The Kochevars

We wish we were closer to Bryan to tell you in person how much we are thinking about you. Massachusetts is fine, is MUCH "bluer" than TX politically, and is also a good bit cooler (ok...colder) than TX. We're down to one pet, a blood donor kitty from the Tufts teaching hospital whose name when we got him was Herman. We decided he needed a more stylish TX name so he is now Hermano.

We haven't been very good at staying in touch and have nothing but the usual puny excuses about being busy. I enjoyed talking to your mom a few days ago and got caught up on the Buengers. I was most surprised to hear that Davis was in Budapest... very cool! I also learned that you have been back in the trenches with chemo and a variety of other challenging activities. In characteristic Erin Buenger fashion, it sounded as if you were not letting this get in the way of important things like being elected treasurer of your class at JLMS and going trick or treating. It is so wonderful that Jane Long has come into its own and that, finally, others in town know what we have known for a long time... that JLMS has much to offer!

Your mom told me that you were collecting pictures and stories to help as you work through the recent challenges. I'll send some now and, if you can tolerate it, will hit you with a second wave later in the week.

I was torn between sending you some of the really strange pics from our family album and sending those that make us look more normal. I have opted for the weird ones first!

Sister Chris. You remember Chris even though you haven't seen him in ages. He graduated from college in May 2007 and moved to New York City.

He has been working for a year as a paralegal in a law firm that does mainly immigration work. He is applying to law school and has no idea where he will end up. The very strange picture I am attaching was taken at Halloween several years ago and I thought it might make you laugh.

Chris is about 6 feet tall and so is possibly the world's largest nun at the time this picture was taken. He has since left the sisterhood and plans to continue his life in NYC.

Brotherhood. As a complement to the sisterhood picture, I thought you might like a picture that reminded you of Chris and Steven together!

Actually, they get along great but were having fun clowning for the camera. Steven will graduate from college in May 2009 and is having a fun senior year. He is in an improv comedy group and, very recently, was the opening stand up comedy act for a larger show on his campus. He tells me that most of his jokes were at the expense of his long suffering parents! He is a math and English major and will also be heading to NYC when he graduates. I think he wants to be a writer but he is smart enough to know that he needs to have a job to pay the bills.

He'll be starting with an investment firm in the city sometime in June or July. Doesn't seem like a great time for an investment firm, but he will be ok.

The Boys. Here are all three Kochevar men celebrating a birthday. John is getting used to commuting from Grafton, MA into Boston (about 35 miles) to work at the Tufts Medical School. He likes the people here and is busy teaching and doing cancer research. He still grows tomatoes in the back garden but the growing season is MUCH shorter than in TX. I think he misses being out in the country in TX where he could do moderately illegal things like drive his go-cart like a total maniac along the country roads. In MA they would probably lock him up and throw away the key.

Me and Herman. I love my new job here but there are some irritating aspects to it. One is that I have to periodically have pictures taken to be used in some fluffy publication or another. Last time this happened, I at least had the fun of finding a friendly creature to share the photo frame. Herman, the cat, had arrived at the teaching hospital about two years ago with a broken hip (probably hit by a car) but with no owner.

They fixed him up and kept thinking they would be able to adopt him to a good home. In the meantime, he was gracious enough to serve as a blood donor for the periodic times when a kitty transfusion was needed. He was test-driven with a couple of potential adoptive homes but things didn't work out. After this picture, I decided he really needed to come live with us...which he did about a month ago. He is a wonderful kitty and has definitely found a permanent spot with us.

As I looked through pictures and thought about you, Erin, I had so many good memories to choose from. The ones that kept coming up first had to do with New Year's Eve and fireworks. All the Kochevars have fond memories of pyrotechics over your lake, good food in your kitchen and your poor dog, Luke, being really freaked out by all the noise. I remember Davis being a holy terror when it came to certain types of fireworks but John was a close second.

The other thing we all remember when we think of the Buengers is what a great kid you have always been to be around. At the age of about 3 you had more intelligent things to say than most adults. And it has just gotten better since then. Though we haven't spent a lot of time together, especially lately, we all distinctly remember how "with it" you have always been. Guess it's hard to have a cool older brother and not be cool too. I think both Chris and Steven were always jealous of Davis for having a younger sister who was so much fun to be around.

Erin, you have been in our evening prayer before dinner every night for the past six years. We are going to step up the rhetoric a bit and also send you all the good karma in Grafton, MA, New Haven, CT and New York, NY. Let me say that this will be a LOT of good karma so get ready!

We'll stay in touch and, if you can stand it, will send some more pictures. Take care and know that we love you.