Reflections on 2019

Copied from my first post of 2019:

"What will 2019 bring?  I feel well and am trying to tolerate the eye problems.  Jim's shoulder hurts enough today for him to take Aleve and ask for help getting into his jacket.  The RA does strike every once in a while but is usually under control.  Will we move this year?  What friends will we be praying for in particular this year?  Will our children and grandchildren be safe and healthy?  I look forward to a longer stay in Florida and more two week stays in Princeton--until the eventual move."

And now the last post of 2019:

It has been a momentous year in our lives.   Much of the first half of the year was spent getting rid of stuff in our house on Deerfield Loop and making plans to move.   The selling of the house went so smoothly.  It was a great blessing to sell it to the Leinens who with their six boys were so happy to have our big house.   I like to think of them there.  

It was Susan's suggestion to investigate  Barclay Square apartments here in Princeton which we did not realize were apartments, not condos.   We are happy with our location and the size of our apartment.  We have the money to pay for it and very much enjoy not worrying about things going wrong as we did with the last years of home ownership.   

We weathered the transition time well with our month in the Airbnb in South Bend and two weeks at Homewood Suites.   

We still have not decided on a church home.  When we first moved here, none of the three we attended seemed right to me.  After six months, I feel we could be happy in all three!   So that is progress.   We definitely have worshipped God in each one--Dutch Neck, Kingston, and Nassau--all mainline Presbyterian churches--two of them smaller churches and one quite large.  Singing in the Nassau choir has commited us for a couple of months and may influence the decision.  

I miss knowing so many people as we did in South Bend--at church and at ND and in our neighborhood.   I love havng the family nearby but I miss having lots of friends around.   I do keep in touch with Facebook and email and phone calls.

We have had many meals with Jeff and Susan's family; we have made several trips to Gladwyne for special occasions and just a few to NYC but we will do more.  We have gone to jazz concerts, children's theater performances, a Christmas pageant, and we have met our latest grandchild during the first 12 hours of his arrival.   All of that has been a great blessing.

The hard part of the year has been the many doctors' appointments we have had.  I thought about counting them but that might just be disheartening .  I have had more tests for tachycardia but all is good there with beta blockers.  I have had a couple of concerns for cancer but that too is no longer a worry.  I am sleeping far better than I have in a long time with the right medications and far fewer nights with Ambien.  And my eyes are doing well although I have not driven at night and don't intend to if I can avoid it.   

The big concern is Jim's diagnosed prostate cancer and the 44 radiation treatments coming up in February and March.  This will be a focus of our lives for a few months and in some ways, for the rest of our lives as he will need regular PSA checks even if there is no evidence of disease after the treatments because it can reoccur.   But we are 73 and our bodies are aging.   I am trying to accept that but finding it difficult at times.   I hope that the treatment is not worse than the slow growing cancer could be.   But we are following the advice of the doctors here (even if it differed from our Dr. Blechl in South Bend) and pray that it will be effective.  Jim's fainting episode has made me tense whenever we are in a crowded, hot place but we are trying to take precautions to avoid it happening again.  Life takes courage.  Aging takes courage!    

We lost one friend in 2019--a friend our age from our church in South Bend, Mic Detlefsen.  We were not there to celebrate his life with his family.  We mourned him from a distance.  

Will we continue to live in this large apartment?  Will we consider a retirement community like Stonebridge?   We look forward to a trip to Florida soon.  Will we make that research journey to the United Kingdom in May or will Jim get others to do his investigations?    Will there be any other additions to the family?  

In thinking about the bigger picture of our place in the world, I despair.  We are not at war but there are problem spots in Syria and North Korea and Iraq and I fear for our volatile leader President Trump and what he might do.   He has been impeached--one of only three presidents in our hisstory to have that label--but he won't be convicted by a Republican Senate.  I fear he could be re-elected and continue on his taking away money for research in science and sending out insulting and name-calling tweets to anyone who disagrees with him.   I no longer belong to what could be considered an "evangelical" church so I don't have the label of evangelicals for Trump of whom there are many including close relatives.  It is hard for me to understand his supporters when he  has lived an immoral lifestyle and is so nasty in his dealings with others.  What will 2020 bring politically?   Will our man Pete Buttigieg fare well?  

We are thankful to be facing 2020 together with family near by and friends as close as a phone call. Being aware of our vulnerability makes me even more thankful to be blessed by a husband of 52 years--the love of my youth and old age!     I hope I can summarize 2020 saying the same thing and that we can have peace of mind and acceptance with whatever it brings.  The lectionary for today is from John 1--the light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome it.  Amen!