A One Year Anniversary

One year ago, July 1, 2019, we arrived in Princeton, New Jersey, our new home.   We drove into a nearby Homewood Suites where we stayed for two weeks until we could move into our apartment down the road in Barclay Square.  What a year it has been!   We are going to celebrate tonight by picking up meals at Olive Garden and bringing them to Jeff and Susan's home where we hope the rain holds off and we can eat on the deck.

It is hard to summarize the year.  But I want to write about it because this blog is my record of life as it is--in 2020. And at the end of the year I will make another Blog2Print book.

I will start with recognizing the joys of apartment living.  Today the smoke alarm started beeping loudly and a disembodied voice loudly proclaimed, "Fire, fire."   There was no fire and there was no danger.   And instead of the annoyance of trying to figure out what was wrong with the smoke alarm and its potentially dead battery, Jim emailed maintenance.  Within 30 minutes, Adriano was at the door with his ladder and checked things out.  The battery was not dead.  He said it might just have been dust in the alarm.  In any case, all was well and it was not our responsibility.   The staff at Barclay Square is wonderful--capable and pleasant.

We really like our apartment and its location.   Our place is spacious and comfortable and quiet.   We can walk on the path next to the road and see open land across the way.   A little farther takes us to the towpath and the canal for a pleasant stroll.   We walk to get the mail daily.

We have been able to spend more time with our children and grandchildren although this time of social distancing has made that more difficult. 

However, it has been a hard year.  It was only a few months into our life here that we learned of Jim's diagnosis of prostate cancer.   Between procedures to prepare for treatment and then 44 daily radiation treatments and now a wait for follow up to see if the cancer is eliminated, cancer has been a major factor in our lives.   It will be hard to think of this first year without that dominating my thoughts.

Plus now we all have the social distancing mandated by Covid 19.   We can't encourage new friendships by having folks over or joining them for lunch or dinner or coffee.   So we have not gotten to know our neighbors or acquaintances from church in the way we might have under other circumstances.  One day as I walked outside, I chatted with a mother and admired her baby from the prescribed 6 feet of distance and I was amazed at how that little interchange lifted my spirits.   But it is a rare thing to  speak to anyone but Jim in a day. 

I need to accept what is and try to live in the present moment instead of wondering about the next week and its doctors' appointments or the next month and Jim's blood test or the next year and whether we will be able to go to libraries, museums, and even church again.  It does help me to process my thoughts by writing.  And today my pen pal Marilyn whom I've never met wrote to say she liked my blog and had a question about the church school class I mentioned.  That lifted my spirits!   Phone chats with Madge and Sue and Nancy yesterday were good for me too.  So now, it's off to do curbside pickup at Olive Garden and eating on Jeff's patio six feet apart.