Everyone is ready for a new year… a new chapter as we enter 2021.
While this year will go down in the record books in so many ways, with many people having faced impossible struggles. We all missed our loved ones and friends when we were unable to share the little moments of our day to day lives and especially the holidays.
But, there was still much to be grateful for.
When we left school on March 13th, we had no idea that we would see our closest friends 2 times in person for the rest of the year… that we’d be locked down for weeks, not knowing what was fact or fiction… that we’d have to ration toilet paper (still not sure about the logic behind this one!!!).
But through it, I am more thankful than ever for my family. For one, I’d never have gotten through without them. While not every day was picture perfect, we had so many picnics, created so many beautiful projects, laughed together, and cried together.
(In the long days that followed March 13th, I certainly didn’t always have such a rosy outlook! But memory is a funny thing… fortunately, we are wired to remember the highlights so the painful/hard stuff sort of softens with time).
We were able to slow down and spend time with neighbors who we ordinarily just see passing by or when the kids are out front or they’re walking their dogs.
But, when we were all locked down, we had happy hours in the culdesac and just sat and shared and laughed. We were a community again (neighbors from other parts of the street would come to join our ‘party’ because it was so much fun!
We tried new things that we would have never thought of before … like TWO road trips to Florida with a 2/4 and then 3/5 year old. They were amazing and, who knows, maybe a 6-week road trip is in the cards for us in the future!
We learned what was most important… and what we could do without (read: decluttering into 2021!).
We learned how to be way more productive in the time we did have to do work because we had little ones that demanded our attention… So what would have taken me 8 hours in January was complete in 2 by August!
But most of all, we learned that we were resilient. We learned that being kind to people was not just important, but essential… We learned to live, love, and laugh today because tomorrow was not guaranteed.
We learned that in an instant, the entire world could change and the only thing we have control over is ourselves and our reactions (Admittedly, mine need some work in some cases… New Years Resolution, anybody?).
We have learned that life is precious.
Hugs those that mean the most to you.
Some very special people have faced tremendous loss this year (many of which had nothing to do with Covid) and they have shown me what it means to have courage, faith and hope when nothing else is left.
Nobody knows what tomorrow will hold. I know we were all ready for 2020 to be over, but the world didn’t suddenly change at midnight tonight… There are still burdens to bear, challenges to face, and struggles to overcome, but remember what you learned from 2020 and take that into 2021.
Love more… Laugh more… Hold on to what really matters and let go of the rest.
May the new year 2021 bring you peace and joy and fill you with many blessings.
