A YEAR AND A BIT

It has been an eventful year with both joys and challenges as our lives change and grow. First, Meg and Jake were married on a beautiful May evening, at a lovely vineyard in Sonoma California.

Meg’s last semester of school was packed. She completed her research project for Brush Creek Community Partners, interned for Mid America Regional Council and served as co-director of the IRS Tax Clinic that assists low-income individuals prepare and file their federal and state income tax returns. She was also President of the environmental Law Society. Meg graduated from UMKC Law School in May. I got to “hood” Meg. That was really special for me.

Jake travelled back and forth between Kansas City and Northern California from March until July 1, when he relocated to a mid-sized town in Sonoma County, just an hour from San Francisco. Meg stayed behind to take a Bar prep. course and the Bar. In August she was sworn in as a member of the Missouri Bar and the Bar of the Western District of Missouri. Jake, Meg, and their two dogs, Lily and Cousteau, are now happily at home in California. Terry and I, and our dog, Casey, remain in Missouri.

Meg and I developed the blog as a way to stay connected by writing about matters of interest to both of us. We both like “shifting the balance” because we find that our family discussions often focus on balance in national and personal financial priorities, balance in maintaining health life styles, balance in our use of time, balance in terms of learning from and respecting the views of people across the national spectrum. We believe balance is an important part of individual lives, family lives and the lives of communities. Shifting the balance is necessitated by the constant change that is part of our lives–we grow, we change jobs, move across the country. We deal with almost constant changes in technology, individually and collectively we shift our lives to accommodate recessions, seasons, life stages. Change is constant, balance requires constant accommodation to that change.

Welcome to our blog.