Comments

Your website is huge, Donna! I've been mousing around for almost two hours and still haven't seen it all. The pictures are alot of fun. You are all so happy! It must be nice to have had a career that only spans 8 years, though. It says on your About Us page that you and Brian graduated from college in 1990 and started a "hiatus" in 1998. I met you in 2003, but you never told me about this part of your history. Wow! Graham and I have been working together for over 20 years now and are probably going to work for 20 more. Maybe longer! Sage sure is a lucky kid, but it's pretty obvious she isn't the only genius in the family. We miss you!

Even though the About Us story that I helped Dad write back in the '90's tells about a life that started when Donna and I joined forces in the '70's, it doesn't describe very well how long we have worked.

Donna began helping her family meet ends by working at Bi-Lo from the time she was 15. I started working on my uncle's farm when I was 11, then moved on to counseling and food-service when I was 14. We both worked through High School: part-time during the school year and full-time over Summers. It took Donna and me six years to graduate from college because we were both working full-time not only to pay our way, but also to save what little we could toward our future together. Once we graduated and began to make "living" wages, we lived so far below our means in order to put all we could into savings that we were never able to enjoy social reciprocity with our professional colleagues. We lived in a state of constant, albeit mild, embarrassment. It was only through those decades of sacrifice that our "careers" were able to seem so short. In reality, the time we worked lasted for a combined 38 years… plenty of time to save and invest for the lives we've led since 1998.

Part of our incentive to live frugally was the early knowledge that we could not rely on our parents for any financial assistance and that neither of us could count on an inheritance. So many people tell us we are lucky… and we do feel truly blessed. But we also believe that a person makes his or her own luck, and we continue to diligently work on our investments with hopes that our "luck" will not run out anytime soon.

We met on the bus/metro to DC during the Stewart/Colbert event and had a great time chatting with each other. I found your card in my papers, looked at your delightful site--my first thought: how can I manipulate time and everything else to be your daughter's age instead of her grandmother's age, and be your other daughter! What a beautiful life you all have developed. I hope to run into you again some day.

It's a beautiful life! What an amazing family. I love the way you are exposing yourselves and Sage to it all! What a smashing life she has! Way to go! Don't forget to let me know before you come to Jamaica.

This is probably the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. My favorite is the page on friendship with all of the pictures. You can tell you and your family live a very full and blessed life. I can only hope that I can have the same for my family.

Your family's pictures are so good, it is very warm and harmony. You are also a very kind soul, it is really nice to meet you. Your life experience in your own website make us cherish life much, it is so beautiful. We wish you and your family happy every day.

More and more often the people in family or personal websites are so busy promoting themselves that they lose touch with the reasons why anyone outside their family would be attracted to their websites. MySpace and Facebook pages are the same way. It's obvious that this one isn't as much about self-promotion as it is exposing a way of life that is filled with beauty and love. I think it's great that you give away your photography in high res, too.

Is it okay if the Charlotte Observer uses a photo of your daughter to promote the Zombie Walk? I'm writing a preview for Saturday's paper and I pulled a photo of Sage off the Zombie Walk's MySpace. Badger pointed me in your direction and I wanted to make sure it was okay to use that photo. It is so adorable and one of the best pics on the site.

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You! You share the best pics ever.
I get so bored with my desktop wallpapers that I have made the habit of going to kuhens.com when I need a new scene to brighten my day. Today's made the best choice ever. It was a perfect fit to my screen, summer color, and I get the waterfall too!

I am totally blown away by your website. How lucky you are to live in such a gorgeous place! I live in Florida about 15 miles from Orlando and if I step outside my back door I can hear the noise from road construction where they are widening a 2 lane highway to 4 lanes...you have no idea how envious I am <grin>!

Thank you again...you have really brightened my day and I am bookmarking your website so I can visit again!

I came across your website while doing a Google search of Mt. Rogers (Virginia). My brother and I hiked it a few months back and I got some wonderful pictures. I saw that you guys lived in Galax... I love the layout of your website and plan on showing it to my wife. Hopefully she and I will put something together of ourselves and our two sons.

Thanks, so much, for the effort you made to provide family information. I truly enjoyed seeing and "meeting" your family and sharing in all the good that is evident in your life. Best wishes, always!

"Wow! Well, I can at least start with that...as I do believe I am speechless at the moment!! (No small feat for me!) I've spent more than an hour looking at the pictures and reading the stories. I do not think I am done yet, but my eyes are getting "fuzzy." I will be back. :) What a wonderful opportunity you give to let others see into your lives. Your part of S.C. is so very beautiful! Then there were the memories...When I lived in Tega Cay, S.C. I used to take the kids to Carowinds on a regular basis. We would always have so much fun there! I have been loving every minute of wandering through your family website that you obviously made with so much time, attention, and love. Every minute spent "visiting" you and yours there, was a minute well spent. It's always nice to meet people who love their families and are into doing good things. :) Be well..."

Great to hear from you, John. Here's another one for you and Tommy from a decade earlier, but still almost six years after we delivered pizzas together. It's hard to believe that was almost a quarter-century ago!

"Love the site, but I have a question and a suggestion. Why did you stop writing that super column for those Parenting magazines right after you won that big award for it? All the photos on the site are very pretty, they really are, and Sage is a doll, but I miss the stories and advice you used to share about home finance and child rearing. May I suggest that you balance out all the photos and videos with a blog or something like your old column? Either way, I'll keep coming back to visit www.kuhens.com again and again."

A. J. Liebling once quipped, "Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one." Even though I once owned a commercial printing company, this point was made salient to me by Gannett Co., which was not only the publisher of my column, but also USA Today, 90 U.S. daily newspapers in 38 states and over 1,000 other community papers with a total daily U.S. circulation of over 7 million. Our lawyers wrangled for more than a year over the "universal, in perpetuity" rights clause Gannett demanded in my contract. Even so, it took a number of years to eventually erode my desire to continue to write a column for them. I don't even remember why I won those national awards you mentioned, though I do recall Gannett making a big deal of it.
I like your idea of putting some more words on this site. Maybe I could dedicate a page to my old columns, or at least those that haven't become too stale. On second thought, please click the "Cheap Ink" link instead.

"I'm impressed by the courage you must have to put your family out there for all to see. I wanted to put my Flickr photos on a web page last winter but dear hubby talked me out of it. I have spent many hours now looking through what you have done since you left Galax and it fills me with hope. You should be very proud of yourself, Brian. Sage is adorable. I thought it was crazy for you and Donna to quit and move to a midwest farm when you did, but you said you had a plan, and this web page proves it. Thank you for sharing."

"I love the pictures! I wondered if the Energizer Bunny would ever slow down. You haven't slowed but you sure did change gears. I can see Donna's influence and I think you do, too. Sage is beautiful!!!"

"How about this idea: Hyperlink phrases of the Emerson quote on the home page to navigate the site. 'To laugh often and much' could link to Happiness; 'to win the respect of intelligent people' links to Friends; 'the affection of children' to Godchildren; 'to earn the appreciation of honest critics' to this page and so on. I think that would be pretty spiffy."

I like this suggestion! I'll have to put some time into thinking how best to parse our photos, especially since this site has a only a tiny percentage of the thousands of snapshots that would benefit from this shift in navigation. I'm pretty sure my still formative HTML skills are up to the task, though. Thank you for this very cool idea!

"I envy your happiness. My ex always pretended to everyone we were a happy and loving family. All those photographs on your site prove to me yours is real. (I never doubted it, honest) With Laura in college, I'm ready to find a real man. Know any divorced ones? At our age, if they're still single, they need to stay that way. Please stay in touch."

"How did the two of you graduate with three degrees? Your 'About us' page says, 'the pair were loosed upon society with degrees in Philosophy, Psychology and Sociology.' I don't know how you did it, but after seeing all these pictures, I have to say you haven't done too bad for a couple of Liberal Arts putzes."

We didn't. I took college night classes in Psychology and Philosophy while I was still in High School with my credits held in escrow until I earned my diploma. I intended to earn a PhD in Clinical Psychology, but once I began the upper-level classes in college, I realized Psychology wasn't the science I thought it was. I became so disillusioned that I switched to Philosophy as a major after I already had enough Psych/Soc credits for a double-minor. Donna started and finished her first degree as a Psych/Soc double-major. The Sociology component was pretty much a lark for both of us since the classes were so darned easy and fun. Donna was later conferred a BS in Psych/Soc, and just earned another BS, only this time in Nursing so she can better provide Hospice care.

-Brian

Tally so far...

Brian:
BA in Philosophy with a double-minor in Psychology & Sociology (1990)
Donna:
BA in Psychology & Sociology (1990)
BS in Psychology & Sociology (2005)
BS in Nursing (2007)

Professional Licensure and Registrations

Brian:
SEC/NASD Series 7 General Securities Representative (1995)
SEC/NASD/NASAA Series 63 Uniform Securities Act State Agent Law (1995)
SEC/NASD/NASAA Series 65 Uniform Investment Advisor Law (1995)
Commonwealth of Virginia Life and Health Insurance Agent (1996)
SEC/IA/VA/SC Registered Investment Advisor (1998)
SC Registered Notary (2007)
Donna:
SC Registered Notary (2007)
SC/Multi-State Registered Nurse (2007)

"Looking through your website I can see why Sage is such a great kid. So many pictures of her smiling and being exposed to a diverse array of experiences has made her an extremely sharp girl. You sure do seem to be raising her right.

Your Hidden Falls home is fantastic! The wooded setting, adjacent waterfall and contemporary style reminds me of the Frank Lloyd Wright designed home 'Falling Water.' Your friend truely did find you a gem when he directed you to that property."

Words cannot describe how lucky we feel to be able to consider Scott a friend. Sage loves him, as do Donna and I, though we also deeply admire his many talents. To see just one of them, click the image below.

"I'm glad I Googled you. What's it been? 15 years? More? ... Your family website looks great and I'm not surprised you and Donna are still dancing to your own rhythm. It's obvious now why you ignored me when I tried to convince you you will never have kids if you try to wait until you can afford them. Hindsight might be 20/20, but your foresight looks even stronger. Congrats to you and your family, Brian."

"How are you my friends ...I miss ya... I sent you some pictures so let me know if you didint get them... I am kissing Sage...she is cute...I will show you some beatiful pictures from BULGARIA...and you welcome any time here! ...tell minmin hy for me... SAGE I promise i will come back for you...I hope so one day you will come here and I will take you for so beatiful plases...ok...you make me happy so mush..."

Our friend Iveta Dervisheva, whom we lovingly call Iva, left Spartanburg for her home in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, a few months ago. She has sent Sage and MinMin many cards and letters, and over the Easter holidays Iva emailed Sage some photos of her home there. Iva is one of the sweetest persons we have ever had the honor of calling a friend and we found these photos of Eastern Europe to be so striking that they demanded to have their own page. To see it, click her picture.

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