The Holidays - Part 1

So 2019 has ended. Never to return. Priya and I spent an evening over the holidays recapping the year. Interestingly we both remembered different things. It’s not that we remembered things differently, it’s just that different events popped into mind of our experiences of the past 12 months. Obviously different things made more of a mark on me than her and visa versa. Perfectly normal but it was interesting to note the differences.

I won’t go through the year since a good amount has been recorded in the blog. But it’s been eventful. One thing I realized is that I had a nasty carbon footprint. Though I am much more aware of my actions than I used to be and I have made changes in some of the things I do, I still have some big areas where I am failing and will need to take steps to scale it back. I counted that during 2019 I made 62 international flights, or flight segments (one way)(this doesn’t count probably a dozen or so domestic flights). That means that 62 times I boarded an airplane headed for a different country. That’s insane. It’s about one every 6 days. Granted, most of this was for work but still, I need to see what I can do to ratchet this back. So far this year is not looking good. As I type I have 2 under my belt and 10 are already booked.

snow fight

A quick recap of the holidays. Things started off with a chilly stopover in St. Paul, Minnesota at our friend Cathy’s. Always a nice place to overcome jet lag, we had the opportunity to acclimate to sub-freezing temperatures. And snow. Surprisingly the girls very quickly threw on their winter layers that had been kept in storage in the US and off they went. It was too cold to make a decent snowball so they occupied their time scooping and throwing, sweeping, making snow angels, etc. We even played a robust game of fox and guess – a bit like tag but with the limitation of staying on carved out snow trails.

We got out a few times. Minnesotans seem to be invulnerable to cold temperatures. They just carry on doing whatever it is they do. So we joined the pale throngs in exploring some old and some new things about St. Paul. As I’ve said before, I’m a fan of the Twin Cities. Just need some mountains.

enjoying the balmy holiday weather in Louisville

Then, as is our tradition, it was off to Louisville, Kentucky. One of the first things I need to do, other than finish Christmas shopping, was have a varicose vein operation on my left leg. In fact it was more of a “procedure” than an operation but it was still a doctor doing stuff inside my leg in an operating room for about 45 minutes. I had a local anesthetic but it was not without some pain and discomfort. In fact I was on pain killers for a couple weeks afterwards.

family out for Cuban food

One notable thing about the procedure was when they finished and more or less cleaned up, they all left the room. I was told I could put my clothes on and stop at the desk on the way out. So I sat up on the gurney and awkwardly came to my feet. My left leg was still deeply under the anesthetic so I couldn’t walk properly. I also noticed that there was blood coming out of a hole in my leg up near my groin. I couldn’t feel it but I could see it. I couldn’t run out to the hallway looking for assistance since I was “indecent” so I looked around to see if there was something I could use to stop the bleeding. There were surprisingly few options that I could see in the operating room without going through some drawers. I finally homed in on something that sort of worked like gauze. I held it on the wound for a while and it seemed to do the job. I then decided I would just hold it in place and put my clothes on over the top. I had made quite a mess on the floor but I figured that whoever was coming in to clean up would be accustomed to such things. Still, I think it was a bit odd that such a leak was left behind by the doc or the nurse or whoever was supposed to tidy up my wounds. Also strange was the fact that I was given the okay to drive home. I guess the assumption is that most Americans, unlike other parts of the world, drive automatic vehicles. I’m not sure how well I would have done if I’d needed to do a lot of pushing on a clutch with a leg that had little sensation in it.

Christmas Eve on the deck

Other than soreness and being prevented from working out during the holidays, the leg was sort of a non-issue. I was supposed to walk or elevate it. No extended periods of conventional sitting or crossing my legs. The green light on walking was helpful for my sanity and I ended up doing a lot of it.

Christmas morning would not be the same without the frenzy

The weather in Indiana was chilly in the beginning but soon turned mild. Christmas eve lunch we had outdoors – a striking change from Minnesota.

Christmas angel 1

Christmas angel 2

In addition to the normal Christmastime traditions, we also went to see my mother-in-law perform in a Christmas concert and we also took in a play - “A Christmas Carole”. Very well done and the girls really seemed to enjoy it. Not a lot of opportunities to do things like that in Nairobi.

The days flew by and before long we were boarding the plane for Idaho.