January 2007:
I received this email and a picture from Eddie, in response to my email that said thet nothin' much was going on around here.

Hi Bob,
Nothin's goin on here either - just a little "horsin around" while visiting my family in the White Mountains of New Hampshire this past summer.
Happy New Year, Eddie & Susie

Bob,

I finally have a recent picture for you of Suzanne and me taken during a Boyd Family Reunion last August on a mountain trail near Lake Tahoe, NV. Notice we don't have any fancy hiking clothes, but we enjoyed the outing, especially during the rests when we could focus on the beautiful views.

Eddie&Susie

This photo is cropped to show more of Eddie and Susie, and less of of the scenery. For the full picture, for those of you with a cable connection, click here.

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November 2001: Richard Springsteed tells us that Eddie is alive and well in Las Vegas. He went on to say that Eddie is now a retired architect, and teaches elementary school along with his wife Suzanne.

Note: Eddie's note to me also had an excerpt of a note to Eric Koster within it. It was a pleasure to read, but might have been hard for someone else to follow, so I did some editing. I hope I didn't spoil anything... Bob.

Date: 12/13/2001
From: eddieboyd@lvcm.com (EDWARD BOYD)
To: RTilden@aol.com

Hi! Bob,

Sorry I have been slow to respond to your email. I guess it is one of the pleasures of being retired- or semi retired- actually truth be told, my schedule is busier than when I worked as an architect. "Busier than a cat in a sandbox!" is how I often put it.

However hectic my days may get, it is my own drum that I march to, and that has changed everything about my attitude- such as looking forward to Mondays and avoiding hectic travel on holidays, etc. It has made me even more resourceful, too.

You almost got it right, about my passion being different from my profession, but I suspect it is rather that my passions are too varied and voluminous to be sustained for long periods. If that makes me a guardian of many talents, but master of none, then I accept it in the interest of catering to the free spirit.

In New Hampshire, I found that I made more money renovating homes one at a time while living in them, than I did in my architecture practice, More importantly, I found Suzanne- the love of my life- and we have been together for more than twenty years now (It is the second marriage for both of us). Since moving to Las Vegas in the late 80's, I was able to comfortably retire and have taught myself to manage our own investments - we have been debt free ever since - and I enjoy creating my own spreadsheets to refine our financial progress.

I got involved teaching after helping Susie out in her classroom shortly after moving to LV. I was amazed at how well I related to young students and so after a few years, I took additional courses and got my license to teach as a substitute. I needed a part-time arrangement so that I could still spend time managing our growing investments and completing "honey-dos" at home.

I average about two or three days a week teaching, but have taken several "long-term" teaching assignments - six to twelve weeks at a time - for teachers on maternity leave each year. That gives me the total teaching experience and responsibility for a limited time. I like the variety of grades K-5, but I stay clear of the teenage middle and high school years.

We also save on transportation costs as we work at the same year-round elementary school and share the same time off spaced throughout the year. I even teach Susie's class when she is out- and they have become "our kids" every year- as we never had any of our own.

Ye Gods & Little Fishes (Thanks Mr. Greene) - this all takes me back through so many emotional memories just to say hello again and send a little news to you!

Eddie & Susie

I replied to Eddie's last email, and thanked him for the paragraph about his having so many interests that they compete with each other and try to crowd each other out. I found it much nicer to view myself in that manner than to think I had ADD, or to think I was as stupid as Ms. Flackbert thought I was.

Eddie replied:

Subj: Variety & Constancy
Date: 4/6/2002 11:03:27 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: eddieboyd@lvcm.com (EDWARD BOYD)
To: RTilden@aol.com

Howdy Bob,

It really is great to hear from you, especially since I am beginning to learn more about your interests and personality than I ever knew at FA. I have been enjoying your Plane Talk articles and reading between the lines too. Indeed, you and I seem to share some of the same talents of multiplicity - sometimes exposed as excuses or even curses - but if used judiciously, they can be quite effective. What I find to be the greatest challenge in life is to balance the charms of variety and constancy. I love the variety of teaching the different grade levels and specialist's roles (Art, Library, Music, Computers, Science, etc.) through the year, but I look forward to the constancy of going home to enjoy our afternoon Tea Party each day, and don't forget the Honey jar! I seem to thrive on the changing winds, yet need the reasurance of something constant in the background. I have cherished tools from my grandfather's tool box that I always return to the same location after use, but usually repair something different with them at each time of use. Repairing or improving things seems to take up a lot of my spare time, as a matter of fact, but as I am something of a packrat - though a careful one at that - I can often make up a needed part from scrap items. Just today, I pruned some palm and fruit trees and repaired a leaking toilet valve. I used my Tea Time to figure out the solution to the dreaded plumbing dilemna, and of course I was delighted when I finally cheated the real plumber from his important task of coming to the house on three sucessive days - first to declare the severity of the leak and to inform me that he would need to travel across town to find the exact part - second to drag his muddy shoes imbeded with black grease across our beautiful persian carpet, to install a new valve part and to present the astronomical bill for the dirty deed - and finally third to return and correct the height adjustment that he forgot on the second visit! Did I mention that my repair was the highlight of my day?

I hope you got a good laugh out of all that!

Ed