2024 – the New Year

It is that time of year again when we reflect on the past and make plans for a future that is minus previous goofs. At one of our holiday gatherings when we went around the dinner table sharing New Year’s resolutions I took the option to keep mine to myself. It is a resolution that I have tried before and didn’t succeed at. This year I am trying again – without the pressure of folks knowing my plans. Tune in at the end of 2024 and I will let you know how it goes,

Several days before the 25th we went with Jim, Lisa, Annie, Jimmy, Meggie and Josh to the Kennedy Center Christmas show. With the music and the singing it was such an amazing holiday treat.

The week between Christmas and New Years was blessed with some precious family time and with preparations for Jerry’s knee surgery on January 22. Unfortunately I woke up the morning of the 28th with a head cold which I did not want to share with my beloved husband and cause his knee surgery to be postponed. After a day of feeling crummy I took a Covid test and was not happy it came back positive. Some pretty fun plans had to be cancelled like taking Annie out for a very special dinner to honor her January 2 birthday. She returned to her job in Madrid on the 4th of January so missing our special dinner was a real bummer.

Atar had asked that her Christmas present from Jerry and me would also be a special dinner. We love our children and grandchildren dearly. When we are all gathered together it is very awesome, but it is also very awesome when we have a one on one time. Initially I did not take my forced Covid isolation very graciously but I finally I got my act together and focused on the blessed times we had been having. It was not the end of the world even if I was feeling like it was.

Fortunately I was feeling fine when we hosted the big family Christmas gathering. Wth Lilly and Atar and every body pitching in and the older adult table in the dining room( 10 in number) and the younger adults( 14 in number) in the living room, dinner time passed too quickly. It was fun hearing the laughter and applause that came from living room. Then there was the singing and the gift exchange. Kind of the icing on the cake of a very special day.

On January 6, with my Covid under control, we went with the Constance Family to SWEPT AWAY at the Arena stage. When we were younger we had seasons tickets to the Arena but this was the first time in years that we had been back. It stirred up so many wonderful memories of going to shows there with my parents, with my brother and his wife and with other friends.

SWEPT AWAY was a very powerful musical that did justice to the combined themes of forgiveness and redemption. An added and small world kind of treat was that some old and good college friends of our son Jerry were also in the audience. Two of them in fact were in the row right behind us. It was fun talking with them all when the show was over. Wonder if SWEPT AWAY is headed to Broadway. It is so good, it should be!

Now is crunch time for Jerry’s surgery. It should be in 8 days but unfortunately Jerry has a cold. Fortunately, not Covid. He has tested negative three times. It would be a blessing if he could begin the New Year with a new knee.