Most of the Christmas visitors have gone home. The stacks of clean towels represent the fact that there were eleven of us here. Everyone used the towels provided and now they are clean again.
The towels remind me of the summer of 1995, over 26 years ago. We were preparing to move to Perth, Western Australia where my husband would be the US Consul General. The house we were moving into was a large house with five bathrooms. My mother took me shopping for towels and was telling anyone who would listen that I was moving into a mansion with five bathrooms. She bought me a couple of sets of striped towels that were pink and green. Also some flowered towels and I am sure some others. I still have some of those towels but they are pretty thread bare. But, my mother was so proud of me and of us. I wish she had been able to visit us there. By then she was disabled by the stroke she had when she was 62. Five years younger than I am now- it made her old. It's sad to think about. And now she is gone.
Yesterday I sat with a dying friend. She is in hospice and will die soon. I held her hand. We talked about funny memories. People we have both known and loved or tolerated or avoided. I am so lucky to have been her friend for more than 20 years. We have gone through so much together. She is not afraid to die. I will miss her terribly.
And now we are entering a new year much like the last one. COVID rates are going up. People are still refusing to be vaccinated and are overcrowding our hospitals.
We are healthy. The kids are healthy and strong and smart and independent.
Looking at home movies (on DVDs now) we saw some movies of our firstborn as a baby and toddler. We were so young! I was thin and had long hair. But the feeling that struck me the most as I saw that baby's smile and her sparkling eyes was how much joy there is in being a mother. Nothing else has given me that. It is deep and honest and primal.
Happy New Year 2022!!
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