It was a busy year, and it seems we are slowly reclaiming things we missed. Ballgames, concerts and work conferences are back, and we get to be with coworkers in person again. Best of all, 2022 marked a time when we were able to reconnect with family from all over the country to celebrate milestones and just be together. We’ll never again take those opportunities for granted.
We are so proud of Caroline, Andrew and Aubrey, and are thrilled to watch them moving forward in careers helping people.
Caroline is in her second year at Michigan State University as a residence hall director. She helps several thousand freshmen students get acclimated to college life and a home away from home. She also teaches a class and attended several conferences – and received an honor for a top presentation at one of them.
She has a new friend in her Akers Hall apartment, with the university’s permission. Phoebe Cilantro is a calico cat who quickly became a residence hall celebrity. Students watch for her to appear in the window and visit when she joins them outside when the fire alarm sounds.
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| Phoebe is a campus celebrity. |
Caroline teamed up with the MSU veterinary program for a “Cows on the Quad” activity where calves visited the residence hall to meet students and be fed. She ran in a Silver Bells in the City 5K through the streets of Lansing with her friend Matt, and explored Chicago and went camping with friends from Central Michigan University.
"Cows on the Quad" was a big hit!
Andrew and Aubrey also did some exploring! He turned 30 this year, and his in-laws provided an amazing birthday gift. They all went on a cruise of the southern Caribbean with stops in ports including Aruba and Haiti.
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| Andrew celebrated his milestone birthday on a cruise - and on a motorcycle in Aruba. |
Andrew is in his second year with the Area Agency on Aging of Northwest Michigan, located in Traverse City. He is a social worker, and makes sure older residents get the care they need while still living independently. He’s worked with the elderly in prior roles, and enjoys helping them.
His wife, Aubrey, is a speech pathologist with Northwest Education Services, the region’s intermediate school district, helping students in a number of schools.
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| Thanksgiving started with Zack, Uncle Jeff and Dave running in the Grand Rapids Turkey Trot. Then we all gathered for dinner. |
Julie had a big year at work at Grand Rapids Community College, where she is a writer and editor for the GRCC Foundation.
The foundation’s annual report is one of her big projects, as she writes stories about students who have their lives changed by scholarships and the people who support them. The report has earned regional and district honors from the National Council for Marketing and Public Relations for three years in a row. The project earned the organization’s top award – the Best in Show – at the national conference in March.
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| One of Julie's projects earned regional and national NCMPR awards - including Best in Show! |
Julie is an active knitter and loves spending Wednesday evenings with her knitting friends. She is grateful Mom Nelson lives nearby and they get to spend time together.
Mom tagged along on an adventure to a local drive-through park, where you get to feed llamas, emus, bison and other exotic animals. A cow wandered over for a snack and stuck its entire head into the car and shared a fair amount of drool while dining on the food. We decided Dad Nelson, a bovine veterinarian, would have greatly enjoyed this and was smiling from above.
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| We are thrilled Mom Nelson lives nearby. | |
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| Some animals, like the noble llama, calmly enjoyed their treats. Bison were a little more demanding - and a cow was pretty much in the passenger seat. |
Dave loves his job as the college’s communications director. He was able to do some traveling this year, heading to Denver for a work conference, exploring Milwaukee with Caroline, and catching up with Uncle Jeff, Aunt Kris and Zack in Chicago for a White Sox game.
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| We were challenged to come up with a spirit photo for homecoming. The Communications team often takes our famed Large Letters all over campus.Then Ben suggested he take off his shoes like Paul McCartney. Next thing you know, we're the Beatles crossing Abbey Road. We won the spirit contest. |
The big trip was a return home to Long Island to celebrate cousin Tim’s wedding. It was a beautiful ceremony and reception, and he was thrilled to catch up with so many family members. Plus, he was able to break up the driving with some baseball, seeing a game in Pittsburgh before reuniting with his beloved Mets at Citi Field and seeing the new Tom Seaver statue!
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| It was a thrill to get back to Citi Field and see the Mets. |
He was excited to make two trips to Florida this year, spending time with Mom and Dad, brothers and sisters, nieces and in-laws! We were excited to be there for niece Diana’s high school graduation.
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| We were excited to attend our colleague Jenna's wedding. |
We did have some very sad news this year. We lost our friend Tug, a member of the family for 19 years, which we know is an amazing run for a cat. He wasn’t the kind of cat that would run away and hide. He wanted to be in the center of the action. Julie was the center of Tug’s universe. Wherever she was, Tug was nearby, a wonderful companion.
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| We miss Tug, our companion of 19 years. |
Tug liked cardboard boxes, electric blankets – he had several around the house – napping in the sunshine beaming through windows or on the ottoman when it was placed in front of the fireplace. He was with us from our 30s through our 50s, and took the kids from elementary school through careers. He was there for job changes, graduations, a wedding, joyous celebrations and some painful losses.
He packed a lot into his 19 years. We miss him very much.
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| Florida fun! We were able to celebrate Diana's high school commencement, then visit again in October to celebrate Dad's 80th birthday! |
We hope that this holiday season finds you happy and healthy. We certainly appreciated the things we get to do and who we get to do them with. We are able to focus on what and who is important, and take stock of all our blessings. Here's to a peaceful 2023.
We would love to hear from you! Everyone is on Facebook, and you can drop us a line at dmurray08@comcast.net.
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