, but who isn’t?  We feel very grateful for all our friends and family and all the beauty and wonder of creation.  And for the tools to walk through whatever comes along.  You are all in our hearts as we pass through another Christmas season. 

 

 

Love,                                                                                                                                          donsevers@qwest.net

                                                                                                                                                       Mbl 515.771.2461

Don and Quinn                                                                                                                                 Hm 515.221.9246

 

PS:  I’ll post the new address and phone at www.donsevers.com when I move.

No account of our year would be complete without mentioning the other Big Trip:  Europe 2001.  Anne and I flew to London, did some sightseeing, visited cousins there and in Durham County, then flew to Norway to visit my mom’s 2nd cousins.  Their hospitality was overwhelming and Norway’s natural beauty is unmatched.  We were in heaven.  Then, after spending one day in Sweden, Anne flew home and I spent another 3 days visiting accordion factories in Castelfidardo, Italy.  18 days in all, it was really 3 trips in one.  You can see pictures and more details at www.donsevers.com/europe.htm.

I also flew to San Antonio, Texas in July to attend the Accordionists’ and Teachers’ Guild Festival.  When I arrived, they asked me to sit on the jury for one of the competitions, so I had a great experience hearing wonderful, world-class performers and reuniting with my accordion colleagues.  Next year, it’ll be held in Orlando, so I plan to attend and take Quinn to Disney World J.