Earlier in January my parents celebrated thirty five years of marriage. Some cynics would say that my Mom was celebrating thirty five years of putting up with my Dad, but they would be understating it a bit.

The last time my sisters and I put something together for an anniversery was ten years ago, for their 25th. Shannon and I - assisted here and there by Corey and Jamie - spent hours at my house in Kent putting together a photo album replete with captions for the pictures.

Trust me - that booklet was really cool. Really. I still crack up every-time I read through it. But, to be honest, I’m probably not that objective. Not only did I put this together, I’m part of a gender that finds farts funny.

We didn’t have time to do that sort of production this year, but we did manage to pull something together - a two disc CD set of songs for Mom and Dad accompanied by a thirty-some page booklet. In true Schmidt fashion, I managed to complete this masterwork about 5 minutes before we walked out the door to head off to the anniversary dinner.

To share the enjoyment, I’ve included a link to the PDF file of the booklet below, as well as a list of the songs on the discs. Feel free to go out and burn your own disc to experience what it’s like to be one of us. It’s not exactly pleasant, but you get used to it.

Disc One
Can’t Help Falling In Love / Elvis Presley
We’ve Only Just Begun / Carpenters
You’re My Soul and Inspiration / Righteous Brothers
Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me / Mel Carter
Wildfire / Michael Martin Murphey
Please Mr. Please / Sharon Kross
Old Shep / Elvis Presley
American Pie / Don McLean
You Should be Dancing / Bee Gees
He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother / The Hollies
Ferry Across the Mersey / Gerry and the Pacemakers
Walk Like A Man / Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons
I’ll Have To Say I Love You In A Song / Jim Croce
Cats in the Cradle / Harry Chapin
Sinking of the Bismark / Johnny Horton
Vincent / Don Mclean
The King Is Gone / Ronnie McDowell
Midnight Blue / Melissa Manchester
Heartlight / Neil Diamond
You’re So Vain / Carly Simon
Danny Boy / The Irish Tenors

Disc Two
Wake Up Little Susie / The Everly Brothers
(The Man Who Shot) Liberty Valence / Gene Pitney
Our House / Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young
Puff The Magic Dragon / Peter, Paul, and Mary
Please Come To Boston / Dave Loggins
The Last Farewell / Roger Whittaker
Wreck of The Edmund Fitzgerald / Gordon Lightfoot
Peggy Sue / Buddy Holly
Mrs. Brown You’ve Got A Lovely / Herman’s Hermits
We Don’t Talk Any More / Rich Clifford
Cheeseburger In Paradise / Jimmy Buffett
The Goonies ‘R’ Good Enough / Cyndi Lauper
Moonshadow / Cat Stevens
An American Trilogy / Elvis Presley
Werewolves of London / Warren Zevon
Walk Like An Egyptian / The Bangles
She Drives Me Crazy / Fine Young Cannibals
I Will Always Love You / Dolly Parton
I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me) / Whitney Houston
Walking In Memphis / Marc Cohn
When Irish Eyes Are Smiling / Morton Downey
Memories / Elvis Presley

A little over a month ago - well, actually over a month ago - Alex played the piano at his fourth grade play at the elementary school. I took our spiffy - and recently repaired - video camera along with me and filmed the entire play. The entire play. Even the part where the kids were taking what looked like vacuum cleaner hoses and slapping them with their hands. They called them boomwackers. I just thought they were disturbing.

Anyway, when Alex and I got home that night, we jumped on his computer and made a really quick movie of the footage using iMovie and sent it out to a few family members. I promised him I would put it up on the web but then it kept slipping my mind. Today I took advantage of some slack time at lunch to upload the video to my youTube account, so in the spirit of “better late than never” I now give you Alex playing Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Enjoy!

Back when I was Alex’s age it seemed like Christmas couldn’t come fast enough - once Thanksgiving was over, the weeks to Christmas passed with an almost glacial slowness until finally it was Christmas morning.

Those were the good old days. Anymore it seems like I blink after Thanksgiving and it’s Christmas. Put my head down for a second and it’s New Years Day.

To say that time seems to have speeded up sometime in the past 20 years or so would be a gross understatement. This year hasn’t been an exception. It seems like every day in the last few months has brought it’s own particular challenge, commitment, or other activity to worry about. Mix this in with the holidays - which are always stressful for me - and toss in my obsessive/compulsive personality and it things get really interesting.

Finding a new job. Slamming the RX-8 into a curb in the first - and only - snowfall of the year. Getting the RX-8 fixed. Getting a new jeep. Buying presents. Stephen buying a house. Malinda interviewing for a job. Alex playing piano in the Winter Sing-a-long and Fourth Grade play. Alex playing basketball. Dealing with Christmas. Settling into the new job. Cleaning up loose ends from the old job. Trying to get something ready for my parents 35th anniversary.

It’s been quite a lot to deal with - Beth would say for me to obsess about - but it’s all turned out good in the end. As always, my family has been there for support and help. My friends have been there as well. Now things are becoming fun again. Life is starting to move to a more predictable and normal rhythm again.

That’s not to say there aren’t some things I’ve fallen behind or down on - my writing has suffered from lack of attention over the last two months, as have my bike training and exercise regimes. I’ve started work on several posts for this site which are currently languishing in “draft” status in Ecto. I have website updates for my friend David that date back months. Alex and I have a number of little projects to work on, and I have the inevitable household work to do.

Those tasks have all become secondary to me of late - I’ve been working on a bigger task. You see, as long as I’ve known her, Beth has always counseled me to relax and enjoy life. To concentrate on what is done rather than what’s not. To trot out the tired old cliche, to see the glass as half full rather than half empty. To put it bluntly, to not be such a cranky pain in the ass.

So how am I doing with this? Ask Beth for the definitive answer, but I do feel like I’m getting better. One way I can tell? Those things that I haven’t been getting done aren’t bothering me.

Well, at least not too much.