Our 35th anniversary is the first that we are marking with a digital remembrance. Our previous 34 anniversaries have been marked with a very analog ritual: we have put a photo taken on (or near) May 9 into a special album hidden within a frame that holds a now-famous photo from the wedding itself. We have then spent part of the day (or a day soon after) writing memories of the previous year onto index cards, each of which is tucked behind that year's photo. It is the closest thing we have to a journal of our lives together -- aside from coverage by actual journalists in the New York Times and Bridgewater Magazine.
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| Celebrating on the eve of our anniversary with a selfie at the Immersive Frida Kahlo in Boston. |
Year in Review, starting May 2021:
Harvey came to visit in Bridgewater in May, with an open-ended ticket. The three of us went to Maryland in June to visit other family members and cicadas. Careful readers will note that this was our second cicada anniversary, having been married during the swarm of the 17-year Brood X in 1987.
After Harvey returned to Chicago, our next highlight was an August trip to Vermont. We stayed at the Golden Stage Inn and made plans to join Vermont Inn Walking the following year!
Meanwhile, in July James gave a one-day professional-development workshop for teachers, entitled Sodade: Cape Verde is Migration, through the global education program at Framingham State University.
As our semi-pandemic life entered its third academic year, we decided to join the 21st century and migrate the Sacred Kitchen Calendar to an online version! It is still the case that the first one to stake out a date usually wins, but it is with phones and computers now, instead of pencils!
In October, information-literacy specialist Pam gave a presentation at the Bridgewater Senior Center entitled Don't Be Tricked! She offered expert guidance on scams and frauds.
Later in October, Pamela hosted a Zoom event in which Rev. Naomi Tutu made a virtual visit to our community. It was both a great honor and a poignant occasion, as she was with her father Rev. Desmond Tutu for what was to be his last birthday.
On November 3, both of us presented a virtual workshop on sustainability for a New England-wide academic audience through NERCOMP.
In November and December, Pam taught a course on Free Speech and Censorship for BSU Senior College. (Note: during this year we came to realize that we are now old enough to be participants in all of the programs we provide for area seniors.)
James taught three courses on coffee for senior citizens during this year -- virtually for BSU Senior College in the autumn and spring and in-person at the rather peculiar Linden Ponds compound for the aging wealthy in Hingham. The second BSU program included chocolate and tea, by popular demand!
Throughout the year, James continued to work with friends in Nicaragua and friends of those friends elsewhere, to support the amazing program Aqualí. It is a model of environmental education and youth professional development in the most challenging of circumstances.
On December 30-31, we traveled to Boston for a Van Gogh immersion experience. At the last minute, we learned that it was one of two competing exhibits, and that it was not the first one. It was a wonderful way to learn a lot about an artist we knew only vaguely. And mild weather made it a good time to explore Dorchester. We were happy to find dining and lodging options that were both enjoyable and very Covid-conscious. It was the first time we ever stayed in Boston overnight together.
On February 11, we went to see our friends Jim Quinn and Lisa Troy -- theater educators who are married to each other -- perform Love Letters at a community theater in Braintree.
During the spring semester, James did his first formal online teaching collaboration through a program called COIL. The collaboration with architecture professors in Monterrey, Mexico and with Dr. Boah Kim here at BSU was a little complicated and awkward, but it was very rewarding. Students compared the quality of life across several specific dimensions in Monterrey and the Massachusetts communities of Dorchester, Lowell, and Brockton.
In April, we joined James's brother Bob and his wife Teresa for breakfast at Vic's Waffle House in Lowell. They were in town for nephew Taylor's lacrosse game between UMBC (where Pam and James first met) and UMass-Lowell.
Also in April, Pam hosted a virtual author talk by Lev Golinkin in connection with the One Book One Community reading of his book A Backpack, A Bear, and Eight Crates of Vodka.
As the year came to a close, we both enrolled in training to be parent facilitators for Boston PFLAG, whose Easton meeting we have been attending for several years.
We celebrated our anniversary on May 8 with a return to Boston -- just for the day this time -- for Immersive Frida. We will not be going to every art immersion program that comes to our area, but we are huge fans of Frida and found a lot to enjoy from the experience. It was Mother's Day, so we avoided the trendy places for brunch, and had a low-key experience in a classic diner just outside of Chinatown.
Near the end of the spring semester, we collaborated with one of our favorite alumni to host the visit of an amazing group of five artists and advocates from Nicaragua. One member of the group was our friend Nohelia, who had served as a professional guide on some of our visits to Nicaragua. The group stayed at our house while attending the Specialty Coffee Association conference in Boston, where they promoted Origen.Photo.Projet -- which connects photography, coffee, and community development throughout Central America.
Pam noticed that the theme gift for a 35th wedding anniversary is coral. Rather than give each other actual coral, we gave the gift of coral protection. That is, we made a donation in our own name to the Mesoamerican Reef Fund. Not only does the organization promote the protection of coral reefs, it also promotes sustainable community development in a part of the world that means a lot to us. As a bonus, its acronym MAR means "sea" in Spanish. Bonus points for being clever.
Memoriam: During this year, the most notable losses were the death of our beloved miniature pinscher Perry -- who was mourned not only by our family but by many of our friends who had been her caretakers over the years -- and our good friend and tremendous human Frank Yeatman. We miss both terribly.
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