{"id":784,"date":"2005-12-31T10:26:46","date_gmt":"2005-12-31T18:26:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mainecourse.com\/mt\/?p=784"},"modified":"2006-10-20T08:10:20","modified_gmt":"2006-10-20T12:10:20","slug":"december-31","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mainecourse.com\/mt\/2005\/12\/31\/december-31\/","title":{"rendered":"December 31"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been waiting for La Rad to post a comment to the Hemingway story, but it doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t seem like that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to happen, so I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m moving on.<\/p>\n

\n

\"kitchen_christmas_sm.jpg\"
\nSusan, Larry, Robert, Diane, Katherine, Matt, Emma<\/p>\n

\n

As I was driving down Central St, I passed by neighbor, Joy. I waved and then I pulled into my driveway. As I got out of my truck, I turned to see Joy had made a u-turn and pulled in behind me. I walked up to her and said, <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We got your grandsons. Another great Christmas card.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (Her daughter has three blonde boys, each a year or two apart, the oldest must be about ten.)<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t like Kyle\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s smile but..\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Come on, Joy, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re a nitpicker. It wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t as perfect as last years and …\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153A professional took that one.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153With the sand dunes and the boardwalk and the beach plums?\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153And that boardwalk has special meaning to Bob (her husband), it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s where he grew up.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know that. And how did you like our Christmas card?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Next time I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m going to put a note in mine nagging you for yours.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Believe me, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve brought it up so many times, your card already comes with that note.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

The last time I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d talked to Joy was right after Patti died and we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d both, then, caught up on family matters. At some point, we always talk about the two widows, Mary and Dolly, who used to live between us. I’d walk through both yards to get to Joy and Bob\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s. <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I guess you heard about Dolly?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d My Two Neighbors<\/a> and Parting Company<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153No, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been meaning to visit her again (In the nursing home behind Emerson Hospital).<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Dolly died. She finally got to go to her daughter\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s in Texas, but she lived only three months.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Three months?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153She had cancer, but no one knew it. At least she didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t suffer much.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153And, Mary, is she still in the same nursing home?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Mary doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t recognize anyone anymore.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been waiting for La Rad to post a comment to the Hemingway story, but it doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t seem like that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to happen, so I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m moving on. Susan, Larry, Robert, Diane, Katherine, Matt, Emma As I was driving down Central … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mainecourse.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mainecourse.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mainecourse.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mainecourse.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mainecourse.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=784"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mainecourse.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/784\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mainecourse.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mainecourse.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mainecourse.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}