Year End (No politics or commentary on the state of the world, I promise)

Well, folks, another Christmas has come and gone and almost another year.  I am using this format to write what used to be an annual Christmas letter, which has gone the way of many things of that nature.  It is not that I will never write one again.  I probably will.  I love getting them, and this way is so much less interesting, really. So there's that...  This also will serve as my 1 year anniversary of "going down the rabbit hole" of retirement.  Wonderland and so forth.  Christmas was fun and as always, the food was mighty good.  My in laws, Suzanne and Max Lester were there in full spirit, all 91 years of them.  It is a joy and pleasure that they spent yet another Christmas with their family, all 12 of us here in Boise.  

Okay, so retirement.  It is all it is cracked up to be, in case you are wondering. I love not working.  As I have said before, here and elsewhere, I am ever grateful for my career and I am so glad I am no longer doing it.  I have left it happily and with great confidence to younger people, who I had the pleasure to supervise and mentor sometimes.  I wish all of you out there contemplating retirement the same feeling of gratitude for the work you have done and the wonderful feeling contentment that this last year has brought to me.  Those of you already retired, I only hope that it has been as great for you.  

So here is the past year in a nutshell, more or less.  At the end of January, I traveled out to Cape Cod to assist Steve's Aunt Kay to transition into assisted living.  She has landed in paradise as far as I could fathom.  It was a grand couple of weeks.  I'm telling you, I would move there in a heart beat.  Great place.  I highly recommend visiting assisted living places (I also visited several here while exploring care options for Suzanne and Max...they are still happily at home, however.). It kind of takes some of the scare out of the idea of maybe needing care myself some time in the future.  Most of the places I visited were very nice, very comfortable and many had fabulous food.  

Then some other things happened between February and June, which I can't quite recall right now. One thing I do seem to recall is that Steve and I attended the wedding of my nephew, Tom at the beginning of June.  He married a lovely young woman named Vanessa and they are happily ensconced in their lives and working as attorneys down in SoCA. At the end of June, I helped my good friend, Joan move to Missoula from Boise.  She decided to go to help care for her great granddaughter, June.  It was a bit of an adventure getting there.  I drove the U Haul truck (admittedly, a small one) while she followed behind me in her car with her two kitties and a bunch of stuff that wouldn't fit in the truck.  Missoula, it turns out, is the hip, young college town capitol of the world.  Really nice town.  Reconnected with an old friend of mine from my W.S.U. days.  

In the meantime, I started volunteering for the English Language Center, which is affiliated with the Idaho Office for Refugees.  I have been helping out in the beginning class.  This class has folks just off the boat (most of them, anyway).  Many of these students don't have literacy in their own language, so their challenge is great.  I have absolutely loved doing this.  I go a total of 4 hours a week.  I also started spending a couple of scheduled afternoons with Suzanne and Max, helping them out with a variety of issues.  I spend about 6 hours per week with them.  That has been so wonderful and fulfilling for me.  It has helped to keep me off the streets and aided them with different things.  It has been an absolute pleasure.  The other thing I have done is gone to a couple of classes at the Osher Institute, which is affiliated with B.S.U. It is a learning program for older people, a category that I apparently fit into.  I've taken classes on meditation and one on digital memoirs.  I found the latter to be very interesting and kind of compelling, although I bet I never get around to doing any kind of memoir, digital or otherwise.  One thing about these classes.  I look around at the other folks and think to myself, "Really?  Am I really as old as all these folks look to me?  Are they looking at me thinking the same?"  Nobody prepared me for this particular phenomenon.  Not identifying with one's  age group.  Never been an issue before.  

My Aunt Helen died in September. She was 95 and the last link to my parents.  She was my mom's sister.  I had been planning to get down there, but wasn't able to make it before she died.  In the process of her decline, which happened very quickly, I became acquainted by phone and cyberspace with the son (Jens) of her ex-husband.  Not a step son. He was born after Helen was divorced from his dad.  Anyway, that was a very interesting experience, to learn of how they became involved with one another (long story) and to witness his devotion to her to the end.  I helped out the best I could from afar, but Jens did all the hands on stuff. Anyway, by the time I was able to get there (Santa Rosa, CA) her ashes had been scattered in a tiny garden and that was that.  My brother and myself had a somewhat difficult relationship with Helen. So I was grateful for Jens and glad that Helen was loved and cared for by him.  It's always a good thing to witness kindness and compassion up close and personal.

Steve and I took a little vacation up to Wallowa Lake in September with my brother, Don and sister in law, Ruth, which was fabulous.  We stayed in a very nice house and it was splendid all the way around.  I went back with them to the Bay Area, (the time I had planned to be with Helen). I just did San Francisco and Bay Area things.  Saw my old VISTA friends, Pat and Bill.  Lovely reconnection with friends from a time in my life that I remember in sepia shades.  

Steve is planning to retire in March.  He is ending up his career as the manager of the Western Region of Idaho Water Resources.  It is quite hectic for him with lots of challenges at a place he has been working since 1986. I think he will be ending his career with a feeling of satisfaction as well.  It has been quite the journey. He was also elected to the Board of the local Co-op after a blistering campaign. He was on the board once before during a turbulent time in the life of the Boise Co-op. It is a bonanza for us, as we get as 15% discount on our purchases!!

Well, that's it, my peeps.  May all of us find 2015 to be a great and peaceful year.  I'll be continuing on with my normal tirade of Opinions You May or May Not Be Interested In. 

12/27/14  I forgot one thing::::my book loves for 2014.  Okay.  I am not a big reader of non fiction, but I really enjoyed Erik Larson's In the Garden of Beasts. Tells the story of the U.S. ambassador to Germany during Hitler's ascent.  Nasty story because of the topic, but very interesting and well written.  Then I loved two books by JK Rowling Casual Vacancy and then under her pseudonym, Robert Galbraith, Cuckoo's Calling. I also read a book by Isabel Allende called Ripper, a mystery set in San Francisco, which I enjoyed.  I am about to read All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr, who lives right here in River City.  I know there were other books I enjoyed, but can't think of them now.  Thanks for a wonderful year of reading all you fabulous writers out there!

Christmas, 2014, minus me. You can note the expert photography skills of yours truly

Christmas, 2014, minus Ashley. Much better photo by Ashley