Season’s greetings from Chicagoland!

I am going into the holidays recovering from the flu. I got sick this past Sunday, but was fortunate to get started on Tamiflu Monday afternoon. Now it is Friday night and I am feeling about 70% better. Will need another week to fully recover, but feeling very fortunate.

I am also going into the holidays recovering from the loss of my mother, the funeral was 3 weeks ago today. She beat the odds by making it 30 months after the diagnosis of glioblastoma, but the last half of that was just miserable. Even with so much time to prepare, it is tough adjusting at the end of the terrible journey.

The good news is that as both a troubled loner and longtime expat, the holidays are not nearly the trigger for me as they are for most people…years of experience powering through. Even so, this season is the opposite of festive here.