Thirty-three Years Ago this Month . . .
 
Apparently, yellow roses are for "friendship."  Maybe I've finally learned my lesson about that.  Red roses say, "I love you" much better.  Nancy reminds me that she let her mom choose the wedding colors, and was not delighted with the choice.  I wasn't too keen on brown and yellow myself, but I wasn't the one paying for the flowers.  The ubiquitous COSTCO cake served for our 33rd anniversary and Annie's 27th birthday.  (Next year she'll turn 28 on February 28th!)

Normally, this wouldn't be the lead story in March.  For much of the month I thought, "what a slow month it is for family news."  But in the last two weeks, things have been happening right and left.

Nancy Completes Her Term as Seattle PEO Reciprocity President
 
When Nancy takes on a responsibility for her women's group, she puts all else aside.  For example, our Christmas tree still stands as I write this on March 28th.  A new Sleight record (maybe).

Today she handed the gavel of her year-long presidency on to someone else, this after pulling yet another all-nighter to prepare for the final Seattle PEO Reciprocity meeting she would chair. The meeting went well with important business approved, but it will be nice to have her focus back on the family. 

From a Recent SPU Alumni Connections Email
 
The Power of the Play Remains
 
In the audience for one of the final performances of last month's Homecoming stage production of "The Miracle Worker" was Leona Spurling Nelson '64 (pictured right). Fifty years ago as a Seattle Pacific senior, the speech major shouldered the role of a lifetime to play Annie Sullivan, the determined educator who taught blind and deaf Helen Keller to communicate.

Watching the play anew, and junior Jean Sleight as Sullivan, the lines started to come back to Nelson. "It surprised me how many of the lines I remembered," she says. "I knew what she was going to say next."

She recalled how difficult it was to capture an accurate Irish accent and the sheer physicality of her role. "There were knock-down drag-out fights" between Nelson's character and the character of Helen Keller over how and if to learn. "We didn't have professional combat coaches or dialect coaches or anything like they have today," says Nelson." Just one very good drama director." She refers to the legendary James Chapman, founder of SPU's theatre program.

Nelson's first impression of this year's play? "When Jean walked out on stage and the lights went up, I thought how right she looked for the part.
I was holding my breath to hear if her accent would be authentic, and, indeed, it was just right. She did an absolutely marvelous job."

This month, Jean acted in yet another SPU play, The Dining Room.  But as the article above shows, folks are still talking about her performance in The Miracle Worker.  And the SPU Theatre Department finally got a face lift on its web site.  These photos are "borrowed" from there.

Jeannie Beth Puts the "Break" in Spring Break

On Friday, March 21st, Cousin Bob Hollis and Aunt Susan invited Jeannie Beth on a ski day up to Crystal Mountain.  It was a beautiful day, as the shot from Bob's camera (left) showed.  Things were going fine until the early afternoon.  On the Mr. Magoo run, Jean went over jumps on the terrain park.  On her third jump, she landed badly. And, it true Sleight skiing tradition, she completely tore both ACLs (anterior cruciate ligaments).  Which is to say, she blew up both knees.

Jean put snow on her knees to ease the pain, and a skier on the lift above sent the Ski Patrol to package her up for the run down the mountain.