Christmas 2023

 

Dear Ones,

 

Happy Christmas.  Can it be a year since the last one? The stories my elders repeated about time just going faster, are true.  The years fly one to the next, and faster still the older we get.

 

2023 was good.  Certainly more tranquil than 2022.  We still winter in Mexico City, a place both of us feel deeply connected to.  By the end of winter 2024 we will have permanent residency status.

 

This summer I became involved in a local organization called Plattsburgh Cares.  So many immigrants are still heading to Canada, only to find the border closed to them.  Immigration Canada turns them around and sends them to Plattsburgh.  Some have resources.  Most don’t.  One weekend I fielded 18 people from Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, and South Africa.  Whatever budget Plattsburgh Cares had was depleted by then.  Thankfully, I was able to rally friends and family to help prepare food for all of them. I can only say that  Spanish has opened worlds I could never have imagined when I started studying it years ago.  

 

Along the way we’ve met two families of white-collar Mexicans who have relocated north with Bombardier.  Use of Spanish is an almost daily thing.  It’s good to give back, and be enriched at the same time.

 

My “100 for 75” campaign I started last year has been a fun goal for 2023.  After a November cruise that included Haiti and Jamaica, I am now at 97!  Steve got to 44, but this isn’t an important goal for him.

 

In these unsettled times, I leave you with the words of the 11^th century mystic, Julian of Norwich.  Her voice is as relevant now as it was then.                

 

“All will be well,

And all will be well,

And in all manner of things shall be well.”

 

Merry Christmas.

 

Love,

 

Dan and Steve