I am working full time through next summer at the VA Hospital in Westchester, treating veterans with PTSD and a range of mood and personality disorders. No one should have to experience what these men have experienced, witnessed, or had to do. What shocks me most is how much of the trauma is due to violence by fellow U.S. soldiers. I am learning a lot and glad to be doing this work, but am also looking forward to not doing it anymore. I so admire my supervisors' dedication!
Carl's clean-tech start-up is picking-up speed. He was selected by NYSERDA (NYS Energy Research and Development Authority) as an entrepreneur worthy of mentorship. He has also had good luck finding other clean tech experts to support his work in various ways. Notably, he has been joined by a friend with serious business and finance experience with whom he can brainstorm and who helps Carl focus on execution. Earlier in the year, to reward himself for all his hard work (and because he's been waiting for years and we're not getting any younger), Carl bought himself a Tesla Model 3. Zoom zoom, not vroom vroom. We took a lovely eco-friendly road trip to D.C. to visit friends and see the magnificent Museum of African American History and Culture in November.
disappointments, large and small. I trust you see right through this and forgive me for sending half-truths into the universe.
May your 2022 be safe, healthy and happy. To Fortitude!
With love,
Eva (and Carl, Charlie and Caroline)
My mom (pictured above with her youngest grandson and her partner Ralph) is wonderfully energetic and great company. Carl's parents had a difficult year. COVID made them feel very isolated, as did Carl's father's continuing cognitive decline. Just before Christmas, he moved to a memory care unit in an assisted living facility, a move that is both very good and very sad at the same time. Carl's mom has been very brave, the picture of grace. We are glad they live so close and visit with them at least weekly. Time marches on.
HAPPY 2022 !
Dear Friends and Family,
The dictionary app on my phone defines Fortitude as strength of mind that allows one to endure and adapt to adversity. And it defines Denial as refusal to acknowledge painful realities. I sure hope 2022 offers us a chance to buttress our Fortitude before Denial triumphantly delivers defeat on covid, climate change and democracy. Depending on the day, I am more or less mad, scared and exhausted when I see Denial gain ground. And I am so grateful when I hear of technology breakthroughs or of brave, honest people taking public stands in support of truth. This allows me to feel hopeful. And hope is essential to Fortitude.
While we now very seldom go to NYC, we did meet up with friends for dinner and a visit to the Little Island Park on the Hudson. Often it's the Little things that make us happy.
Repeating what I wrote two years ago, I used to think these letters are year-end reviews of what happened to our family in the previous year. No. They are mostly a record of the largely good and lucky things that we are so very grateful for, and I only touch very lightly on life's inevitable failures and
As in prior years, Carl and I escape onto our boat to temporarily evade reality. We again sailed/motored the length of Long Island Sound to Shelter Island. The photos are from a wonderful afternoon and evening in Oyster Bay.
My dissertation is so, so close to being done. Every weekend for the past ten, I thought I could finish it up. But no. Perhaps I like thinking of myself as a youthful graduate student. Or perhaps I'm just lazy. Or perhaps this is the weekend...
Both Charlie and Caroline have resumed their studies. Charlie is completing a masters degree in clinical psychology at Stony Brook (coincidentally where Carl earned an MS in geochemistry). He has applied to PhD programs in clinical psychology and is now enduring the long, anxious wait to see if/where he is admitted. In the Fall, Caroline started attending Columbia University's School of General Studies to complete her BA in computer science. She now shares a wee studio at 107th & Amsterdam with her large dog and tiny cat, saving precious time on her commute and feeling more integrated with her new university community and the city.