Once in a Blue Moon

Happy New Year!  To say that I am deliriously happy to bid farewell to the 20-ought-anything is an understatement!  We lost both Jim's parents in 2001, and my dear friend Peggy.  Of course, 9/11 is another of those Day that will Live in Infamy occasions. Truly, it was the event that most changed the the world as we know it.  Never again will any of us be as complacent, as secure, as invincible as before.

Happily new people entered our lives in the 21st century, namely grandsons Joe and Drew.  Both remain the kind of blessing to our daily lives that those without grandkids view with a certain skepticism, verging on disbelief.  The boys and their sibs remind us that love (and not to forget humor) really makes up for a lot.
In this decade, we travelled a lot, saw the hay-day of RSH, ran workshops, spoke at conferences, and generally had a lot of satisfaction and fun.

The big news today is that they are preparing to release Jim from the hospital some time next week. That is wonderful in that it is a positive vote for his recovery from the transplant.  OTOH, it also means this old house is supposed to be ready to receive him under pristine conditions.

Um....

This old house was built the 1870's and comes with hot and cold running dust.  Its insulation is horsehair.  We have radiators. His room in the hospital has been set at 74 degrees.  How do YOU spell Fat Chance!   Just can't be done!  We can add an electric heater, and down comforter, but I fear we will fall far short for his comfort level. After all, he has blood the texture of  Dr. Pepper coursing through his veins.   Meanwhile, as I type, little Drew is hacking away down-stairs...  has had a persistent cough which may be part of his asthma...... or not.

My dismay about normal living  conditions v. what Jim needs were all the more heightened when I was told that the brand new coffee maker I bought for his room on the advice of his nurse,  cannot be used, because you cannot clean out the delivery tube inside it to their specifications.  Oh, my.   So after all this, they are sending him home to see if  EYE can kill him!! With coffee grounds and other floysam and jetsam floating around here?  Stay tuned!

One thing I must do is somehow replace the bad stuff  with gratitude for the blessings  2009 brought.  I am grateful for all the hands-on real time help I received, from Lynn taking Drew for endless hours, to Adrien fixing everything that I break (with a smile, even.)  I am grateful for the battalion of doctors who care for Jim, or who do the research to make such miracles possible.  You can never believe how grateful I am that the little footsteps overhead are silenced.   Nutjob apparently has moved on.    I am grateful to have a car under me...after too many cars with no sense of the absurd.  For friends who step forward to help lug us get through this.   For people who leave comments on the blog. I am a total sucker for comments.

Most of all,  I am grateful for family... Jim and my kids... the littles.... my sister, and all those who confess to membership in this crazy tribe.  Family isn't only about blood relationships.  Family extends to those who are here through thick and thin, on whose support we rely.   We are blessed with lots of those people as well.  May the next year bring new beginnings,  rich insights derived from the challenging times, unfettered laughter sometime in every hour, looser-fitting clothing,  easier breathing, determination, grit and the gift of not taking ourselves too seriously.

Mazel tov!  (daintily raising my tumbler of jagermeister  on the rocks, little pinkie crook't)

You didn't think I'm getting through this sober, did you??