Here we are at the end of another year, another decade, in fact. Time flies when you’re having fun and maybe not so much fun.
We started the year off on a sad note, when Debi, our close friend of many years, finally succumbed to the cancer she had been fighting for some time.
We also had a bittersweet moment in late January when we sold Cliff House on Cayuga Lake. It was an expensive place to maintain, but it also held some very fond memories. The buyers, though, have done some great updates and seem to be wonderful neighbors for Ben’s sister and brother-in-law, who own the property next door. And we will still get up to Ithaca regularly for visits.
We’ve already reported on our grandson Noah’s birth back in February. Kathy and I spent a lot of time down in New Haven from February to June. Besides doing a lot of babysitting for little Noah, we also got to explore the area. New Haven is a strange little city with good things to recommend it like some fine restaurants and lovely parks very close by (East Rock and West Rock are spectacular). On the other hand, there is a good deal of homelessness, and for a port city the water is not “in your face” as it is in many other port cities, which is a shame.
In June son Ross and daughter-in-law Hollie had their “graduation from residency” celebrations and in July they moved to Manhattan for Hollie’s fellowship at Hospital for Special Surgery and Ross’s new job as ER doc at Cornell’s NY Presbyterian Hospital.
We had a nice summer with a great biking trip to Cape Breton with out friends Tom and Michelle from Toronto, riding the Cabot Trail (200 miles) in 5 days of biking with four days of hiking and sea kayaking interspersed. We were away for most of two weeks in total. It’s a paradox that such a lot of strenuous exercise can be so very relaxing, but it was definitely so.
We also enjoyed just short of a week on Cayuga Lake in Ithaca with Ben’s sister and her family as well as participating in the Hub on Wheels charity ride around Boston for the umpteenth time.
In October we spent a few days in LA with daughter Ariana. The three of us went to Descanso Gardens and then took a trip to Joshua Tree National Park, which none of us had seen before. It’s quite worth the visit. Ariana continues to enjoy her tutoring practice.
We also had a new housemate for the fall semester, as Ben’s Oxford cousin’s youngest, Martha, is doing a year abroad from Birmingham University at Northeastern. Her fall semester housing in Boston never quite materialized, so she’s been commuting by bus and T from Bedford. She’s lovely to have around (baking is her stress-relief!), but will probably have a room in Boston for the spring semester. Better commute for her (especially in snow), but we’ll certainly miss her.
Martha joined us on our Thanksgiving pilgrimage to worship at Ben’s sister Celia’s table in Ithaca. Martha had not been in Ithaca since she came with her family at age 1. Celia’s cooking did not disappoint, and we came away pounds heavier but very happy!
Ariana gave Kathy the best surprise present by flying in from LA so they could celebrate their birthdays together. We did some nostalgic Boston activities while Ariana and her friend Mat were here, with New England Aquarium and the Museum of Science on the non-food list, and Legal Sea Foods, Bertucci’s, Bruegger’s, Dunkin Donuts, “Daddy’s Mac n Cheese”, and “Julie Kling Cake” topping the food list.
In terms of our professional lives, Kathy has decided, for now, that she’s retired. Ben is still doing the angel investment and start-up mentoring thing, and it looks like there’s a little progress on the revenue-based financing front mentioned in last year’s update and on Ben’s blog post.
On the negative side, though, the autumn also brought with it some tougher things.
Ben’s mother’s last living sister, Judith, who is also Martha’s grandmother, passed away a few weeks before her 95th birthday. She was a great woman, a Holocaust survivor who had lived an amazing life. Like her mother and older sister Eva, both of whom died at age 94, Judith was cogent until the very end and conversing in several languages.
Kathy’s father also went into steep decline in late September, deciding finally to stop dialysis and go into home hospice care on Halloween. While he was still in the hospital Ross and Hollie dropped everything and brought Noah down to meet his great-grandfather for the first (and sadly, last) time.
He passed away quietly on November 10, but he’d been able to spend a few days surrounded by close family and watching his beloved Chickahominy River.
Since her dad’s death, Kathy has been busy cleaning up all the financial issues that have to be dealt with. Kathy has already been handling most of the finances for her parents for the past few years, but death of a spouse has implications for pensions, joint accounts, etc.
Finally, December 15th we got a call from Ross and Hollie that Noah had been admitted to the ICU for Type 1 Diabetes. Onset at his age (10 months) is extremely rare, but the pediatric endocrinologists at Ross’s hospital got things under control quickly, and Noah is doing OK. We dashed down to NYC a few days in advance of the trip we had already planned, and provided emotional support and a little babysitting through Christmas day.
Noah is now a bionic baby, with an insulin pump and continuous glucose monitor that pairs with a cell phone that alerts his caregivers through an app on their own phones and new Apple watches. Noah’s devices need to be within bluetooth range at all times, so the new protocol is “does he have his tech with him?” Ross and Hollie are doing a great job of acting as Noah’s external pancreas, but at this age his blood sugar is much more variable than it will be as he gets older, so it’s a constant challenge.
All in all it’s been an up and down year (with no mention of the constant anxiety caused by the global political situation), so we’re hoping for a much improved 2020!