2023--What did I Miss?

 Yesterday I looked over my blog posts for 2023 in preparation for my annual Blog2Print book.  I realized that there were some events, national, international, and personal, that did not get included. 

I pray every night for peace--in Gaza and in Ukraine.  But I had not posted about Putin's escalation of the war in Ukraine last February.  At least there have been no nuclear accidents as we feared at times or really any push beyond Ukraine.  But it has been months of fighting and destruction without any progress for peace.  There is so much destruction and death in Ukraine and many Russian soldiers have been sacrificed for Putin's cause.

And then there are the 91 indictments of our former president Donald Trump.  NYT asks if I want to be kept informed by a daily newsletter and I do not want to have my news feed focus on him any more than it already is.  It is confusing.  There will be trials in Florida, Georgia, Washington DC, and there were already trials in NYC.  With his appeals, it could go on forever.  He hopes it goes on until he gets re-elected and then he can pardon himself and his co-conspirators.  I pray for justice, for wisdom on the part of the judges and juries, but also lately for a change of heart for Trump. Enough of his ugly pronouncements insulting the judges and President Biden!  

I wrote about Jim's crisis with high blood pressure but not about mine in late November.  It is always high when I go to the gynocologist so I took it at home to reassure them that it was lower there.  Well, it was a bit high at home too but at their office it was scary high.  They immediately called Montgomery Internal Medicine and sent me over there to see Nurse Patel.  It was still high there but not enough to send me to the ER thank goodness!  She prescribed an additional drug and it worked!  My bp was pretty normal at my follow-up appointment last week.  

Jim is very faithful about walking every day.  I am not.  My back and hip ache and it makes walking unpleasant.  Which brings me to my next update.  We have begun inquiring into Stonebridge, a senior living community.  We went to a very nice lunch this fall which was informative even if overwhelming with the decisions that would need to be made--various price points and many floor plans.  I am ready for someone to take over our meal planning but we are not really ready to give up our lovely appartment here at Barclay Square.  At least we have no house to sell and have down-sized once already. 

But one cannot postpone a decision to move until one really needs it!  You have to pass their medical checks to live independently--as well as their financial checks.  So if we are going to make such a move, it needs to be done while we are still "independent."  We had a second appointment for a brunch at Stonebridge with a smaller group but we were both sick with colds and had to cancel.  I am wondering what 2024 will bring in that regard. 

Christmas 2023

 

It's Christmas Day.  We can still look forward to a dinner at Jeff and Susan's home with all of our grandchildren plus a boyfriend plus a boyfriend's parents.  Is this a step in a relationship when it is time to meet the grandparents?

Saturday was our family party at the Conway's home with 17 of us.  I had settled on quilted vests from Land's End for everyone aged 12 and up and was very pleased to see that many of the group donned their vests immediately.  The chocolate letters are a tradition that always seems appreciated. Michael and Laura had a great dinner for us with beef tenderloin, mashed potatoes, and green beans.  Dan and Alex made a spinach salad and cookies.  And how happy we are that Susan is always willing to make her wonderful rolls!  H helped me put together a snow man brownie.  A highlight for me was our all joining in singing Christmas carols--from sacred ones to a vigorous The 12 Days of Christmas with Susan helping us all keep track of where we were.  Even little H could join in on Jingle Bells.  I took a video but I will joyfully keep the vision and sound in my memory.

Sunday was Christmas Eve.  We could have gone to church four times.   We settled on three livestream services. We did the Nassau Church 10 am service from home and then were happy we could do the Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church nativity pageant from home too.  R and A were readers and did their readings so well.  H was an adorble sheep peering over the rail overlooking the pulpit area. We saved our church's 9 pm Lessons and Carols for this morning while making banket.

Banket!  Two years ago I said never again, but for some reason I decided to try once more.  Now I say again no more!  Next year I order from VanderVeen's Dutch Store--ready-made, not pounds of almond paste. Rolling out the pastry, removing it from the parchment paper, sticky hands from the almond filling--what a mess!  I will give some to our neighbors downstairs and bring some along to the Princeton VKs and maybe one for Alonso, our former maintenance man who once asked me if I could make some for Halloween too!

I hope and pray that we have many more Christmases to celebrate together with our families.  I feel very thankful for this one!

Why We Moved to Princeton

 

Jeff and Susan live ten minutes away from our apartment.  Laura and Michael and their family live about an hour away.  Dan and Alexandra are about 2 1/2 hours north of us.  This means that holiday get-togethers are possible without a 700 mile trip east on I-80.  But it also means that we can participate in other family events.

In the last month or so we have gone to Katie's Princeton University Ballet show.  We have seen Susan's photos in a photography exhibit.  And last night we went to the Harriton High School Winter Concert in which Jasper sang in the large concert choir, the select and auditioned Vocal Ensemble and the acapella group Pitch Please.  When the large choir opened with "Festival Gloria" -a gloria in excelsis deo--I just closed my eyes and let the beautiful sound enter my soul.  

I'm so glad we can support our grandchildren in their musical endeavors.  Adding to these events, we livestreamed Michael's George Washington Jazz Orchestra Holiday Concert and Lessons and Carols from Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church--in which Laura and Jasper sang and Jasper read a lesson.  It was good to be able to do those events from home because traffic along the eastern corridor is often very heavy--as it was last night. We were home safely by 10 pm.  

I'm Happy Because I Sing

A few years ago our church choir director quoted an aged choir member who said, "I don't sing because I'm happy; I'm happy because I sing."  Singing does bring joy!  

This fall Jim and I began singing with the Grace Notes Singers, a group of older folks who meet twice a month at a nearby senior citizen community.  The director is the music director at our church, Nassau Presbyterian Church, and is a wonderful musician who also has the gift of being a great teacher and a person who accepts less than perfection!  The music he chooses has been challenging  and really beautiful.

Today our group led an Advent Communion Service for the residents of the community.  Next week we will do the same service at another nearby senior community.  

It has been a joy to make music with others again--and to do it with Jim.  He encouraged me to join and I encouraged him to drive me there and give it a try.  

A Voice from the Past

 On Wednesday morning I woke up to a message on Facebook from a 5th grade student in 1968 wondering if I was the Mrs. Vanderkam who was the "beautiful woman" who was his teacher.  He said he saw my name through one mutual friend and if I didn't want to respond that was OK but if I did, he had "more to say."  

I remembered him--but have to say one memory was when he jumped out an open window when we had a fire drill.  The principal came on the intercom and said, "Mrs. VanderKam, tell your students to leave by the door, not the window."   I was not happy!  But I did not think I would remind him of that incident!

I sent him my email making it easier to communicate because I don't often use FB messenger.  He wrote me a long email.  And of all things, he said he wanted "to issue an apology for jumping out of the window of your classroom during a fire drill and inspiring xxxx to follow me.  Hope you didn't get in trouble for that."

I was so tickled that after 53 years, this was still on his mind!  It seems amusing now, but it was not funny at the time!  I was angry and embarrassed.  And as I was rarely angry at those students, it must have made an impression that lasted! 

He also remembered my doing a mock election and exactly what the numbers were--one for Humphrey, one for Wallace, and all the rest for Nixon--including his which he said would no longer be true.  He remembered my bringing in a TV for the World Series--and he found a note I wrote to his parents telling them that he was a good writer.  All good memories!

I was also amused that others at his recent 9th grade reunion remembered a class trip in which I did a very unteacher like thing--and wore a bathing suit!  He was not in that class he said or he would have remembered!    I laughed out loud reading that and hoped it was not the Italian bikini I had purchased the previous summer!  I still have a photo of Jim and me on a Mediterranean beach from that summer but I will not post it!  Maybe I can find a less revealing photo of those mini-skirted, long-haired days.

What a lovely thing to get his affirmations and thanks from so many years ago.  Those were three good years of teaching 5th grade and then 6th grade.