Thanksgiving 2021

 

Thanksgiving 2020 was a solitary affair thanks to Covid restrictions. 

This year most of us are vaccinated and it was a two family feast with 21 of us plus Max, the Conway puppy, all hosted by the newlyweds Dan and Alex at their lovely home near Walkill, New York.  Dan and Alex gave the feast a theme of indigenous foods--which included the 20 pound turkey, cranberry relish, beans, rice, and pumpkin pie.  

Susan made her traditional rolls.  Last year she dropped some off at our apartment and talked Laura through baking them on her own.  This year it was great to enjoy them together.  Alex's dad made a cranberry sourdough bread giving credit to Dan who taught him how to make sourdough bread.  Katie made a chocolate pie which apparently is a traditional recipe from her boyfriend's family. I made a sweet potato-cranberry-walnut dish plus fudge which as often happens turned out to be spoon fudge.  Still tasted good however!

Before dinner there was football and frisbee throwing in the large yard behind the house at the foot of the Catskills.  Some of us stayed inside and enjoyed our cider-bourbon cocktail, the same recipe from the wedding celebration.  A rainbow came out to bless our gathering.

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I asked Ruth to read a Thanksgiving psalm, Psalm 100, and Alex's dad read the same psalm in Spanish.  Jim gave a grace but only in English he said!  I was gratified to hear that the older cousins all remembered when it was their turn to be the family psalm reader.  At this point, there are still two younger ones to await their turns.  May we be blessed to hear that offering in future years.

The Conways and Princeton VKs headed home after dinner.   Jim and I spent the night at the Harvest Inn in Pinebush, a seven mile country ride from Dan and Alex's home but not as far on dark roads as home would have been.  

We arrived home before noon today after easy travel.  We are very happy to be home for a while now after travel to Texas and New York in the last week. 

SBL in San Antonio

Christmas on the 
Riverwalk

I was very hesitant to go with Jim to his annual Society of Biblical Literature convention this year.  Travel in a time of Covid had me very anxious.  Wearing a mask for hours in the airport and plane would be uncomfortable.  But Jim wanted me to go with him so I did. Fortunately our nonstop flight to Texas went very smoothly.  I wore a less effective mask but more comfortable than the usual KN95 one. 

We changed our flight home to a day earlier hoping to avoid the worst of the Thanksgiving traffic.  We are awake early and ready to go in a few hours.

The best part of being here was having meals with friends--former students and even friends from Jim's seminary days in Grand Rapids.  The worst part was trying to find healthy food in a "food desert" in a tourist downtown area.  We wanted some fruit for lunch--not a meal, just a snack.  We walked all over the area, even following our apple map for "groceries near me" but found nothing.  Sodas, coffee, even liquor--but no fruit.  We will try to eat better when we get home again!

Jim gave his presidential address to a good audience who chuckled at the appropriate places even while fully masked.  He ran the SBL business meeting from his laptop in our hotel room at 7:30 am yesterday.  At least I was dressed and out of sight in the bed across the room.  That went well without any technological problems.  There never are very many in attendance but those that were voted after unmuting.  He read the "necrology" and the list of awards.

I am contemplating how when you meet with friends you take on their joys and sorrows.  I am sad to hear of illnesses and deaths in families.  Covid has isolated us from others in so many ways.  I am thankful for the renewed connections of  the last few days.  

Once again, we will be glad to be home in our own apartment and in our own routines.  I hope that will be by suppertime tonight.

-------------After a long day of travel and a hectic Newark airport, we are glad to be home. I think this will be my last SBL convention unless it is a train ride away. -----------

Jim was given this obelisk to commemorate his year as president of the SBL. Naturally enough, it raised questions at the TSA checkpoint when it showed up in his suitcase. ---------------- One more addition to this blog. Jim got an email this morning (November 24) saying that his biography of RH CHarles--the subject of his presidential address--was accepted for publication by Oxford University Press!

Covid is Still with us

I just answered a text from Montgomery Internal Medicine in preparation for a routine appointment, labs, and a flu shot tomorrow morning. One question was "Have you been in contact with anyone in the last seven days who tested positive for Covid?" I could answer "No" and thus was given a "green pass" to show at the door tomorrow. However if they had asked the same question with eight days I would have had to say "Yes." Our grand-daughter's boyfriend tested positive for Covid this week. He is not very sick fortunately and is trying to isolate under the circumstances. We had dinner with him and our son's family a week ago. So Covid has reached our inner circle of family and friends.

 Yesterday I went to our grand-daughter's Princeton Ballet performance. We wore masks when we entered the student center. We were not asked to show proof of vaccination. It was lovely to see her dance in a live performance. A week or so ago I watched our grandson's college choir in a taped performance. That was also lovely to watch but was not even in front of a live audience at his school in Troy, New York.

 On Wednesday this week, Jim gave his Society of Biblical Literature presidential address in front of a mostly student audience at Princeton Seminary so it could be videotaped for those who were not attending the annual meeeting. He will give it again live next Saturday in San Antonio. The audience was all masked and it is assumed vaccinated if they were seminary students. We joined a group for pizza and drinks at the home of one of the professors afterwards--a rare social occasion for us.

 We continue to wear masks when we shop for groceries or go into CVS for prescriptions. I am hesitating to fly with Jim to San Antonio this week but don't want to waste a very expensive plane ticket. He would like me to accompany him and it is easier to travel with a partner. The weather will be mild and the riverwalk is lovely.  However I am dreading hours of mask wearing in airports and planes and really hoping travel will be smooth. Stories of fewer TSA agents are not encouraging. I am not really fearful of contacting Covid or if we do, getting very ill as we are vaccinated and even have our boosters. Plus we will try to eat outside and packed receptions at the convention are not taking place. I would avoid those anyway.

 So this is a blog written when there really is nothing to blog about but I wanted to record the fact that Covid is still a part of our lives.

Aging Bodies and Doctors (snd Dentists)

Good news 
celebration

We made it through seven weeks in South Bend without needing medical assistance.  During the last week there, Jim sadly felt a crown getting loose in his mouth.  In the middle of one night, he dreamt it came off.   It did, but at least not during that night.  He didn't swallow it and put it in a baggie in his briefcase.  So that was our one emergency.

He called Dr. Brummell, our dentist, on Friday on our way home from South Bend and got an appointment that next Monday--after the wedding party.  Unfortunately, there was more to be done that just gluing the crown back on.  So he has seen an oral surgeon for a consultation and will have work done next week. Then back to our dentist for a bridge because there are too many problems for any other treatment.  We are outliving our teeth.

Between the two of us, I counted twelve medical or dental appointments between the time we came home and before we leave for San Antonio in late November for Jim's annual convention.  They are all grouped in a short time because of our being gone for those two months.   I need to be thankful for doctors and dentists but I dread each appointment lest we find more problems and need more referrals.  Some of them are routine--a mammogram, six month dental cleanings, an eye exam (which is never routine for Jim), bone density xray for Jim (because of his RA which is in remission however).  

Others are routine but don't feel routine, like Jim's six month follow up for prostate cancer which meant another PSA test this week.  That always makes me so anxious.  Jim is optimistic and I try to be but find myself preparing for the worst.   The results never seem to show up when we expect them.  Again this time, the doctor said they would be there on the portal the next day.  Three days later, Jim finally called the office and they gave him the good news that the numbers were low.  So it will be another six months before he has another "routine" appointment and the anxiety that means.  

It is time to fill my weekly pill container which I do on Sunday mornings.  I tell myself to be thankful for those little pills that help to control blood pressure, heart rate, and cholesterol.  I am thankful but I also find it an exercise in humility and acceptance of aging.  A while back one of our pastors mentioned the idea of "anticipatory grief" maybe in connection with Covid.  Before I get out of bed, I say "This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be grateful for it."  I remind myself to be thankful for each day we are alive and reasonably well instead of worrying about the inevitable time in which we are not.  

So this is not a very upbeat posting but it certainly is a part of our lives right now.  I was home alone this morning because of a bout of stomach flu yesterday.  Jim went to church where he was teaching the adult church school for the first time here in Princeton.   I felt a need to open the Bible and see what the good word for me might be.  That can be risky but if one opens to the Psalms, it will probably be helpful.  I opened the Bible in the middle and there was Psalm 71 which read:   

Do not cast me off in the time of old age; do not forsake me when my strength is spent. ...So even to old age and grey hairs, do not forsake me.

So that was God's good word for me today. Even the Psalmist thousands of years ago was anxious enough to ask God for help as I do daily.