December was here and there were only a few days left in 2020. Most of us have been affected one way or another by COVID-19; too many suffered, too many died. As of this writing, there are two vaccines and reasons for optimism that 2021 will be better. Yes, there will be changes but will be good enough to excite our interests or make our lives better to put us in a positive frame of mind and put us on the long and winding road. No, neither of the Beatles roads, Abbey Road, nor The Long and Winding Road. Not the Yellow Brick Road from The Wizard of Oz. It is our road to success. Yes, our road to success.
Eight days and eight nights of Hanukkah have now come and gone. Did Jewish people get their presents? Probably not, too much struggle in many places around the world. In many of the windows were pretty menorahs shining in the night. Many evenings, I smelled the latkes (potato pancakes) being fried on the stove. In the ovens were turkeys not quite ready to be carved. While the kids were playing dreidels and singing Hanukkah songs in three different languages – English, Hebrew, and Yiddish.
Was this a good year or a bad one? Success and failure are different for each of us, but we do strive for the former. Despite his valiant efforts, President Trump did really lose the November elections. His successor, Joseph Biden will be inaugurated on January 20, 2021, as the 46th President of the US and right before, Senator Kamala Harris, the senator from California will be sworn in and become Vice-President. History will be made as Senator Harris will become the first black female Vice-President of the US. Is this a good change or not? Only time will tell.
My preference is to stay in the now, and although I do not want the snow, I do my best to accept it as it falls from the sky. Deciding to gaze outside the open window and feel the snow as it glistens on my unprotected hand sometimes reaching out to grab a few to make little snowmen. Meanwhile, from another home, I hear a stereo playing Christmas carols for anyone to sing, dance, or just and enjoy. Don’t worry there are plenty of trees, all decorated with shiny ornaments in red and green, yellow and blue to make the night bright. While others are watching a variety of classic holiday films like A Christmas Carol or Home Alone. Also, in the air
I can smell turkeys roasting, hams glazing, biscuits frying and an array of desserts baking all emitting odours from the assortment of kitchens. Awakening from my daydream of holidays past, this concludes with the last previous paragraph. Now, I am thinking or dreaming about some of my holidays with my significant other, Maureen who died on Friday, 12th June 2015.
On 11th December, we would have been married 15 years. When I think about her here or somewhere else, I can only imagine how my life would be different.
Sweetie, I love you, I miss you, and I still wish you were beside me here.
Howard Diamond is a certified peer specialist in New York.
