Larry and Diane:

This is GREAT NEWS! I am very happy for you and I wish you happiness and good luck on what will be the greatest adventure of your life.

Oddly enough, I view this as an important development not only for you, but for Archipelago as well. I think of Archipelago as a kind of village, and your child will be the first child born in the village. A cause for celebration in any village that has ever been!

I hope you will keep us posted. In fact, when the little nipper appears, or even before, I think it would be great if you would devote at least one voice card per issue to what he or she is up to and what you learned from your child that week. You could link the cards together, as I link my suggestion box cards together, and at the end of twenty years you could hand your child a disk (or a cube or whatever they use in the year 2010) that held a record of his development. Or maybe this junior Shirey could someday join the group and take over for dear old dad!

Please consider it! It would require only an extra voice card each month, but after a decade or two you would have a priceless record. And the rest of us would get a vicarious parenthood experience.

Once again: CONGRATULATIONS!

Late Breaking Bulletin: Larry and Diane have officially requested our help in finding a name for "the little critter." Send your voice card name list to: Name Larry's Baby Canyon Creek, MT 59633