January 20, 2009

One of my friends said, "Today marks the day our world gets better." I think that says it all. Jenelle came to my school to watch the swearing in. Here is a picture and footage of the kids responding to the completion of that process.

Thank you, Dr. King.

J and I went to the Manhattan Country School's annual MLK walk for the 2nd time. 8th graders at the school do a wonderful job putting together this walk, which had the theme "Letters to Obama" this year. Less than 24 hours to history!

Recently, I shared a speech at work on our annual MLK assembly. Here is the text.

Once again, I am honored and humbled to have the opportunity to speak at an assembly honoring one of my heroes, The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It is wonderful to have a day set aside to celebrate Dr. King, but it is equally important to spend time throughout the year to honor his efforts and the efforts of all the members of the Civil Rights Movement. These people must never be forgotten. They found it so important “to help make things fair and equal” for all Americans. Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man elected to a political office, once spoke about the Declaration of Independence and how it states, “All men are created equal. He said, “No matter how hard you try, you can never erase those words! That is what America is!” Supervisor Milk, people are putting those erasers away! It seems as though we are at a point in our history where we are not only believing that people are equal, but our actions are proving it as well.

If ever to have the chance to speak about Dr. King, now seems a very appropriate time. We have been talking about Dr. King and his dream a lot recently, in reference mainly to Barack Obama, who will, in just a few days, become this country’s 44th president, and the first African-American to hold that important office. It was at last year’s King assembly that I spoke of the former junior senator from Illinois, and how he had a realistic chance of winning the presidency. None of us, including me, could have predicted how much our country would change in a year.

Thanks to people like Dr. King, and now thanks to Barack Obama, we can dream a dream that seems more real now than ever before. People of color can dream and see themselves as presidents, first ladies, movie superheroes, and business people. We can dream of winning the Super Bowl or the World Series, not just as a player, but as a coach or general manager. We can dream of writing the great American novel or play. You know what? We can dream about accomplishing just about anything now.

But, I also want us to pay tribute to the people who sacrificed so much to lead us to this moment. Not only should we celebrate the triumphs, but we must respect the struggles.

So, let us put aside political parties and understand the history of next Tuesday’s inauguration in a country scarred by the horrors of slavery and say with President-Elect Obama, “Yes, we can!”

I hope people spent some time thinking about Dr. King and his efforts today. It's nice to have a day off, but let's remember why. Let's remember the challenges to even establish this as a national holiday. Not every state thought it important enough, right Sen. McCain? Thankfully, everyone came around. Now, on to Tuesday!

First weekend of the new year!

We had a lovely first weekend in '09. Dorien came to hang out with Jenelle and stopped by the place. On Sunday, my mother and the Park Slope Timmins/Daniel crew came by for some brunch. A wonderful way to begin the year. Now, back to work.

Highlights and Bummers from 2008

Obviously 2008 was a huge year for us. So, we thought it would be fun to share our highlights and bummers from this past year.

Our 2008 Highlights
West Coast Visit (Our 1st Flight together!)
The New York Football Giants
New TV (HD finally!) and PS3 (RockBand!)
Living together!
Taft Reunions on the East and West Coast
New job for Jenelle (Regeneron!)
Obama winning the election!
#1, of course - Tying the Knot!

Bummers
Jenelle's foot injury and re-injury (that boot was just awful)
The moving process (and clutter) (Sorry J.)
My hoops team (Losing in front of my mother-in-law was tough)
The Mets, again (Not even sure why I try with them.)


We feel very lucky to have had such an amazing 2008. However, we are very much looking forward to 2009. Happy New Year to all of you. We love you all and thanks so much for the support, the presents, and most importantly, the love!

New Year's Eve 2008

We kept it simple for New Year's. We had some food and drink at home. After a last minute invite, we stopped by to see Sachi and Pedro at their apartment. It was nice to chat with their friends as well. Then, we came back home to toast the new year. Just wonderful.
And yes, Jenelle did get her hair done. It looks fantastic!

Playstation 3 and Rock Band

Well, you might be wondering what Jenelle and I gave each other for Christmas. I gave Jenelle a necklace in a little blue box (her first gift from there), while she gave me a Playstation 3. This gift is actually something for both of us. Because of Rock Band! We love this game and love the fact we can play it together. Jenelle has been on the guitar. I have since moved to the mic from the drums. Is that surprising given my previous post? Rock on!

There it is!



You gotta love our rock personas.

Ah, the Holiday Season: Back to Littlestown

Jenelle and Chris

Here's Brooke playing a game I still don't understand.

Here's Lola (Carrie and Brooke's dog) with some well-deserved rest. Lola had a trip to the vet the night before after finding the bag of dog food. Naughty dog!

We hopped a train the day after Christmas to head back to Littlestown. As always, it was a wonderful visit. My mother-in-law gave me some awesome pajamas (wearing them right now actually). We gave her a digital camera! I met some of Jenelle's friends that I had not met like Amy and Brandon at an amazing holiday party. Speaking of holiday parties, here's footage of yours truly doing some Mary J. at his school's party.