James Conley:  

h apologies to those of you making your living in the insurance industry - Jesus died for your sins - you need only sincerely repent to obtain forgiveness and eternal life): Insurance companies are in the business of SELLING COVERAGE and DENYING LIABILITY - they simply do not consider the payment of benefits to be in the ordinary course of their business, regardless of the merits. They expend more effort figuring how to deny payment than anything else (except, perhaps, trying to corral all the insurance lawyers in the country - LOL!) Anyhow, with a court looking over their shoulder, they re- examined my application and agreed to pay. So I have not had to sell my beach-front cottage on the Outer Banks of North Carolina (a bit of paradise, a five-hour drive away), and I haven't had to mortgage the house my kids grew up in or the condo in which I live to pay for their educations (yet - LOL!). I am now a photographer - one of my life's three passions (the other two being my kids - more on them below). I bought my first 35mm SLR a week after graduating from LJHS. (Buck was my inspiration, of course, on this and in so many other ways - that's another story.) Of course I now use a digital SLR. I would describe myself as being "a very good photographer," which puts me in an "elite" class, of which there are probably somewhere between ten and a hundred million in the US - LOL! I've never sold a photo or been paid to take one (though I've not tried), but I call myself a photographer because it is what I do. I have recently added some photos to my photo album here on this site. I spent 1995 living in New York City. If one had no kids, but did have a large bank account,there could not be a better place to live than Manhattan. Though, of course, that opinion may have been colored by the fact that my firm paid my rent on a nice, if small (it was so small that I had to step into the hall to change my mind - LOL!), apartment on the Upper-East-Side and I didn't have to worry about making a living. LOL! The best part? Virtually every restaurant in Manhattan delivers - of course, my doc would say that, for me, that was NOT a good thing. LOL!) Why a year in New York? I was participating in a cognitive rehab program at NYU. One of the many things I learned there was that the majority of marriages in which one partner suffers a major brain injury fail, and mine was no exception - a massive brain injury changes one's personality fundamentally, and, guess what? Those changes tend NOT to be favorable - LOL! (and, like a diamond, such damage is forever). It is just plain tough to be married to someone you never met before! But we both were and are crazy about our kids, and on that subject, we remain close partners (though, of course, my relationship with my kids has, naturally, suffered as well). I have a son, Andy, who will turn 27 in November. Married three years, he is a PhD student at The Georgia Institute of Technology (aka "GA Tech") in Bioinformatics - whatever that is! Some sort of intersection between computer science and genetic research. He also got his BS there (Major: Biochemistry/Minor: Computer Science). His wife is a nurse and an Atlanta native, so I don't expect we'll be seeing him move back to the DC area anytime soon. He has had two papers published (as lead investigator on both). He is so modest, no one (not even his wife) knew about either paper until his mother came across the first one by happenstance on the Internet. (She was "surfing the net," trying to find out more of what "bioinformatics" is, when she came across The Journal of Bioinformatics and was surprised to see her son's name as an researcher.) He has just completed authoring a chapter for a new textbook on the subject. Like me, a very self-conscious child, he is slowly gaining some self-confidence. (I certainly have, also, but, I remain, as was my father, "a quiet man" - a trait exacerbated by my stroke.) Fortunately, in high school, he was on the crew team, and was named rower of the year his senior year. At that age, it makes a big difference for a kid to be good at something, and, perhaps more importantly, to KNOW he is good at it. For Andy, crew served the purpose very well - for him, it was the best part of high school. His sister, Becca, who will turn 21 in August, followed him to Atlanta, and will be a senior at Emory U. She has but six or eight B's in six semesters, otherwise straight A's (This was a bit of a surprise because she had barely over a 3.5 GPA in high school. But, I got better grades in college (and law school) than high school as well) Since her freshman year, Becca has been the cox'n on the Emory women's varsity crew 8 and was named All-South Region Cox'n of the year as a freshman - an honor which was repeaetd this year (2010) It comes naturally to her; in fact, her brother says she was born to the position, because it involves screaming at people what to do! Her major is political science (aka "unemployable") but plans to go to law school YIKES - I hope she chooses a cheaper law school than college! With one exception that's pretty much my story. The one update is that, in this past November (2009), I added cardiac bypass surgery (four transplants) to my medical history - it was a routine procedure with virtually no pain or discomfort - I'm totally back to my pre-surgery condition (presumably with a healthier heart), determined to live a more heart-healthy life-style from here on out (i.e., I ate my last half-pound bacon cheeseburger back in November - so saaaad - LOL! My cholesterol was measured in May this year, and my total was down from 225 to 132 - I guess giving up beef & bacon was worthwhile. I've also started to work out regularly, though I would not RUN after a $100 bill - LOL! Drop me a line; let me know what's going on in your life 40 years out! I look forward to seeing everyone who can make it to our reunion in September!