My biography – the 40’s

The 10’s.
The 20’s.
The 30’s.

I turned 40 on April 30, 2003; I had been living in and working remotely from Tahoe City for almost 6 years by this time, and was the parent of a beautiful 2 month old baby girl named Annika.

This, the final chapter of my autobiography, will be purposely short. The original intent of this project was to document my life before you girls were born; with Annika’s birth my life transitioned (as it does for most parents) from being about me, to being about her. And that life is pretty well documented in pictures.

April 2003 – July 2003. I take my second Leave of Absence from Cisco (my third is after the twins are born), and we travel around 3 months in our “new” Westfalia camper. With Rups and Inge we head east to Colorado to visit the Ruddy’s. Rups and Inge fly home, and we continue south through the National Parks of Colorado, eventually hanging a hard right to spend weeks at the CA coast. It’s an exceptional trip; Annika is too young for any real bonding, but it’s fun to spend time with her without any work distractions.

I had created a web page, lifeofannika.com, which was going to be our family photo album; I thought Rups and Inge would appreciate this, as they could stay in touch with Annika via pictures. I named it lifeofannika since, for different reasons, I was not intending to have any more children.

Fast forward to December of 2006; we are spending Christmas in Salzburg with Rups and Inge as well as with our friends Dale and Jill Marcellini, who have a son Dylan that is Annika’s age. In Salzburg I have an epiphany, while watching Annika (who is not yet 4) as a hostess take such good care of her friend Dylan, through an extreme amount of compassion and sensitivity. I realize Annika not only should have a sibling; she will thrive with and as a sibling. Case closed.

We go to the first ultrasound after Andrea is pregnant; after the nurse excitedly indicates that there are two fetus’s in there, she see’s my expression and suggests she will give us some time alone. The moment the nurse steps out I look at Andrea and say “This does not make me happy”. This is simply a byproduct of my personality: I was ready for a second child, and mother nature threw a curve ball.

But my reaction was short lived, and on Dec 9th 2007 Annika (and Mama and Papa) is so damned excited to have her two sisters Niki and Britta finally here. From the very first day Annika validates what I saw back in Salzburg during Christmas of ’06; namely that she thrives as a sibling, she has a heart of gold, and she has deep wells of compassion and empathy.

Back up. Prior to their birth I freak out, professionally. My work is often intense and inflexible (in terms of time), and so I wonder how I can manage being an active parent with the twins while also working. I actually contemplate quitting, but am luckily talked out of it by my old boss and good friend Ed Swenson. Through him I arrange a job transfer, from Technical Support to Learning@Cisco, which is responsible for the Cisco certifications. I join that group as a content developer and proceed to work part time (which I had negotiated) for almost a year despite the fact that I am still receiving my full pay, since HR admits that they don’t know how to accommodate a part time employee. Thanks to Cisco I am able to support my growing family, both financially and personally.