Excerpt from the Maxwell’s Christmas Letters; Peter’s beautiful personality shines through…his beamish effect on this world. 1988: Peter is 2 years old. He is a study in contrasts; loving but strong-willed, energetic, but able to spend long periods looking at books. Whichever emotion he is displaying, it is intense. He seems to know exactly what he wants and nothing stops him from getting it! He definitely has added excitement to our lives. 1989: Peter is 3. He is attending pre-school and loves it. We are constantly amazed at the differences between these two brothers when their fathers were so similar (ha, ha). Ty has never uttered a sentence about what goes on at school. Peter won’t shut up; every tiny detail is told and retold and every song sung at the top of his lungs. If you don’t listen, he tells you in no uncertain terms to shape up! He rules the roost at home, school and the playground. His teacher says he has a “presence” about him. We’re afraid to ask what exactly that means. We are contemplating making a reservation for him at the juvenile boys home! I have to admit though; he is a lovable character, and we admire his spunk. 1990: Peter, 4 continues to surprise us as his unique personality unfolds. Curious and active, he has a question for everything and won’t let it rest until he has the answer. Today it’s “Mom, if that way is North, that South, that East and that West (pointing) then where are we???? Sometimes by the end of the day I’m thinking of inventing a child muzzle. 1992: Peter is 6 and in kindergarten. He takes taekwondo, is on the swim team and has a season pass at Bridger Bowl. He is a character and is constantly amazing us. He loves music, animals and the computer and continues to be his own person not caring who he pleases or displeases by being himself. His teacher describes him as being very confident, and her only concern is keeping up with him. His experimenting mind did not serve him well however, when he stuck his tongue to the chairlift at Big Sky and ended up with a mouth full of blood. 1997: Peter is 11 and is described as a “character” and powerful thinker”, which makes life interesting for all of us. Actually, he is a ‘chip off the ole block’, which doubles the fun at our house. Peter also ski races, plays soccer but his passion is just playing…of any kind, He toots the trumpet and is the computer whiz of the family. 1998: Peter is 12 and in 6th grade. I had a hard time believing “my baby” was leaving the protective innocent environment of the neighborhood elementary school to be thrust into the chaotic, defiant atmosphere of middle school. Of curse, he is thriving, and doing a smattering of everything in sports, music (trumpet is his favorite), art, (pottery and drawing) and has a zillion friends. His classmates voted him to play Romeo (much to his dismay), but he rose to the occasion and memorized all his lines (in old English), and even let Juliet blow him a kiss. He will tell you the best part was the sword fight. He is at an age where he would shrivel and die if he saw me in the halls of his school. Call it what you want, but for me this “letting go” of the fledgling stinks. 2000: Peter is 14, in 8th grade and is soon to be taller than everyone in the family and is our favorite child (edits by Peter). He plays Christmas Carols on his electric guitar…feedback can really jazz up some of those carols. Peter had the best hunting season this year with getting a large mule deer buck and an elk. Skateboarding seems to occupy most of Peter’s time during the snow-free months…he has become quite accomplished. He is still ski racing during the winter, so our winter weekends are still very full. 2002: Peter is 16. He continues to be busy with ski racing in the winter and kayaking in the summer and getting intimate with the local judge at the city court due to his lead foot. He is a social animal, very handsome and has those dark blue eyes with the mischievous sparkle (like his dad) which causes a confusing array of girls calling and dropping by…He participated in a NOLS course last summer…30 days back-packing in the Wind river Range of Wyoming. It was an intense but rewarding experience and I’m sure we have yet to hear all of the stories… 2005: Peter is a senior “dude” in Bozeman High School and will graduate in June. He is trying to decide if he wants to go to college or work. He is very tired of school and would rather spend his time getting rich. He spends most of his time with his great set of friends (dudes). He has become an excellent guitarist “dude” and he seems to keep the girls swarming. He went to the Galapagos Islands with a group of students and studied green sea turtle nesting biology for 2 weeks in March 2004. He then worked at the Mountain sky Guest Ranch the summer of 2004. 2006: Peter is attending UM. He has no idea what he wants to study. He does know he wants to be rich. Thought he’d try the school thing to see if it might get him closer to this dream. I don’t think he is convinced. He worked for a colleague of Max’s doing DNA fingerprinting. He presented his data in a poster at a meeting in Reno. All was fine until he went skiing at Tahoe, went over a huge jump and landed on the flat…and yet another mom hair-graying communication ensued…”Peter is injured; he is on a back-board in the ER…” He had 4 compression fractures of his thoracic vertebra. He is recovered. In fact, after skiing with him at Big Sky, Max announced Peter apparently was NOT traumatized by his accident as he continued to ski off cliffs and through unmarked territory at full speed. Max could not keep up…and his ego suffered somewhat. 2009: Peter is a student and grizzly fan at the University of Montana. He is on a 6-10 year trajectory for graduation. However, having exhausted all of the dodge ball courses they offer, he has moved on to declare a major Finance and Information systems. It turns out that UM has this grading system that works well for retention of students…once they declare a major they get A’s. MSU will copy UM’s excellent business model soon with increases in students paying tuition longer. Peter has become a full-time resident of Missoula. He is working very hard with a landscaping business in the summer and as ski team coach in the winter it is a wonder that he has any time for school with his busy work schedule. Oh, and did I say that he is also a caretaker for the apartment building that he lives in with his girlfriend Madeleine and pet squirrels. 2011: Peter graduated in business management from the University of Montana this year. He has his own business in Missoula in Missoula called garden city Recycling. He won a sustainable business award this year and is quickly becoming a Missoula tycoon. Peter also continues to coach the Missoula ski team; great jobs that keeps him active and outdoors in the winter. Peter and his girlfriend Madeleine have become permanent residents of Missoula along with their dog, Gary (from the bitterroot).
Posted on: Mon, 31 Mar 2014 02:26:23 +0000
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