David Welch Life Information
2002

2002 was an inward year. What I had known for the 9 years prior had changed radically, and this is the year I adjusted. Without further adieu, here is my annual top-10 list (in chronological order).

1.) Via Negativa (Way of the Negative). After 17 years of college, drum corps, and Accenture, I found myself at a major life intersection. All of a sudden, I was staying in town instead of traveling 100,000 air miles each year, and I was primarily trying to get a new business started. I reacted by significantly reducing personal possessions and activities. I maintained a highly-disciplined lifestyle (who, me?) during a recession and was able to get myself to a point where I could live on a mere $1,500/month. At one point, I even had 16 consecutive weekends at home. Exactly what I needed.

2.) He Does. My brother Michael got married to Nancy Shaw in the spring. It was a beautiful outdoors ceremony at the courthouse steps in Leesburg, VA. Not only that, but my brass quintet had the honor of performing at the ceremony for Mike, Nancy, and their 6 children (count 'em).

3.) On Fire! My brass quintet, QBR, continued to go strong. We had one particularly noteworthy gig on July 4th when we played in a small-town parade in Great Falls. We sat on the back of an antique fire truck as we were carted in circles playing patriotic music between siren wails.

4.) Bon Jour. In August, I took advantage of a unique opportunity to visit one of my best friends, Christopher Corr, who was in France getting an international MBA at INSEAD. When I arrived, we headed straight to Paris where we bumped into a young woman named Chantel. She was from South Africa and ended up being our travel companion/muse. Within hours of meeting Chantel, all three of us were thoroughly schlockered as we took a floating tour of the city and munched on baguettes. One thing inevitably led to another, and by midnight we were at the Eiffel Tower in the pouring rain doing the types of things that just seemed appropriate given the circumstances.

5.) Nice Is Nice! Being young, single guys, Christopher and I said à bientôt to Paris and headed for Nice on the TGV (high-speed train). There, we spent several days with our jaws dragging on the ground. So everyone knows, this is where beautiful, naked people hang out during the month of August. What a great place to just be for a few days, absorbing it all between outstanding meals.

6.) Beauty Tour. After Nice, it was back to Paris for all sorts of fun at the Moulin Rouge, the Louvre Museum, and at assorted restaurants – including one fondue restaurant that served red wine in nippled baby bottles at all kinds of crazy hours of the night. Christopher and I drove from one adventure to the next with the windows rolled down, music playing, singing along. We dubbed this the "Beauty Tour" because of our quest for beauty of all types. What a trip!

7.) First down and 27. In the fall, my business partner and long-time friend Doug Rutherford offered up 3 tickets to a Washington Redskins football game. On the spur of the moment, I was able to get my brother and father to take the other two tickets. Off we went to our first professional football game together in 27 years. Wow! The last game we saw was in Kansas, the Chiefs vs. the Jets, in 1975. We drank more beer at this game, I believe.

8.) A Real Business. My business partners and I continued to march forward, working hard to create a real and lasting business at Telco Exchange. Each of us continued to take financial risks to help bring this company to a sustainable position in the market, and we began to make progress. We were thrilled to gain two big customers in 2002 – IKON Office Solutions and Starbucks Coffee Company. It was a tremendous amount of work to get to this point, but it is progress.

9.) Backwards in Time. In the fall, my former high school band director was guest conducting at Georgetown University and needed an extra french horn player. It was a unique experience to be under the baton of Mr. Bly again. The last time I had that type of symphonic experience was in 1984.

10.) Thanksgiving on the Water. This Thanksgiving was a bit different than in previous years. I went with my Dad and his wife Pam down to the Northern Neck of Virginia. We visited the house they are building on the water and slept in their boat. It was a cozy feeling after stuffing ourselves and escaping the elements. We just watched videos and had pumpkin pie until we fell asleep.

Other events colored 2002 – new tenants for my rental property, the opening of a new Target store behind my house, playing at the wedding of a good friend Lark Pouchet, the sniper that terrorized the Northern Virginia area, and a cruise in Miami to celebrate my Uncle Arthur's 70th birthday. Even in a rebuilding, inwardly-focused year, there was much happening. But I could feel momentum shift as I headed towards 2003.

When your expectations are set to zero, one really appreciates everything." – paraphrased remarks of physicist Stephen Hawking

"99% of the world's lovers are not with their first choice – that's what the jukebox is for." – Willie Nelson, musician

"What does a great person look like when they are young?" – David Welch

"It's not what you do – it's who you are." – George Zingali, educator

"Happiness is not a matter of intensity, but of balance and order and rhythm and harmony." – Thomas Merton, from his 1948 book Seven Story Mountain, an autobiographical work about his journey from self-indulgence to self-discipline

"When we cannot bear to be alone, it means that we do not properly value the only companion we will have from birth to death – ourselves." – Eda LeShan

"I am not hindered by reality." – Doug Rutherford, friend

"Ultimately, the only power to which man should aspire is that which he exercises over himself." – Elie Wiesel, writer, Nobel laureate

"Mistakes are a fact of life. It is the response to error that counts." – Nikki Giovanni, poet

"Truth never damages a cause that is just." – Mahatma Gandhi

"The last temptation is the greatest treason; To do the right deed for the wrong reason." – T.S. Eliot

"Never ruin an apology with an excuse." – Kimberly Johnson

"They always say that time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself." – Andy Warhol

"We all have big changes in our lives that are more or less a second chance." – Harrison Ford, actor

"A person becomes a writer because they're deficient. They have problems. They're crazy. They have unhappy families. They're eccentric. And not because they've read a lot of books necessarily, but on the contrary – maybe they haven't read enough books. There's a strong irrationality about the writing life. Often a writer writes just to maintain their sanity." – Paul Theroux

"Money is the sum of time and energy." – David Welch

"My mom used to say: 'you can't have fun all the time,' and I said: 'why not? Why the fuck can't I have fun all the time?'" – Kate Moss, model

"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler." – Albert Einstein

"Never mistake motion for action." – Ernest Hemingway

"Mediocrity is a disease." – Antonio Vivaldi

"Winners don't think they will lose." – Bobby Bowden, college football coach

"There is something in my body giving me instructions I should not follow." – Anonymous interviewee on NPR, on the topic of testosterone

"Sometimes your natural reaction gives you the truth." – Doug Rutherford

"...the poems I enjoy are those I don't have to pretend that I'm enjoying." – from The Iceberg Theory, by poet Gerald Locklin

"What is the question you are trying to answer?" – Christopher Corr, friend

"In solitude we give passionate attention to our lives, to our memories, to the details around us." – Virginia Woolf

"Integrity first starts with not deceiving yourself." – David Welch

"The body is a sacred garment. It's your first and last garment; it is what you enter life in and what you depart with, and it should be treated with honor." – Martha Graham, dancer and choreographer

"The body must be nourished physically, emotionally, and spiritually. We're spiritually starved in this culture – not underfed but undernourished." – Carol Hornig

"There is only one journey – going inside yourself." – Rainer Maria Rilke

"Order is the shape upon which beauty depends. – Pearl S. Buck, author

"To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts." – Henry David Thoreau

"High station in life is earned by the gallantry with which appalling experiences are survived with grace." – Tennessee Williams

"Invest yourself in everything you do. There's fun in being serious." – Wynton Marsalis, musician

"I hesitate to answer questions that other people who are in the room can answer better than I." – Christopher Corr

  

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