We welcome the new decade with gratitude, prayers, relief, and hope. Both nationally and personally, we're happy to put the last decade of war and loneliness behind us. We have faith in the American qualities of ingenuity and charity to strengthen our communities for the good of all.
Nick and Teresa celebrated the holidays last year by visiting friends in Europe. We celebrated New Year’s Eve in the town square of Leuven, near Brussels, Belgium. At midnight, the DJ played a mix of techno-beats to Obama's acceptance speech! The crowd went wild, and we were brought to tears with feelings of pride and hope.
This is Nick's second year of law school in the weekend program at Hamline University. He enjoyed studying family law, and looks forward to learning more about immigration and environmental law. Nick works at Thompson Reuters, a legal research company.
Teresa was promoted at the University of Minnesota and does more HR work for the Department of Medicine. Teresa has been taking graduate courses at the Center for Spirituality and Healing and has focused her studies on Ayurveda and Tibetan Medicine. This coming semester she will take a course from the Humphrey Institute for Public Affairs called "Leadership for the Common Good".
In July, we also became property managers of two apartment buildings. This new job takes a lot of mutual effort, but it helps us save money toward buying our own home. This recent move brought us a little closer to our Unitarian Universalist church, and we love the neighborhood. Come visit us in historic Saint Paul!
The biggest event of the year was of course our wedding! We were wed in Omaha at 6 o'clock on the 7th day of the eighth month of 2009, at a riverside ceremony on the banks of the Missouri. Our spiritual wedding ceremony was followed by a ballroom reception with peacock feathers and a chocolate fountain! Teresa wore her new gown for the ceremony, and her grandmother Isabel's wedding gown for the reception. Friends and family contributed much time and energy toward our wedding weekend, which was truly a community effort. Thank you!
Our honeymoon began at the Omaha Henry Doorly Zoo with our goddaughters. Teresa and Nick then drove far north, to the edge of Lake Superior. For a week we followed an old northern European honeymoon custom by drinking a daily cup of mead, a brew made from honey. That's a lot of mead, but we're happy to support our nation's beekeepers. Our time on the edge of the Great Lakes further deepened our love for Minnesota. We happily canoed, kayaked, and hiked around waterfalls for five days.
On the honeymoon, Teresa finally made a decision about what to do with her last name. Names are meaningful and the choice was complex, involving politics, loyalty, convenience, cultural affiliation, feminism, and familial feelings of togetherness. T tried to convince N to change their name to "Kicker", but, well, everyone thinks that's silly. Teresa's last name at birth was C..., which changed later by an adoption into the K... family. The S...'s are a loving clan of generous, spirited, intelligent people and Teresa is happy to now legally call herself a S...
This year notable events in our families marked the passage of time. Nick's Uncle Joe S passed away after a short illness with cancer. Teresa's brother Chris, along with his wife Melisa, welcomed the birth of Macy Jade K to the family on November 2. Life is a circle.
Finally, the decade went out with a bang. We braved the elements and made it to Omaha just before the great blizzard of 2009. After a few days of weathering the storm, we went ice skating outdoors on a sunny New Year’s Day. Life is beautiful.
We look toward building a better world with you in the coming decade. We wish you stability and love for 2010.
Teresa and Nick
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