2019 Annual History of
James "Jym" Andris and Stephen L. Nichols
Well, this may have been the most difficult and challenging year of our lives. For starters, this is the year when Donald Trump was impeached by the House of Representatives but probably not removed by the U.S. Senate. I'll leave it at that, in the spirit of Christmas.
Stephen's health continues to degrade, particularly his mobility. It is difficult for him to get out, though we do still occasionally get out. Fortunately we are quite comfortable here in this independent living center. There are more entertainment activities than anyone could keep up with, and we have developed many, many valuable friendships.It is life in the fast lane, though, for example, we lost 17 of our community of 140 last year. But that has its good side, it's a good reminder of where we are in life. Time is short and precious.
After spending the first six months of our year dealing with skin conditions, we discovered we had bedbugs. I only mention this, because that was the most horrible part of our year. After months of investigation, it turns out the bugs were brought in by a trusted caregiver. And now we have passed through that trial by fire.
We had some good memories, though. Since I live a significant portion of my life in cyberspace, and much of that in Facebook, the following items have links to the photos I posted on Facebook commemorating the events.
We still got to the orchid show at the Botanical Gardens in March. In April our friends Tom And Mary Alice Breiter came down from LaCrosse, Wisconsin for a couple of days of reminiscing and bridge. Apparently, I was too busy dealing the cards to remember to snap a photo.
We get to keep up with our fabulous family in Scituate, Massachusetts, Stephanie, Stephen's daugher, her wife, Dawn DeCosta, who is a talented and driven artist, and Zander, who is a budding ballerino. Stephanie is earning a masters in education.
This September 14th was the 10th Anniversary of the death of my dear friend, Gilbert Fisher. As one of his medical powers of attorney, I had occasion to be present at the deconstruction of his apartment, when Heidi Carter thrusted a big grocery shopping bag full of his unframed needlepoing works. They dusted away in my storage until Jeff Wunrow resurrected them in this wonderful art exhibit at Trinity Episcopal Church.
We were blessed with another visit from Stephen's niece, "Tweetie," his sister-in-law, Jackie, and Tweetie's daughter, Jamie Nicole in July. We got out to the Botanical Gardens. Then in early November, brother, Tom and wife Diana came to visit us for three days. My sister, Vicki and husband Jeff up and moved from Marietta to Galloway, Ohio to be nearer to her youngest son, TJ, his wife, Kelly, and their three children.
I got to visit with old friends, Cea Hearth and Judy Hunter. Cea was in town from San Francisco.
I still write an occasional post on my blog, but the current political war going on has addicted me to evening news and poisoned my pen. Here's one based on my past experience with marijuana.
At any rate, I may add to this letter in a month or two, we'll see, but since it's Christmas Eve, I will wish you all a non-politically correct Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Love, Jym and Stephen
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