The Gold Postcard: January 2014

Thanksgiving was the first holiday I have ever missed with my own family. It was really weird not going to my Aunt Doris and Uncle Jeep's house for their spectacular smoked dinner. I even missed out on family pictures that were actually coordinated this year. Although I missed being with my family, John's family opened their doors and gladly welcomed me into their large family. Only half of their immediate members could make it to Thanksgiving and the house was still full! If I counted right, 13 were there (did I say this is ONLY HALF of the Spearin clan?!?). I was lucky enough to get to be in the "girls room." It was a sleepover party every night with some pillow talk of shoes and clothes. It was unlike any family gathering i've ever been too. It was rowdy, unorganized and the house was full of energy. It was great! It was really awesome to see how other families celebrate holidays and express their love toward each other. I have never been part of a big family and it was neat to get a taste of what being in the "Brady Bunch" is truly like.

Because I celebrated Thanksgiving with John and his family, he spent Christmas with my family. It was great that he could make it. I am so glad his family let me barrow him for the holidays. John got to experience our extended family tradition of the "Big Family Gift Exchange" (which is smaller than his immediate family) and a small, quiet Christmas with the Brady's. I can only image how weird and eerily quiet our house was for John. Although my family events were not as crazy, we still had a good time.

John with Moose and Rosie. They love him. John still isn't sure how he feels about them....

Emma Lou loves her attention

I decided to join class council at the beginning of the year. I had no idea what I was getting myself into at the time but decided it would be a good idea to get involved. After a few meetings I realized student council had the normal responsibilities like any other ASB or club, but to our surprise we had the responsibility of fundraising for our graduation banquet as well. This graduation banquet in the past has accommodated 400 people in a location downtown Portland, so you can image how expensive the event can be.

After our first meeting, our job was to brainstorm fundraising ideas to fulfill this goal. You would think this would be a simple task but let me tell you no it wasn't! Either a class had a similar idea already or it had been done in the past... so unoriginal. I had to get my creative juices flowing and it hit me. I knew we had to do something that would attract the women in this program, considering we have about 75% females in the class of 2017 alone. If we could draw them in we would be bound for success! Then the idea literally hit me while I was in class listening to lecture (okay, okay, I'm guilty of day dreaming in class when I get bored...its our little secret). I thought, why don't we have a male beauty pageant! And Mr. Optometry was conceived, planned, and executed.

We got back to school after three weeks of Christmas break and then had four days to get everything organized and finalized. Our class president made a valid point that most of us spent so much time that week we could have just gotten part time jobs and made the same amount to put toward our class fund. Although this may be true, we wouldn't of had it any other way. It felt so good to see our hard work pay off and hear the laughter and involvement from the crowd.

The big night rolled around and we were as nervous as the contestants, if not more! It was our first event EVER and we felt we had pressure to do well. At last the lights dimmed, the music turned on and the show began! The first ever in Pacific University College of Optometry's History, Mr. Optometry was held on January 9th and it was a complete success. The 10 contestants were judged on best clinic attire, athletic abilities, photogenic eyes, persona, talent, baking abilities, presentation, and Q and A. We had two awards. The first was the "Pupil's Choice" which consisted of the highest combined score of most photogenic eyes, baking abilities and the most ticket sold per class. Pupil's choice was awarded with a mini otoscope donated to us by Heine. The second award was Mr. Optometry who was awarded a sash and of course, a CROWN! Mr. Optometry came with special privileges during ski trip and a $200 gift certificate to Pioneer.