They say a picture tells thousand words. Well, here are nine hundred twenty-two words about the last year in excruciating month-by-month detail.
In January, I went to San Diego for a professional conference while Anna’s parents, Greg and Dorene, came to Athens to help take care of Anders as a snowstorm hit Athens. Never doubt that you will have a better time in good weather if the place you left has bad weather. I also researched at the Nixon Library at Yorba Linda in Orange County, which is a Pat Nixon cloth coat compared to the Nancy Reagan mink coat up the road in Ventura County.
Anna’s brother, Josh, returned from a deployment in Iraq at the end of January and immediately came out to Ohio to meet his nephew. With Uncle Josh, we took Anders out to his first restaurant, China Panda. Anders pounded on the table with glee and was carried around by our waitress. He had a ball.
In February, Anna’s sister, Mandy, came to visit. Anna and Mandy staged our house for the purpose of selling it. We then put it up for sale.
In March, my mom, Ingrid, visited us. Ohio University also beat Georgetown in the first round of the NCAA tournament, which had Athens buzzing.
In April, Greg and Dorene came for Easter. I defended my dissertation. Our friends the Bloodworths and Renee Geary came to town to help celebrate.
In May, we had more visitors as our friends Dan and Jessica Seeley came for Mom’s Weekend, which should under no circumstances be confused with Mother’s Day. Our friend Brad Albers arrived later that month. Dr. Brad and Anna renewed their year-old debate over the health benefits of drinking orange juice. Anna is pro OJ, while Brad is pro-asparagus milk or something like that.
In June, I graduated with a Ph.D. in history from Ohio University. My mom and my uncle Fred traveled to Athens to mark the occasion. I tentatively plan not to be a student again.
We drove home for a month at the end of June. We caught Anders at just the wrong age to take a succession of long car rides, so naturally we brought him along for a four thousand mile road trip in just over a month. We took Anders to his father’s ancestral homeland in Marquette, KS. We also made a trip to my hometown of Decorah, IA. Anders was baptized on July 25, his first birthday, at the church of Anna’s grandparents in Litchfield, MN. It happened to be community band day at the Lutheran church led by a man the Minneapolis Star Tribune earlier that month called “The Mr. Holland of Litchfield.” Needless to say, Anders delighted in this loud brassy welcoming into the community of believers. His mother was mortified by such activity in a Lutheran church. Mandy and her husband Matt, along with Brad and Martha Albers were Anders’s sponsors. Ever the showman, Anders chose that day to begin crawling.
I began teaching at Ohio University-Chillicothe at the end of July. I primarily teach 20th century American history, but I have also taught courses ranging from Renaissance and Reformation Europe to the Modern Middle East.
Anna began her sixth year teaching special education at Washington Elementary in Gallipolis, OH in August, but this year she switched to teaching Kindergarten and first grade, which she likes better than she did teaching fourth and fifth grade.
September was a blur of house showings and juggling our jobs with caring for Anders. Seeing as the economy is still awesome (sense the tone), we had some nibbles on our house but no bites. If nothing else, the intermittent showings taught us how to strategically vacuum around a nap schedule.
In October, I traveled to Worcester Massachusetts for my friend Ben Rudolf’s wedding. I had the added benefit of staying with my former officemate MN Steve, who happened to live in the same city by happy coincidence.
By the middle of October we rode a wave of houseguests that lasted well into November. First Ingrid and her friend Paul visited, then Greg and Dorene came on Anders’ adjusted 1st birthday of Oct. 23, MN Steve and his girlfriend Elyse followed for Athens’ huge Halloween party, then our friend Bill Knoblauch, then Renee. We returned the favor by spending Thanksgiving with Renee and her family in Fairfax, VA. Anders was particularly taken with their Akita, the noble Lobo.
We are excited to head home to Minnesota and Iowa. It will be Anders’s first Christmas with his extended family, as the wider world was something of a biohazard to him last year. Anders has grown so much bigger and stronger over the course of the year, and it must have been hard for him to be cooped up for the first three months after his release from the hospital. This is especially true now that we have seen his personality come into focus.
Anders is remarkably outgoing. He is patient, happy, verbal, and mischievous. Our poor cat, Trudy Goodshoes, faces at least an “orange” threat level from Anders on a daily basis because Anders loves playing with her so much. Moreover, a deep passion stirs within him to turn on and off light switches, look at pictures of himself, and incessantly repeat the name of the parent not currently tending to him.
We are tremendously thankful for all of God’s blessings this Christmas season. 2010 was a much better year than 2009. We wish everyone peace, contentment, and prosperity in 2011.
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