The family sat down together – which has been much more commonplace in 2020 – and decided to come up with a list of all those things that happened this year that were good, worth celebrating, and worth remembering. On the whole, the year has been spent indoors, detached from family and friends (at least in person) and devoid of vacations and visits from family and friends. We’ve uninvited our beloved Aunt B more than once and pray that Easter 2021 will be the winner. We had a few visits from close friends where we either stood on the lawn six feet apart or in chairs around the bonfire pit.
Still, we came up with this list as we reflect on the year that’s about to close.
Good health
Though we’ve seen close friends and their family members suffer from COVID and even have nieces and nephews fight the virus, our immediate family has been incredibly blessed. It helps that we wear masks, wash our hands, and stay away from large gatherings, but it has been a huge blessing that we have not contracted the disease. Fingers crossed this continues as we wait for the vaccine to make its way down the line.
New neighbors
Just before the pandemic hit, the folks next door moved in with their two young children. Quarantine started almost immediately, but it didn’t stop from us from watching their children enjoy a huge new yard, a new play set, a new puppy, all the while watching our children engage with them through the trees and across the yard. Now, when it snows, they bang on the back door and ask for the big kids to come out and play. Another unexpected blessing from 2020.
Treehouse
In the early winter of 2019, we started building a treehouse. The first real attempt led to six broken bones in my finger, so the project sat there for a bit. But this spring, as quarantine took hold, we did some virtual shopping from Lowes and, once the delivery arrived, we got to work. The children now have an 8×8 treehouse (really a house on stilts) to enjoy. They have screened the windows and I have run electricity to it so when warm weather comes back, I expect them to spend a lot more time outdoors.
Kitchen and mudroom
It only took about 11 weeks (and we still seven tiles and one door short), but the kitchen and mudroom are both amazing. The week before Christmas we enjoyed our first real meal in weeks and quickly fell in love with our gas stove (okay, propane) and our new double oven. The kitchen had not been upgraded, except for some minor paint and counters, since 1955, so it was due. The oldest child commented that she likes that it’s finally a kitchen where we can all gather and still have room to move around. We would approach the project differently next time, but no one is anxious for “next time,” so those ideas will have to wait.
Jobs we love
Maureen and I are blessed with jobs we love. Though friends and colleagues lost their jobs amidst the pandemic, we were busier than ever. Another unexpected blessing was to have to make a shift to interact with our constituencies in new and exciting ways. Working from home while the kids are learning remotely can present some challenges, but we are blessed with Internet that works (most of the time) and enough space for people to spread out.
New schools and new friends
Speaking of schools, three of the children began new schools, met new friends, and struggled through remote learning for the first semester. The school system has been amazing in their regular (sometime overwhelming) communication and we are blessed with good teachers, good administrators, and a school system that genuinely seeks the best for the students. More adjustments will be made in the second half of the school year and it will be some time before we see the real effects of the pandemic in terms of the social, emotional, and academic cost to our young people. We are grateful for jobs we can work remotely so we can be present to our children as they try to get their work done.
Zoom
I really wish I had bought shares of Zoom in January, but it’s on the list anyway – especially as it allows us to connect with friends and families, not to mention dramatically changed the way we work with each other.
Family Time
We have redefined family time. From binge-watching our new favorite shows (The Mentalist, Mandalorian, and Rizolli and Isles) to putting puzzles together and playing Phase 10 or Uno, this year has certainly increased the amount of time we spend together. The days before Christmas were spent cleaning the house, removing all the mess of remodeling, and putting the house back together. The children are old enough now to work mostly independently and it is a process for parents to give away responsibility to the children who will always be infants and toddlers in their mind’s eye.
We hope your 2020 was filled with as many blessings for you as it was for us. While the media will try to convince us that 2020 was horrid and cursed and filled with more negative than positive, we are people of hope, and hope never, ever disappoints.