Jessica's & Keith's Family Letter: Dec08/Jan09

Dear friends,

It has been two years since last we wrote. Keith jokes he frequently confuses “semi-annual” with “bi-annual”, but that’s no excuse for skipping last year. Rather, the unexpected death right after Christmas 2007 of a close friend and colleague, David Boynton, affected us greatly--so much that we didn’t have the heart to finish off our 2007 draft. David was the volunteer treasurer of Keith’s project, Bikes for the World, as well as a bedrock member of the Langley Hill Friends Meeting. He had been coming into our home almost weekly over three years, setting up and then maintaining the BfW accounts and mailing list, and wrapping the rest of our family in friendship. His absence has been huge.

Meanwhile, the two of us have been “burning the candle at both ends” in our work. That hasn’t helped letter-writing either. Yet all is not lost, as this letter attests—we enjoy the substance of our work, feel supported by family and friends, and—finally—are ourselves taking more responsibility for good health.

In the face of an inauspicious beginning to 2008, Bikes for the World has prospered, and recently shipped its 10,000^th bike of the year. Keith is blessed with a large number of talented and active volunteers who make the BfW work productive and rewarding. It is now the largest program of this type in the country.

Notwithstanding long hours working, Keith helped organize and now serves on the board of Phoenix Bikes, an after-school program for Arlington teens. He also coordinated our neighborhood’s Democratic Party precinct work, contributing in a small way to “turning Virginia blue” at the presidential level for the first time since 1964. To relax, he squeezes in monthly sessions with a men’s bridge foursome. Significantly, at mid-year, Keith’s endocrinologist adjusted his insulin regimen to better stabilize his blood sugar levels. The reduction in his “background” insulin makes him less hungry and tempted to eat too much and therefore less likely have high blood sugars causing long-term cardiovascular damage. His blood sugar is also now less likely to plunge into a debilitating and potentially fatal insulin shock after hard labor on bikes. Family members, needless to say, are greatly relieved.

Meanwhile, Jessica now oversees seven investment projects in four countries. She is leading task teams of wonderful specialists from many disciplines and nationalities. She shares with them—and with the implementing partners in each country—a passion for addressing the challenging issues of forest and protected area management, sustainable upland agriculture, land tenure (farmland restructuring) and land and real estate registration, in Tajikistan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, and Bosnia. The World Bank board approved financing for two new projects from her teams in 2008 (the Kyrgyz 2^nd registration project and the Bosnia protected area project), and additional financing for the Bosnia forestry project in 2007.

With such a large portfolio, Jessica has had little time and energy for other activities. She has not been a sufficiently active Quaker. Politically, she has been reduced to donating money and voting. In spite of her job pressures (and to help cope with them), she has been exercising more and eating less. She has relieved stress, lost significant weight, and feels much healthier. She will never be skinny but her body is now much closer to her internal self-image. She is no longer horrified by her reflection in mirrors and photos, nor paranoid about risks of blood clots and type 2 diabetes. Now she just has to keep it up, while cutting back on work so she has time for leisure and volunteer activities….

Keith, Kate, and Alex joined Jessica on her June trip to Bosnia and Herzegovina. They hiked and toured Sarajevo while Jessica was in meetings, accompanied Jessica and her team on field visits to national parks and forest reserves. At the end, the whole family enjoyed a long weekend visiting the historic rebuilt bridge in Mostar (see photo) and the medieval walled city of Dubrovnik, on the Adriatic Coast in neighboring Croatia.

We have been blessed to have Kate at home much of the last two years--although we hardly see her at times even when she is in town, due to her irregular job hours, book club, writing group, attendance and participation in three weddings, assistance to Iraqi refugee families, etc. She spent 2007 in diverse occupations, interviewing participants in a microenterprise program in Costa Rica, working at the Folger Theatre as a production assistant on a production of The Tempest, and working as a bookseller at the local Barnes & Noble. Over much of 2008, she also worked in the corporate underwriting department at the public TV and radio station, but ultimately decided that she didn’t want to pursue that career path. For the time being, she has opted to work full time at the bookstore. She enjoys the personal interaction with customers and using her extensive literary knowledge, but regrets that the job does not provide a living wage. Over the last month, she has been applying to M.S. programs in Library Science. Earlier, in October, she visited Alex in Chile (see below) and was pleased to find her Spanish still quite fluent. In November she served as a local election officer.

Alex spent the fall semester Valdivia, Chile. He subsequently had Christmas with cousins in Argentina, and is now embarking on a month’s travel through Patagonia. You can get a sense of his experience on his blog. We miss him, but have found Skype to be a great tool for staying in touch! Middlebury continues to be an excellent fit for Alex. He majors in Environmental Studies and Geography, enjoys the mountain club, and takes advantage of a wide range of academic and extracurricular opportunities—and he looks forward to returning in February.

Regarding the wider family circle, both Jessica’s and Keith’s mothers are now in their upper eighties. Each lives in an independent apartment within a continuing care community, in PA and NY respectively. Kay, Jessica’s mom, has experienced frustrating health problems, especially regarding her balance. Jean, meanwhile, doesn’t seem to be slowing down, in her fourth year as activities committee chair for her community. We’ve also witnessed the various ups and downs in the jobs and schooling experiences of our siblings, in-laws, nephews, and niece. On Jessica’s side, the recent financial troubles make all family members miss discussions with her Dad, a retired pension fund investment manager. Even in the 1990s, he had found the weakening of bank regulations troubling.

In the wider world, we are acutely aware of issues of violent conflicts and economic fragility. We have gained some comfort and hope from the presidential and congressional elections. But the problems are huge, and addressing them will take wisdom, dedication, and grace.

We wish all of you receiving this letter, AND the country and the world, a better 2009.

Keith, Jessica, Kate, and (from the southern hemisphere) Alex