The Hargroves
6100 Bend of River
Austin, TX 78746-7201

New Address!

Christmas Letter 1990

The Empty Nest. It began innocently, one Sunday morning in January. Linda and Jim were watching Charles Kuralt and reading the paper. “Babe,” he said, “if your sister Mary really moves here from Fairbanks, why don’t we lease her this house and get ourselves a nice empty nester in the country?” “OK, so long as it’s on the water.” “And a bargain,” he added.

The Search. A Scene selected at Random.  Another Sunday, April. Jim and Linda are parked in the lot of an empty office building. The car is littered with back issues of the MLS book, maps of Austin and surroundings, classified ad sections from the paper, partially highlighted, two pairs of binoculars, just in case they see some good birds, and a sack that once held two Thundercloud Subs. “Well, that’s it.” Jim offers, “Everything on the lake is either trashy or overpriced or needing a new septic system. Nothing in town is appealing. We’ve checked on every house in Travis county and parts of Hays and Llano. We’ve looked everywhere except Lost Creek, and we already have a house there.”

So we compromised. We found a nice 4BR house about five minutes down the hill from our old one. It’s close enough to the edge of Barton Creek to qualify as “on the water,” and has huge Live Oaks, good birds, and a resident herd of deer. Charles returned home from Rice just in time to serve as our main mover. Hooray for youth, and strong muscles!

[A lyrical account of Jim’s search for the Colima Warbler in Big Bend has been omitted in the interest of brevity and domestic tranquility.—jwh]

June, the Gathering of the Clan. Claire’s high school graduation and Charles’ 21^st birthday provided all the excuse needed for a major convention of Hargroves and Moormans. Claire showed poise and authority in quieting the unruly crowd of cap slinging graduates long enough to deliver the benediction, which we have copied at the end of this letter. Charles surprised everyone by appearing with short hair for the first time in five years. He is as handsome as ever. Several of his friends arrived to observe his first drink, providing a liter bottle of Belgian beer for the occasion. Charles disappointed them by agreeing to be designated driver yet again.  

Traveling. Images: Late June, Paris. Jim, Linda and Claire are having breakfast at a small hotel in the 13^th arondissement. The breakfast, which cost $.90 in 1966, now goes for $6, or $12 in a hotel catering to Japanese tourists. Jim is dressed for work. Linda and Claire are outfitted in jeans, Reeboks, two guidebooks, a map of the metro system, a backpack and two cameras: the quintessential American tourists! They have several days of museum touring planned.

Claire had just arrived from Munich. She and Charles had been touring Italy and Austria with Granny and Grandad. Charles opted to spend a week in Munich with a friend. Then he rushed home to get ready for an archaeological dig in Belize. He also managed to get some scuba diving in while he was at it. Charles modestly reported that he found the best artifact at the site, a small jade carving. 

Quick shots: Grandad’s second open heart surgery in August. Grandad, amazingly, at Mamaw’s 90^th birthday in September. Claire at Rice taking French, Spanish, German, calculus and physics; Claire playing intramural soccer. Charles studying Colonial American History, African Prehistory, History of Imperial Rome, History as a Cultural Myth and similar esoterica; Charles in a heartrending close loss in College Bowl. Jim winning the Second Ever Rice Homecoming Bridge tournament, besting arch-rival Doc C on the last round; Linda, Jim, Mary and everyone at Utopia, Tx, wading in the river, watching the stars. Jim and Linda in Minneapolis, helping Lil buy a new car, sorting out legal issues. Jim on the cover of the November issue of Changing Times, profiled as a successful individual investor.

Morning Ritual. December, Monday. 4:30 a.m. Linda, worrying about work, psychologically stressed by the loss of her fledglings, is unable to sleep any longer. She decides to read. Grabbing the latest selection of her book club she slips down the hall to another bedroom. She stops briefly to adjust the thermostat, lies down, reads for 15 minutes, and falls asleep.

5:30 a.m. Jim rolls over and discovers Linda is gone again. Checks the clock, turns on the heating pad for his back and goes back to sleep. 6:00 a.m. The alarm goes off. Jim gets up, carefully stepping over the rat’s nest of magazines and computer documentation on the floor by the bed. He turns on CNN and starts 30 minutes of stretching exercises. (He ignored Linda’s advice for years, but finally had to start an exercise regime on doctor’s orders.) A few minutes later, Linda wanders in to the shower. Jim quickly nips into the hall and readjusts the thermostat.

6:30 a.m. Jim claims the shower. Linda checks the thermostat and adjusts it again. Then she pops a tape into the VCR and begins on a series of yoga exercises she taped from one of the public access channels.

7:00 a.m. Time for breakfast: bowl of cereal, juice, coffee, Doonesbury. “What do you want to do about dinner?” “I don’t care? Takeout Chinese?” “I’ll call you later.” So it goes. Another Monday.

Is this a great life, or what? We hope you are doing equally well.

Claire’s Benediction (From a Ute Indian Prayer)

“Keeper of our delight

Come rejoice with us.

Keeper of our sorrow,

Come shed your tears with us.

Keeper of our dreams

Come sleep a while with us.

Dance with us on rocks

Wet with springtime rain.

Lie with us on grass

Warm from summer sun.

Rest with us on leaves

Bathed in autumn light.

Walk with us through forests

Dressed in winter snow.

Keeper of our love

Keep our ambition for us.

Keeper of our hearts

Keep our secrets to you.

Keeper of our homes

Keep our fires for us.

Keeper of our garden

Keep its stillness for us.”

Heavenly Father, I pray that you stand by us as we graduate and go our separate ways. Give us the courage to grow and to discover all that life has to offer us. Dear God, help us all to realize that you are our Father, but that the Earth is our Mother; she nourishes us. Let us respect and love her and realize her pricelessness before it is too late. Most importantly, Father, teach us to have love and peace in our hearts towards all of the Earth’s inhabitants. Amen.