  No more Santa Cookies, no more chocolate. NO more coffee cake, stuffing, ham, turkey sandwiches from leftovers, cranberry sauce, ice cream. No more loafing around on the coach! Time to stop spending money! It’s over! Let’s face it. We have milked it. It’s almost February. Time to go back to exercising full time, not once in a while. During the holidays, I was on a pill, that, as a side effect, made me lose weight (I didn’t take it for that), and then I got too thin! Can you imagine? I ate everything. I wanted and kept losing weight. It tricked me! Well, I went off the pill and still kept eating (the weight came running back on). All I can say is it’s: TIME TO STOP! Time to start writing, full time, walking every day, answer the emails that I said I’ll get to after the holidays. Time to get back to the dentist, and the doctors. Time to call the handy man, the plumber, the carpet cleaner, you know, like real life. In a way, it’s a big relief. Yeah, a schedule. Let me find one again. This was a long Holiday. It went on forever. We did a fun thing, in the middle, and went to LA and stayed at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel (with Sophia, of course) for a few days. The hotel had all the trimmings: a galore of Xmas trees, elves, mistletoes and on. It was beautiful!––And it felt like we went to New York without having to go to the airport, we walked up and down Rodeo like tourists. We had a tea at the hotel for our family. We celebrated Xmas Eve at my son and daughter-in-law’s house and Xmas morning at my daughters. We saw a movie on Xmas day and celebrated Hanukah in-between all this. The kids were all home from school. We spent time with all the children and grand children––they have all grown a foot since thanksgiving… or am I just shrinking that fast? Either way, It was great! They have all gone back to school and now we should go back to some kind of routine. It’s hard to remember what a routine is at this stage of our lives. Actually, no one cares if we stay in bed all day and watch the Simpsons from morning till night. So we have to make our own routines. Ones where we need to be accounted for. We can do this. We just have to remember what our life was made up of before the Holidays. Luckily, I have a few writing assignments to work on so that will take a while… once I remember how to write. As soon as I get one thought in my head, I’ll get right on this. The first step I have to do is accept the fact that walking the dog in my pj’s, slippers, a raincoat, bed head, and sunglasses is not OK. At least warm ups. Come on. 
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Dear Friends, We raise our glasses to wish you health, warmth, love and a big serving of happiness May all your dreams and wishes come true in this New Year. Sent with all our love, Beverlye and Bob  Capri, June 2019
 I thought I had forgotten how to cook… This really bothered me. There was a certain peace I derived from cooking for my family or friends, but the last few times I made my surefire dishes, it was a total failure. They weren’t cooked long enough, slightly burnt, lacked flavor, or just simply not good. Bob would say “I’m just not hungry,” but I knew he was. We had gotten into the habit of bringing in, taking out, late lunches, scrambled eggs, a cooked chicken from the market, or a turkey sandwich that would suffice for dinner. I realize that the joy of cooking a satisfying meal was a leftover from when my kids were young and would say “great meal, Mom,” and I would feel that all’s right with the world. My mothering was intact! Let’s face it, Bob did not marry me for my cooking, but when I would make him a meatloaf, chicken or brisket and he would say “I’m in heaven,” it gave me that great “mother knows best” kind-of-feeling again. I liked it! When those meals failed, I thought maybe my cooking days are over. Maybe it was the electric stove or that my timing was just… “off.” I didn’t know. I said to myself: that’s it. I’m through. Maybe, I just forgot until… But first, a little back story. Two days ago, I noticed Bob hadn’t been eating a lot lately; he looked thin, and not only was that unhealthy, but I felt guilty! I said to him, “I’m going to make you a meatloaf tomorrow. Enough of these catch-as-catch-can dinners. I’m going to try one more time. …We went to the market together, bought the ingredients together, and today, while he tried to remember how to play golf, I tried to remember how to cook… a meatloaf. Okay, Alexa. Play some Uptown Funk by Bruno Mars, and let’s go! As I peeled the potatoes, onions and carrots, I was singing and dancing. A girlfriend stopped by and we continued dancing as I was cooking. I had a good feeling about the whole thing! I took down my white and blue roasting pan with a top-cover (like the one we all had a million years ago), threw in my secret ingredients, and put it in the oven at 350. Game on. My Student-Assistant came over to help with some mysterious things I can’t do on the computer, and we worked for a couple of hours while Bob was watching a baseball game in the other room. Meanwhile, I kept checking on my meatloaf. I basted once or twice, and it looked good, but it did before, too…so you never know. There was a lot riding on this one. My Assistant left and I went to go see if dinner was done. It was. I told Alexa to play Tony Bennet and called Bob in to eat. I put the meatloaf, carrots, potatoes, onions and gravy on the plates, added a little applesauce, (always a must with meatloaf), and set the plates on the table. Bob took a bite and I held my breath. “I’m in heaven,” he said. “Maybe your best effort yet!” You can imagine how happy that made me. He cleaned his plate, BTW… Maybe I can still cook, if only for a night. I realized what cooking meant though; it’s more than a meal. It’s really a love note, and then you get a thank you note back. It’s a nurturing kind-of-thing that makes both parties feel good. I felt wifely, in a good kind-of-way. Tonight, it doesn’t matter what the news has to say. In our home, “all’s right with the world.”   And so it begins. This wonderful adventure I never dreamed would happen. It's all about books I wrote that were not best sellers, a TEDxTalk I gave that was not in the millions, times I've gone to speak and thought no one knew about it. Those kinds of things. Someone was watching! I'm getting an award tomorrow night with my son, husband, granddaughter, and two friends in attendance. We're on our way to Washington D.C. where the award will be given from the Alliance For Aging Research. The email came like a bolt in the blue inviting me to accept this award. I couldn't be more excited. It was given at a dinner function in front of 300 people. I will receive my award along side three other award-winners and then me––I will close the evening. It will be torture to wait throughout the whole evening, but oh, what an honor. Tomorrow we are having a small brunch at Martin's Tavern, and then naps, and then maybe hair... maybe not. I'm wearing a black tux-jacket, full pants, a white shell under the jacket, and of course: high heels, but not too high. Six o'clock festivities begin. I will go on at 8:45. After Washington, we will go on the train to New York for a few days. I will continue this on the train: think good thoughts. I think I have my speech down... TBC... We are now on the plane on our way home from New York. I didn't write on the train. I talked all the way in a quiet car, and enjoyed myself after two exhilarating, thrilling,nerve-racking, tiring days I will never forget. The Washington weather was just leaving summer but not quite. A warm, lovely sun with a little breeze fell on our shoulders. We all went on the same plane the day before and all arrived like Alice did in Wonderland. Washington is different. Even though it was a Bipartisan affair, they speak a different language here and think different thoughts. They are not concerned who wins the Emmy's or who was nominated for an Oscar. We checked into the Watergate Hotel, where we were generously put, dumped our clothes in the room, and all ran to the rooftop bar to beg for food from the managers (who had just shut down food services). But the show was the view. The river, the moonlit buildings, it was breathtaking. My son Jim prevailed and a plate of cheese and crackers showed up. We had a drink, toasted each other, and off to bed. The next morning, Bob had a brunch for our multi-generational group. We ranged in ages from 21 to 85 all taking place at Martin's Tavern, a quintessential Washington eatery. All the while, there were butterflies in my stomach. Would I mess up my speech? Could I stand to be the last one awarded? I didn't have a choice. These were the thoughts running around in my head. The group went shopping after brunch in Georgetown, and Bob and I went back for a nap where I could practice my speech for the zillionth time. Should I let this hair salon do my hair? Mine wasn't that bad... I settled for a comb-out. Before I knew it, it was time to get dressed and go. OMG. I was so nervous. First there was a reception where we could meet each other. They were all senators, congressmen, health-workers,People interested in health and aging. and They were all very friendly: Congressman James E. Clyburn (D-SC), recipient of the Claude Pepper Award for Advancing Healthy Aging; Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA), recipient of the Distinguished Public Service Award; John F. Tisdale, M.D., recipient of the Silver Innovator Award; and VADM Jerome M. Adams, M.D., M.P.H.,The Surgeon General of the United States! recipient of the Daniel Perry Founder’s Award. I was proud of my family and friends. My speech wasn't my only worry. My husband was not quite up to par health-wise and had fallen twice during the last few days before we left. I was on high alert for him at all times. I had two and a half hours to go before my speech. The building, Institute of Peace, and the room itself were breathtaking. As each person spoke, I was floored by how important they were, what they had to say, and what a thrill it was to be put in this group. Calvin Schmidt, the Vice chairman of Johnson and Johnson, introduced me and I was on. I thanked him and was in the zone. I did well. I had it memorized and luckily didn't forget anything. I received a standing ovation. What a thrill.! then It was over. They handed me The 2019 Perennial Hero Of Health Award. Photos were taken. I met some wonderful people. . And now, the next day, we went on the train to New York for some R&R with our friend, Bobbi. My husband did so well on the entire trip. We ate good food, saw a couple of plays, and the talk insists on still going round and round in my brain. If I had the choice, I'd do it all over again. Thank you Alliance for Aging Research.  |
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October 2019
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