2021 Looking Back/Forward

2021 Looking Back/Forward

In My Bloodstream: Lisinopril,  Amlodopine,  Omeprazole, Tamsulosin
On The Stereo: Light That Match: Down Like Silver

For better or worse, I am back.  My Child Bride and I have enjoyed a few weeks of precious time together.  Even at this stage of our lives, we continue to learn more about each other and endeavor to be better partners.  Some take vacations to be together and have fun.  We have used isolation for the same purpose.  

As we entered into Christmas, however, I could not help myself from slipping into a melancholic state.  Our typical Thanksgiving trip to Raleigh had been cancelled and the same was about to happen at Christmas.  

Kat knows me well, and understood that I would need remedial help.  She realized that some diversions were necessary, and she delivered.  She made certain that we would celebrate our holidays and not flounder in them.  For the past few years, we had not spent much time decorating our house, as we were not going to be here for the duration.  This year, we changed all that.  I started playing our Christmas music earlier and we sang along with the carols and we decorated our home.  Not with a sense of chore, but with a sense of celebration.  Those hours we spent, were joyous.  We discussed decorations, and where we purchased them.  We recalled the ones which were gifts - who had gifted them - and when we had received them.  Warm memories emerged.  Unexpectedly.  Thankfully.  We did hold back a little.  We did not get a tree.  Not this year.

                                                          Our  Dickens Christmas Village.

Kath, as she had for Thanksgiving, went all out for our holiday meals.  Tortière and salad, a traditional French-Canadian meat pie, on Christmas Eve, and a magnificent, massive roast for the next day's dinner.

We watched football and movies.  I stayed up very late and watched Midnight Mass from the Vatican.  Lots of Latin and Italian.  Pope Francis dawdled his way through the proceedings, with only a very few allowed to attend. Kath, bone-tired, went to bed.  I sat alone in our living room. Watching and listening.  Offering the proper responses.  Aloud.  Totally comforted.   I took the time to privately pray for our family and friends.  Those gone and those still with us.  Spiritually satisfied. 

Kath came to find me, just as the Mass was ended.  And we toddled off to bed.

The weather had been quite cool and rainy for a few of our days.  Christmas day was so cold that I considered wearing socks,  but I came to my senses and did not.

The first really warm day, we returned to Clearwater Beach for a good, long walk.  Only the second visit since we moved here.  It was another wonderful day.  There is not much more restorative than walking barefoot on sand, meandering, now and then, into the cool salt water.

Kat spent several days preparing her classroom for the return of her class and making room for two more children, who were migrating from their virtual learning back to real school.  She is a dedicated girl, this one.

We talked on the phone with some of our old friends.  And we made promises to see them.  Somehow.  Somewhere.  Sometime.  Sometime.....

Rob Vs. Technology

Technology became adversarial over these past two weeks.  Our relationship has always been tricky.  I absolutely love my computing capabilities when I listen to music, talk on the phone, watch TV and these days, FaceTime.  However dependent I am, on them, every now and then, technology decides to poke me in the eye.

We continually were experiencing dropped calls during video conferencing, always sure that the other party must have a bad signal.  It was ours.  I performed a speed check and found we were receiving about 20% of our promised signal strength.  

I apologize in advance, but I must share my experience as a customer.  As a former businessman, whose livelihood depended on keeping customers satisfied, this new world is a strange one.  

I looked up Spectrum's customer service online.  I was informed that it was listed as Brighthouse, a company taken over by Spectrum.  I called that number.  I was given a recorded message, asking me to phone a different number.  The recording was muffled near the end, and the last two numbers were almost impossible to understand.  Listening to it again only confirmed that the numbers were indistinguishable.

I phoned what I thought the number might be and talked to a man whose English was not superb.  I asked him if he was a Spectrum technician, an he said he was.  I went through my problems and he said he could help.  Then he asked me if I would like to upgrade my cellular phone.  No.  I would just like to improve my signal, I replied.  OK, he said, tell me again what your problem is?  I was becoming suspicious.

I asked again if he was a Spectrum employee and he finally admitted that he was not, but that he could help me - and get me a most excellent deal on a new phone.  I was laughing as I said goodbye, and hung up.

I tried the next possible number, and did get Spectrum customer service.  I received great service from a nice lady.  She listened to my signal issues.  We tried some possible solutions and got nowhere.  She would send out a technician the next day.

He came, as promised.  I was advised that I had old equipment and that I should have been upgraded when we became their customer.  I was beginning to take this "old equipment" reference personally.  I was a little embarrassed.  In any event, our signal was boosted to warp speed.  I thanked him and off he went.  Everybody was happy.

A few days later, our FaceTime calls began "freezing", and the calls ended abruptly.  I called Spectrum service again, with better results.  A technician returned, and after a good deal of checking, he asked if he could see my phone and iPad.  As he explained it, my devices are capable of receiving about 12% of our available signal.   My problem was not their service.  My equipment was simply too old.  I told him that I too was pretty old, and I still worked (kind of).   I glanced down at my belt, thanked him, and showed him out.  My devices were antiquated.  I felt so ashamed.

Real Life Again

We put our decorations away on Sunday and this week, the Teacher headed back to school.  And I am back in my office.

I guess that some of you might expect a rumination on the tumult of the past year, and the devastation of a global pandemic.  Presumably, 2020 will be etched in history's annals, by the mass media, on a par with 1914 or 1939.  War years.  Not in this house.  

This virus does not compare to our war years in its tragedy.  It has not killed half of those who have died from heart disease or cancer.  And all of these causes of death combined, are minuscule when compared to starvation.  And few of us even realize this.  Or have done much about it.  We need to keep some perspective.  I am not trying to minimize our threat.  But we will overcome this virus long before more pressing and deadly problems are addressed.  

This past year, since March, has been a pain in the ass for us.  At worst, truthfully, it has been a year of inconvenience.  We have not been with our family in Raleigh.  And we have been separated for five years now, from our Seattle grandkids.  That had nothing to do with Covid.  Had it not been for my bride, I might have wallowed in self-pity.  But she did not allow me to go through that door.  In fact, as emotionally upset as she might have been, and still might be, she turned her concern to my well-being.  I know how fortunate I am.  

                                                                 Lingering over breakfast.

We have stayed active this past year.  I have had several surgical operations, and had melanoma return for another attempt at my life.  I have had a lymph node scare in the process.  The sentinel node which had been removed was found to be negative of melanoma.  I could not have asked for a better Christmas present.  It has been a good year.  And I am grateful that I have learned more, have cared more and have loved more, because of it. 

My wounds have healed.  Perhaps a bit more slowly than I had expected.  Too much of the last quarter of the year was spent at home, mostly inactive.

2021

We will carry on with my old equipment, both the technical and personal.  And we will continue to have hope.

Thank you for your notes, messages and calls.  We are so much better together.  That we have learned.  

And whatever problems we face, we will move on.  Have faith in yourself, your family and your friends.  You can make our next year a good one and the last one a distant memory.

This year we will put up a tree. 

Happy New Year from your Florida friend.

jrobinmullen@gmail.com