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Annual History of James Andris and Stephen Nichols 2020

It's lacking 2 of 50 years that I have been recording the saga of my own life annually in an end-of-the-year letter. 36 years ago Stephen became a part of these histories. For this particular year, I find myself in a more reflective mood. And even though I write this, I have shared it with Stephen, who approves of what I've said.

First I want to say that in the midst of three of the worst crises that the world has faced during modern history, I feel especially blessed. Hope arises and flourishes or dies within each human heart. I have been given the gift of a hopeful heart, a mind that likes to experience and imagine the soaring of the human spirit, and hands that like to do the work of serving my fellow world citizen, and that includes my neighbors.

One of the realities of my situation is that my life partner, Stephen, is now so disabled that he needs help with all of the activities of daily living. And while it makes me sad to see him suffer so, I am so glad that I have the opportunity to help and serve him. This year he has had different kinds of shoulder implants, including his own stem cells. While there has been some improvement, it is so far not what we had been told we could hope for. We are told that there could still be more improvement.

And so it is that even in this time of Covid, this time of the desecration of democratic values that we treasure, and this time of the human rape of this planet, Earth, that we so dearly love, I am acutely aware of my privileged position.

We have the resources to live in a retirement community that shields us from much of the danger and provides us with much of the help we need. I acknowledge this privilege that I acquired not only by hard work and sacrifice, but also partially because many people have tagged me as a white, straight man. Others are not so privileged, and in part through no fault of their own. i pray for a solution to this injustice and try to find ways to work towards a better world.

Once again, we find that we have adapted to difficult circumstances. I have gone almost completely to using online shopping, although the use of extra packaging pains my environmentally aware self. Since March we have only gone out in the car for medical necessity and an occasional "ride around town" or drive through purchase. In our building we wear masks and maintain social distancing as necessary. It is a sad, respectful necessity in a quite amazingly social community.

While I struggle with COPD on occasion, most of the time it is quite manageable enough for me to maintain the kitchen and house. We have weekly cleaning and one dinner meal provided each day. Currently, and for the forseeable future months, the community dining room is closed, but not the community kitchen here. I still drive. I'm actually spry and slim for my age, as was my matriarchal line back to great grandmother, Eva.

Our amazing church, Trinity Episcopal in St. Louis, has gone completely online with virtual services, Zoom coffee hours. I myself have been recording Virtual Thursday Evening Prayer and Compline for the last 3 years for the church. I do so miss being able to be there with fellow parishioners in the flesh, but it is no longer possible for a variety of reasons.

Likewise, we for years supported local music and theatre groups through attendance, season tickets and participation in production. None of that is possible for us now. But every Saturday night, we listen to the St. Louis Symphony concert on public radio. Each morning at breakfast we repeatedly work our way through a 60 volume set of classical music anthologies that Stephen acquired decades ago. Stephen is always studying some course in Egyptian history, Constitutional history, botany, or cosmology, and I am always reading some books, currently a Tony Hillerman novel, gay history compendium and Barack Obama's latest tome. Stephen mounts his First Day (Stamp) Covers (with a little help), and I practice Marian McPartland and Dave Brubeck compositions on the piano. We even have been bingeing on the Star Trek series Enterprise.

Stephen's daughter, Stephanie, got a masters degree in education this summer. She has a new job as a teacher in a specially designed online program for inner city families, and currently is working with kindergarten and fifth grade children. Her wife, Dawn, continues her long-standing job at Harvard Dental School and her very creative art work. Zander started his 9th grade classes at St. Andrews School in Middleton, DE, and is currently home until March.

In conclusion, I grew up in a time when the political reality was compromise, not confrontation. I am hoping for a return to those vaues of respect and compromise in a world which desperately needs them.

We miss seeing you, our friends, and hope for a freer time for more engagement.

Also, I write this epistle on the eve of the Third Sunday in Advent, and many of you will know that joyful expectancy is the theme of that spiritual event. May we all experience joyful expectancy for the birth of a new age of Love and Peace.

Love, Jym and Stephen