Zac is getting closer to his degree at Lewis University being finished. He is almost done with a Computer Science major with minors in Cyber Security and Philosophy. He spent another summer working at Fermi Labs in an internship that was extended into the Fall. He was in another play in February called Exit Strategy. More significantly, Zac has a new girlfriend named Emily. She is in the same grade of school, though she is a few years younger than Zac, thanks to transfer credit. She is studying to work in Airport Administration. Zac chose to spend Christmas with her family in Indianapolis this year.
Jeri and Nat are doing well in Massachusetts. Jeri found a new job which paid better, had better benefits, had a shorter commute and seemed a better fit for her training. Not only did it have better insurance, but it also had spousal benefits, which became the reason Nat and Jeri got married this past October. The five of us were able to gather for a small ceremony in Massachusetts, officiated by Jeri’s longtime friend, Emma Figura, attended by immediate family members. They continue to live happily in Worcester with their cat Skateboard and started taking a class on making stained glass windows.
Mariah has been promoted to Assistant Dean in charge of the new General Education plan at Wartburg. After helping to develop and pass the new plan, she now has the task of overseeing its implementation. Her focus in the first year was the first year seminar course, and next she will be working on the second year courses. There was some concern about being the Chair of Faculty Council while being an assistant Dean, but since no one else wanted the role she finished out her term. She still has one more year to serve, but will no longer be the Chair. Additionally Mariah spent a week in the July in Pennsylvania where she attended the Reconnect conference researching Artificial Intelligence models. She also presented at MathFest in Indianapolis in August.
Brian was able to take another class of students to Germany on his travel course. This time Kat accompanied him on his travels with eleven students. At the request of his students, many of whom are on the Wartburg College Clay Target Team, the class visited the Krieghoff Shotgun factory in Ulm. Other new stops included the Wilhelm Wundt Room in Leipzig and Beck’s Brewery in Bremen. Kat enjoyed hanging out with her dad and making friends with the college students. Brian met his brothers in Massachusetts for their now annual Birthday Bonanza; this time Brian opted to have the brothers spend some time hiking the Appalachian trail and hear some local music at the Arlo Guthrie Performance Center. Brian was able to visit the Geocaching Headquarters while Kat was visiting colleges in Seattle, Washington. Brian and Kat attended the Iowa Irish Fest in August again, only this time Brian relented and bought a kilt.
Mariah and Brian finally came down with COVID. Mariah caught it when she attended MathFest in Indianapolis, and Brian caught it upon her return. Miraculously, Kat managed to avoid catching it from the two sick people in the house. While still recovering from that the Birgens gathered at the Grand Canyon to remember Grandpa Birgen and to illegally scatter some of his ashes in the canyon where we made many good trips. Brian and Kat hiked to the bottom of the canyon with Judy, Bob, Meg, Molly and Bill. The ranger spotted the ashes, but Brian just claimed it was “protein powder” and the after a speech the ranger left us alone. Jeri and Nat came out to meet the Birgen clan, but didn’t go into the canyon with the crew. Hiking the Grand Canyon while recovering from Covid probably wasn’t Brian’s best decision, but he managed without getting anyone else sick in the process.
For Thanksgiving Zac, Kat and their parents went out to Virginia to celebrate Thanksgiving with the Radcliffes. At Christmastime we took a family trip to Chicago to see a production of Les Misérables. Kat discovered the musical in November when Brian found his 3 CD set of the full symphonic recording, and Kat listened to nothing else for the next three weeks. When Kat decided to read the Victor Hugo novel, we decided it was worth encouraging, so we bought tickets to the musical and made plans to visit. Kat was very pleased to see the show and spent some time learning about all the actors in the performance we saw and following them on TikTok.
Next Christmas our lives will look very different. Kat will have left for college and Brian and Mariah will be deciding on how our future lives will look. We have concerns about the future of our country and our state, but we have faith in the goodness of people to protect each other’s rights and freedoms. May you be safe and happy and healthy next year and for all time.