2022 from Charlottesville, Virginia
Another year in the books. We started the year in a bit of a transition. Jocelyn and I had sold our hour in Richmond, VA, the previous December and were under contract for a new home in Northwest Albemarle County, just out side of Charlottesville. We closed on our new home in early February, which completely changed our daily lives. The kids went from a 5 minute walk to high school to a 25 minute drive. We now have views of the foothills and a multi-acre plot of pasture grass to mow. But we also have space for the kids, the cats, and the poodle.
As Ben and Ethan are half way through their senior year of high school, we booked family photos in late October for senior picsl here are some of our favorite from our backyard:
Lewis
It was a bit of a crazy year as I started off leaving Fluke in early March to take a role as the Chief Sales Officer at Diamondback (www.toolbelts.com). For 6 months, I helped lead a new commercial policy and strategy for the company and had the chance to travel to New England, California, and Europe. While I was very excited at the chance to work for a small but growing company right here in Charlottesville, I ultimately decided to return to Fluke in August as the new Director of Commercial Strategy and Enablement. Returning to Fluke in an elevated role, I spent much of the Fall on airplanes including a return trip to Europe and a host of other cities including Seattle (x3), Chicago, Dallas, Detroit (x2), Los Angeles, Thief River Falls (MN), and six layovers in Atlanta. If you’re the professional type, find me here – https://www.linkedin.com/in/lewisnelson
2022 Travel Photos:
Europe: Olso | Brussels | Netherlands (July & October; Eindhoven, Amsterdam, and The Hague) | Cologne
US: Florida (Three Trips) | Sharp Top and Floyd (16 Hands) | Chicago
Jocelyn (written by Lewis)
After leaving Richmond and her studio space at Shockoe Bottom Clay, Jocelyn continued her work supporting a high school classmate in a rural fiber business outside of Richmond. Otherwise, most of her time has been spent taking care of our 14-15 year old toy poodle Suki to ensure she’s living it up in her final years. The Sandberg family suffered the loss of both Jocelyn’s father and grandmother since August. We had the chance to travel to Kewanee, IL, to be with the family earlier this December for Mary Sandberg’s funeral (she lived to 98!!).
Ben
Ben is enjoying his senior year as a frequent member of YoungLife, Wyldlife, Cross Country, and Track. He’s still working a few days a week at Mission BBQ, and I think he may be living off of shredded pork sandwiches. See a few cross country albums here: 20221008 – Albemarle Invitational XC Meet (JV Only) | 20221019 – Jefferson District XC Meet (Panorama Farms). He is planning and exploring colleges now with hopes of studying game design and/or computer science. He’s currently accepted to Old Dominion University and George Mason University in Virginia.
Ethan
Ethan is also a senior and exploring colleges while working weekends at Grit Coffee. His big accomplishment this year was achieving his red sash at Laughing Dragon Kung Fu after nearly ten years of dedication to the martial art. This is the terminal sash at the kwoon and we’re all super proud of his hard work. Ethan has been accepted to Virginia Commonwealth University but has fingers crossed for his top school choice, American University. Early decisions come out on 12/15! Ethan’s current career goal is to follow in my old footsteps, seeking a federal analyst job. He even got a tour of the FBI building this summer courtesy of a great friend to the family.
Gwendolyn Rose
Gwen (formerly known as Rose) entered high school this year. She’s still dedicated to the three cats she shares the basement with, an ever-upgrading fashion sense, and spending free time with friends in town. I think she’s looking forward to being the only child at home next year, but for now she is still our resident critic of Ben’s behavior and driving. She’s currently on the indoor track & field team, but the jury is still out if she’ll keep running in the Spring.
The Crib
After nearly eight different addresses in 8 years, being all together justified finally buying a house to fit all of us! In February, we purchased a larger home in Northwest Albemarle County, about 15 miles from the high school near the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. While the inside is still a work in progress, we’ve enjoyed a large garden, the pond views, watching the geese, and mowing the multiple acres of pasture. It was an exciting 10 months with low cell phone signal and no high speed internet, but Starlink finally came to the rescue last month restoring our Netflix and Hulu binging. While we’re still not sure what the future holds, we’re possibly buying an adjacent 2.5 acres with access to the 2 acre pond in the backyard so stay tuned for updates in 2023! Otherwise, we’re nestled nicely between three popular vineyards (Moss Vineyards, Hark Vineyards, and Glass House Winery) and just a 30 minute drive to downtown Charlottesville.
