Learning and understanding

 It’s the last week of the year, when the newspapers and news programs recap, in an endless loop, the happenings of the past 12 months.  So I thought that I would do the same.  I started off the year halfway through a course of chemotherapy. I finished a dose a few days before Christmas, close enough that I couldn’t eat on the day. I was able to attend cooking classes before Christmas - they were great, but I would have enjoyed them more if I could have tasted the food, though. My first treatment of January was the second week, and I almost decided that it would be my last, because I felt so dreadfully unwell.  My test results showed that my system was having a hard time recuperating from the treatment (which required that I be in the hospital to receive the drugs for 8 hours a day for 5 days consecutively, then a break of 2 weeks during which I received at-home nursing care).  I talked to my doctor about ending treatment, realizing that I could be choosing to die.  In consultation wit

 I love Christmas carols. The ones that Marge Simpson described as “weird and religious-y” that sing about God and angels and baby Jesus in the manger.  The ones that tell of the Christmas story and the miracle of that night. The ones that, sadly, don’t often make it into the rotation on the radio.  Because of them I really love the liturgy for the 12 days of Christmas (which begin  December 26 - the day after  Christmas, and end on January 6, the feast of the Epiphany or the Day of the Kings).  Christmas Eve Mass begins with a carol concert, which includes all sorts of songs. Like, Gabriel’s message  with its haunting melody; Handel’s Messiah often features, with For Unto us a Child is Born , singing the beautiful words from Isaiah, which form part of the readings of the Christmas Eve mass (the vigil or midnight mass).  Often, the opening hymn is Adeste Fideles or O Come All Ye Faithful  which is, in its own words, “joyful and triumphant.”  That describes so many of my favourite carol

 Everyone join in... “This year is SO different!  2020 is just THE WORST.” It’s true that this year has been challenging. Since March, when it became clear that the “virus from Wuhan” was a bigger issue than it seemed at first.  We, all of us, at first thought, “It’s another flu, it’s no big deal.”  But as time passed, it became clear that this was not just the flu, and the effects would be more serious than we expected.  When news of the lockdown broke, people began (do you remember?) to hoard toilet paper!  by the case!  Then they started selling the excess at usurious prices.  They went out and emptied shelves of cleaning products, rice, flour, paper towels, bleach, hand sanitizer and, perhaps surprisingly, beer and chips. We adjusted to limited interactions with others.  We changed, profoundly, our daily activities.  I remember looking at empty streets during the first shutdown. Where rush hour meant gridlock, there was no traffic. There were very few people outside- granted, it wa