Happy New Year!
Happy new year everyone!
I keep thinking, I need to sit down and reflect on 2013, share my thoughts on what I accomplished this year and look at what's up in the coming year. I've been thinking about this for weeks! But I have just been too busy and too preoccupied with the season's activities to do so. Today finally I have taken a few moments to relax with my 8 ounce bottle of Coca-Cola and my full tummy to discuss the last year.
I wish I could remember more about this dear! God knows I've never had a great memory; but it does seem to get worse year by year. But if I try hard enough, I'm sure I'll come up with a few highlights. I don't remember where we spent Christmas and New Year's Eve in 2012, but this year we spent it at home, here in Woodstock.
Robbie's sister, Joann, and husband, Alex, along with their two boys, Matthew and Alessandro, came to spend Christmas Day with us and the couple of days thereafter. Our big, old house was filled to the rooftops with laughter, childish noise, the opening of gifts, the imbibing of joyous liquors and fantastic food! Robbie outdid himself in the cooking department by putting together a wonderful Christmas dinner based on some British chef's home Christmas preparations. Chef Ramsey treated his family, and even his mother, much better than he does his minions on his television show. At any rate Robbie's turkey was amazing, as were the other delights he managed to concoct at the last minute. We did manage to eat dinner by 8 o'clock. Not bad, all things considered.
The boys were very excited about opening their gifts, and Alessandro in particular didn't want that to stop. He kept asking for more and more, and Robbie and I did what we could to keep him happy. But Santa only has so many tricks up his sleeve! The fact that we gave the older boy, Matthew, my old iPhone so that he could play Angry Birds, Tanks and other games on it was a little hard for Alessandro to take. I had hoped to give him my old 3G iPhone so that he could have his own electronic toy to play with, but I could not get it to work. I'm sure he'll deal with it. He's only five and really doesn't need an iPhone yet!
It was nice to see Alex again after many, many months of not seeing him when we have gone visiting in their family home in Toronto. He has been working a lot of hours and has never been home when we were there. I had begun to doubt his existence! He's a fun guy and a hard worker. I hope we get To see more of him in the new year.
Robbie had to work Christmas Eve, New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, which was not fun for either of us, but I'm assuming he is appropriately compensated for this! I could've gone out to Christmas parties and to New Year's eve gatherings, but I preferred to stay home and wait for Robbie to get home from work. All in all it was a fairly relaxing holiday.
I was surprised that Robbie got me two gifts (amongst others) that I was very pleased to receive. One was a wooden breadbox from the mennonite furniture store in Ayre. He also got me another rocking chair from the same vendor (similar to the one I bought in Stillwater years ago) made of twigs and tree bark. It is very comfortable and sits in a place of honor in the bedroom, where I can watch TV or read in comfort now! As for Robbie, I got him a number of small gifts and one large one - a juicer/mixer. He seemed a little surprised that I got this for him, but I'm hoping he'll be able to put it to good use in the kitchen. I used to have a juicer in St. Paul, and I remember using it a lot.
I have been preoccupied the last couple of months dealing with all the changes to healthcare in United States. Now, you may well be wondering, why does he concern himself with healthcare in United States? Does he not have full coverage in Canada? The answer is yes, I do. But when I travel to the States it is nice to know that I have coverage there as well. And, as it turns out, my former employer, Andersen, provides a very nice chunk of money for me to buy insurance off the exchanges which covers everything from soup to nuts. I'd be foolish not to make use of it.
Still, it is a pain in the neck to deal with. A single-payer plan in the States would've been a wonderful solution, simpler, cheaper, more effective, and a lot less of a pain in the neck to deal with for the average human being. The 2+ hours I spent on the phone going over my plan options was not fun, to say the least! The fact that I was in Canada while I did this is neither here nor there, since going some place to talk to an actual human face-to-face about these complex issues was not an option in any event! The upshot of the telephone interview was, as I suspected, that there was some erroneous information exchanged that resulted in corrective work to be done through the mail.
I hope the US comes to his senses someday soon and joins the ranks of the rest of the industrialized, civilized world and offers a single-payer plan to its inhabitants. In the meantime I'll be tracking four different companies -- and God knows how many subdivisions of companies -- in pursuit of continuing health in the US!
The interesting thing that I will have to decide in the future is where I will have my healthcare done - especially when something serious needs to be done, like replacing a knee joint! My inclination now is to have everything done in Canada. It would just be simpler and cheaper for me. I must admit, however, that there is a nagging sense of not trusting the system here as much as I would the system in the US. I'm not sure exactly what this stems from, but I admit that it's there. We'll just have to see how things go. Having lost my old family doctor to retirement in Stillwater, I was ready to shut off all interactions with the medical profession in the US. But on second thought, that really doesn't make sense given all the advantages I have there. So at some point I will be visiting my new doctor in Stillwater, Dr. Heinz Reinhart. Jeff Virant recommended him the last time I saw him and explained that although he has a very Germanic name, he was born in the US and does not - to the best of his knowledge - speak German. That's a pity! I would've had fun talking German with him!
Reflecting again on 2013, it was a very good year. Robbie and I had a great trip to Florida in the late winter. In the summer I traveled with my friend, Brian, to the east coast of the US and Canada. That was a very nice trip as well. As I say, my memory often fails me when I start to think about things that I've done recently. I know I made a couple of trips to the US to visit family and friends both in the Pennsylvania area and in the Minnesota area. I also had my last two visits with my friend and physician, Jeff Virant. I was really sad when I learned that he was planning to retire at the end of the year. But, more power to him! Ours was a great relationship over the years and I enjoyed seeing him every time I went in. I wish him well in retirement. It should be as happy as mine is!
As far as 2014 is concerned, I think it will be a good year as well. I am looking forward to another trip south, although it looks like Robbie will not be able to join me this this year because of his work schedule and because of school. Robbie is returning to school in January, working towards his registered nursing degree. Once he has that under his belt, he will be in good shape to move anywhere he wants to to work and live. I'm looking forward to that time as well. We could even conceivably move to the United States if we wanted to. Personally I'm not that keen to do so, although living in a warmer climate would not be a bad thing either!
My mother's health has declined in the recent weeks and months, and I suspect she won't last the winter. This is actually a blessing for her. She has lived the last several years without much cognizance of the world around her and I know she would very much like to shuffle off this mortal coil and move on to her next adventure, assuming there is one!
It's funny how my various siblings are reacting to this event, assuming that it will happen sooner rather than later. When we put mother into the home years ago, we agreed that we would follow her wishes regarding her passing and what should be done for her at that time. She was very clear that she wanted no funeral, no memorial, nothing in the way of a public event. We were simply to cremate her and on her birthday, take her ashes down to the lease - her early home on the prairies of Oklahoma - and spread them to the wind. Now, however, that she is close to the end, one or the other of my siblings is talking about the need for a memorial service, about putting her ashes in one of those cemetery boxes, and other things that were expressly against her wishes. I'm not sure where this is coming from, although I have some theories which I will keep to myself. Those of us who have spent time with mother in her declining years understand that she will be happy to go, and that carrying out her wishes for what should happen at that point in her journey through life would make her the most happy. I know it would make me happy.
I'm really looking forward to joining with my brothers and sisters and their loved ones down in Wann, Oklahoma to say our last farewell and give her the peace she richly deserves. I hope it happens this summer. She has suffered enough.
And while I'm on the subject, I really need to thank my sister, Dawn, publicly for all the help she has been, all the good work she has done supporting mother while she's been in the home. She has had to do a lot of things that were unpleasant and uncomfortable. But she stepped up and did them, and I'm very proud of her and grateful. I think she's at a point in her life where she's pretty happy with the way things are going in her own life, and I'm very glad about that. She deserves it very much!
It has been cold, blowing and snowing the last couple of days. It's warm in the house. The fire is going in the living room and all the holiday lights are still twinkling throughout the house and outside on our trees and bushes as well. It's good to be alive and see all this beauty around us.
We have Christmas cards from friends and family strung across doorways and propped up on the library desk in the foyer. They are a physical manifestation of their love and affection for us. And every time I look at them I experience those same feelings for them. And that is why I wish them and all of you you a very happy new year and all the best in 2014!