JKE Christmas Letter 2021

 ”The bittersweet side of appreciating life’s most precious moments is the unbearable awareness that those moments are passing.” – Marc Parent

Feels like only a blink ago in 2016 we were moving to Barcelona, then in 2018 to Copenhagen. This letter marks an eventful fifth year abroad. 2021 made us especially aware of the preciousness encased within life, the rush of rich moments lived and let go through a season of big transitions.

On August 3rd Elizabeth Sapphire Schmit burst into the world at Hvidovre hospital in Copenhagen, Denmark. Her bright being and strong spirit have been an unexpected joy emerging from a difficult conception season which included a miscarriage, a difficult pregnancy and trying birth. Kelsie was swimming in the sea and riding her bike in the Danish summer sun a couple of days before heading to the hospital, so per usual was making the most out of life no matter the circumstance.

At two months old we whisked Elizabeth across the ocean unexpectedly on the advent of Kelsie’s cousin Michelle and Grandmother Dorothy dying in the fall in quick succession. The grief of both losses was bitter but laced with the sweetness of having an excuse to introduce Elizabeth to many we loved and spend extra time during our Danish parental leave in Minnesota with family. The juxtaposition of new life and life passing was not lost on us and tenderized our first months with Elizabeth even more.

Over the winter and fall we marinated in our new roles as parents, marveling at this ‘next trimester’ of living we have entered into. Kelsie and I are the same people yet find our outlook on the world has forever changed as we don our new roles as parents and witness our own parents in their new roles as grandparents and our siblings transition to ‘uncles and aunts’ (which they each embody marvelously).

Now at six months of age we will be bringing Elizabeth back to Denmark and reintroducing her to our world there. We can’t wait to bring her biking out in the ‘Fælled’ by our house, send her to a Danish ‘nature school’and include her in our international community. Kelsie will begin working again for Novo Holdings as a strategic project manager. Last year she focused primarily on ‘Responsible Investing’ but looks forward to a new portfolio of projects when returning. In May, I will return to my job as a shop manager and bike mechanic at Baisikeli, a circular-economy bike rental/workshop that also recycles bikes and sends them to Mozambique.

2022 is looking bright and full of new possibilities.

Sending each of you reading this a life blessing as you embark on your own 2022 journey. Thank you for being a part of our tribe near and far; you enhance our lives for the better. Wishing you the presence of mind to relish your life as it continues to evolve, soaking in the bitter and sweet elements of it. May you feel fulfilled, be empowered and know you will never walk alone.