Moberg Family Blog

2016-2018 Family News

Great Falls National Park, VA

Greetings out of the blue! (Spoiler alert! A double-entendre, as later text will show.) This is our first common letter to family and friends in three years. We blame the delay on our dismay immediately following the November 2016 election, and our focused activity subsequently. So please indulge us as we sum up the last triennial, perhaps at too much length (we’ve added subheadings and bolded text to facilitate skimming).

We are now both officially retired. As you may recall, Jessica took an “early-out” in March 2012 from the World Bank, and since then has resisted the temptation to return there, or anywhere else, as a “consultant”. Keith finally joined her, at least on paper, stepping down earlier this year as executive director of Bikes for the World...but staying involved, as founders too often do—as volunteer board member, fundraiser, and “bike-picker-upper”. Sometimes Jessica isn’t sure whether or not he really is retired.

We’ve unsurprisingly concentrated in areas of typical retiree activity—areas that bleed into each other but can be grouped in at least four –spending time with family, volunteerism, recreation & travel, and health care (‘aka “getting old”). The first three help fight off the inevitable fourth.

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Family

Daughter Kate lives nearby and continues as a reference librarian here in Arlington. For her professional work, including her national level service as Secretary for the Reference Section of the American Library Association, she received a leadership award (one of “Forty under 40”) by a local business group. She has also been active in the Young Adult Friends at the Florida Avenue Friends Meeting in Washington, enjoyed friends in a book group, and has traveled extensively in recent years – including to Bolivia and Peru.

Meanwhile, after years in Boston, son Alex and daughter-in-law Carla moved to New Brunswick NJ in July 2017 for Carla to accept a teaching position in American Studies at Rutgers University. We are happy and proud for them. Fortunately, Alex has been able to continue his work as a Geographic Information Systems analyst for the Boston-based Volpe Center, a research unit of the U.S. Department of Transportation, by teleworking.

In coordination with sisters Margy and Bethany, Jessica daily calls her mother Kay, now almost 98 and in nursing care in Kennett Square PA, and visits an average of two days monthly. This sibling collaboration enhances a relationship Jessica treasures.

Significant family milestones have taken place. 2018 saw the passing of Aunt Marge, Keith’s late mother’s younger, and only sibling--and the last connection in his family to that generation. On the positive side, we attended the 2016 wedding of Aunt Marge’s grandson, Michael, and Juanita.

In recent years, we’ve enjoyed getting to know other members of the younger generation of relatives–in 2015, cousin Brooke (another grandchild of Aunt Marge), and in 2017, Keith’s nephew John (son of Keith’s sister Jory) and his husky, Sasha, making use of our DC area location and basement bedroom to provide long-term accommodation.

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Political Activism and other Volunteering

We have always followed political events and regularly voted. For many years, Keith had been active as a neighborhood precinct co-captain and occasional canvasser with the Arlington County Democratic Committee. And Jessica had been active with the Friends Committee on National Legislation in the 1970s and early 1980s, and with nonprofit environmental organizations as part of her natural resource management work over three decades with the World Bank.

But events starting in November 2016 have prompted increased political engagement. Jessica in particular has taken the lead – joining the executive committee of We of Action (WofA), a new local grassroots group with a focus on political research, canvassing, and more recently, fundraising. For a summary of 2017 see her article in Medium.com. Together we have canvassed for Democratic candidates throughout much of Virginia, first for the November 2017 elections for statewide executive offices and the House of Delegates—which saw the election of the entire state office slate and an unprecedented gain of 15 Delegate seats--and most recently for several Congressional candidates—three of whom won and “flipped” the seat from red to blue. We’ve had a fascinating time these past 18 months getting to know fellow volunteers, voters, and communities around the state, from Virginia Beach to Richmond to rural Piedmont counties to the west of Arlington. Jessica, sometimes joined by Keith, even canvassed for state and congressional candidates in Chester County PA, taking advantage of visits to her mother.

To win the upcoming November 2019 elections, which involve the entire Virginia General Assembly, Jessica has led a team of activists to create an online fundraiser (VA Blue Wave 2019). The 2019 “off-year” elections in Virginia represent a challenge, since they do not involve state-wide contests and traditionally have low Democratic turnout. This effort seeks monthly as well as one-time donations from grassroots supporters. It focuses on retention of 11 House of Delegate seats which were narrowly won by Democrats in 2017 and the addition of 9 Delegate and 6 State Senate seats currently held by Republican incumbents, but which are considered “flippable”, having been won by Democratic statewide candidates—Governor Northam in 2017 and Senator Kaine in 2018. If you are politically like-minded and a US citizen or green card holder, you may have already received a personalized version of her generic “email ask”. For the latest substantive update see this link. Or for fun nautical images of the categories of recipients and donation levels, and photos from the initiative’s “boating parties” in August and December 2018, visit the website.

Not all our political work has been partisan – we’ve supported voter registration, fair redistricting (anti-“gerrymandering"), and Virginia ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment. And some of our volunteerism is not political. In addition to Keith’s work with Bikes for the World, we both are involved with Langley Hill Friends Meeting. Jessica is Treasurer and head of the Finance Committee, and also on Nominating Committees. Keith serves as head of the House & Grounds Committee (and effectively the emergency handyman).

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Recreation and Travel

Biking on rail trails around the Mid-Atlantic region enjoying rural scenery and informal accommodations has become a favorite, thanks in particular to the initiative of our energetic Arlington friends Ellen and Peter. In 2016 we joined a group for an overnight trip on the Northern Central and York County Heritage Trail, from north of Baltimore to York PA and back. The following year, as part of a smaller group, we completed the central (and most scenic) section of the “Great Allegheny Passage” between Pittsburgh and Cumberland MD, traversing four tunnels and multiple bridges and aqueducts across the Eastern Continental Divide. And this past year, we spent two days cycling most of the Pine Creek Rail-Trail through what is known as “the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania”, in the north-central part of the state. We started each day from a central point on the trail—a small bed & breakfast—heading upstream one day to the northern terminus, and the following day following the trail downstream south as far as we could before returning ahead of a heavy afternoon thunderstorm.

Apart from biking, the 2016 travel schedule was particularly full: cross-country skiing in New England following the record series of winter snowfalls, summer-time hiking in the Rockies outside of Vail CO hosted by former Bank colleagues and Arlington neighbors, more summer hiking in the White Mountains of NH with family, and a relaxing weekend reunion in a rustic lakefront setting in Conneticut with alumni of Jessica’s college semester program in Peru.

In the spring of 2017, we enjoyed a final Boston visit with Alex and Carla in (and got an exclusive and intimate private tour of the colonial city core from a professional historian!) before they departed for New Jersey. In August we toured part of eastern Canada, stopping in on a former colleague of Jessica’s in New Brunswick and then enjoying the highland hikes and maritime views and food of Quebec’s Gaspe Peninsula—the geographic “knob” at the end of the Appalachian Mountains jutting out into the Atlantic Ocean on the southern banks of the St Lawrence River. Finally we had the pleasure of helping to organize, witness, and celebrate the marriage of a close friend of Alex’s (and son of friends of ours in the Meeting in glorious November weather and the festival environs of historic New Orleans.

In 2018 in addition to our rail-trail and canvassing excursions, we had several other short trips. We explored the Delaware oceanfront in April. In late May we traveled south, first for a day hike and a Quaker meeting weekend retreat near the Shenandoah National Park, next a visit with Jessica’s sister Bethany and family in Floyd County, VA and then back to Richmond to witness state legislative action on Medicaid expansion. In August, we spent another long weekend hiking and biking with the kids and their partners in the Delaware Water Gap at the nexus of PA, NY and NJ.

We’ve also continued to enjoy the many performing arts opportunities that DC provides. This year we’ve focused on concerts of “old-timers”– we’ve seen Joan Baez, Judy Collins/Steven Stills, EmmyLou Harris/Jackson Brown, and the Byrds’ Sweetheart of the Rodeo.

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Health

And we age, not always gracefully. Keith turned 67 this year, Jessica registers for Medicare a few days into 2019. Hiking and biking help. In warmer non-rainy weather we are regulars on a Tuesdayg group bike ride south of Alexandria. Late this year Jessica finally convinced Keith to join her for at least two of her thrice-weekly exercise classes. But things happen. In April 2017 Jessica suffered a partially detached retina in her left eye, fortunately recognizing the symptoms, getting emergency surgery within 48 hours and avoiding more serious damage (but as a consequence only a few months later had to undergo cataract surgery). Keith continues his 40-year struggle with diabetes. He is now dealing with the possibly unrelated carpal tunnel syndrome in his left (dominant) hand and arm, and is scheduled for surgery after the first of the New Year.

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Home improvements

In 2016 we installed solar panels that provide close to 90% of our electricity. In 2018, after 30 years in the house, we totally re-did our two upstairs bathrooms, confirming our intent to remain another decade or more (key indicator: we installed grab bars in the master bath shower and hall bathtub). No more 1970s vanities and fixtures, peeling wallpaper, unvented bathrooms, or cramped master bath shower! As soon we moved to our basement guest suite for the renovation period, we realized how uncomfortable the aged futon mattress was--and must have been for the previous occupants. So we immediately purchased a new mattress. Hence we now can offer eco-friendly and comfortable lodgings. Please come visit us!

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Photo montage