Each New Year Matt and I take a long walk where we review the prior year and pin expectations, hopes, and dreams on the coming one. What struck me as I ended 2020 feeling exhausted and a bit deflated was how much joy filled our year was we started reminiscing. That joy lingered well into the COVID months. It was good to shed light on the COVID positives.
Canada Shed Light
We opened the year on an adventure in Canada to freeze our hair. The weather worked against us. Canada had a random warm spell bringing the temps hovering around freezing, but not the negative temps required to freeze our hair until we looked like abominable snow people. Instead the weather provided one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. The Aurora Borealis danced green and slightly purple in the sky. I was in awe and wonder of the world—a state I often find myself.
Birthday in COVID
My birthday came first in my family in COVID-land. Since Broadway was shuttered and I couldn’t see Hamilton my family acted out a duel in my front yard. I was grateful for every Broadway show I’d made a point to see over the previous year. It was time with my mom in the Big Apple seeing great performances. The pandemic was a reminder not to put things off to a later date. We aren’t guaranteed time.
Favorite Easter
Easter arrived and while many were disappointed not to partake in normal traditions, I had the best Easter ever. Matt and I pulled the Eater Bunny costume from the attic and drove to our family’s homes with him donned in a white bunny suit sticking out of the sunroof while Celebration blared on repeat over the car radio. We danced in yards and laughed with loved ones. We drove through our town and over to Hartford Hospital (my brother and his wife made a sign for us to thank the staff for all they were doing). Easter showed me that if you are willing to get creative you can still find silliness and joy in a year that appeared to work against those efforts. I was up for the challenge.
Enjoying Local
Matt and I discovered beautiful parks mere minutes from our home. Why had we never been before? Too busy. Too stuck in our normal routine.
In June, our vacation plans to Brazil foiled, we rented an RV and headed up to New Hampshire to hike. The granite state is one of my favorite places to escape normally. Randomly, some of our closest friends had the same plan so we booked campsites next to each other. We played games in the rain and talked and laughed alongside a river. The world felt a little normal. It was a vacation we would have never planned—not enough adventure for Matt and Maggie. But a reminder that sometimes a slower pace and an escape with friends is exactly what is required for a real recharge.
Water Beads
Filling a pool with small, slippery orbs I swam in a pool of water beads while Matt went to Florida and got his pilot’s license—really making the most of the opportunity of work-from-home. We purchased land in New Hampshire, an option we’ve talked about it for years, but if travel will be limited we wanted a place we can go whenever we want.
Business Opportunities
I converted part of my business to virtual, which should provide potential for good opportunities. It was an extremely stressful, but also really rewarding experience. I’m not tech savvy and struggle to have a major part of my business in someone else’s hands to ensure it works. Learning to let go and trust is a lesson I need. Thank you, COVID, I guess. To be clear—it’s not a lesson I’ve learned, it’s a lesson I’m learning.
Halloween Shed Light
As Halloween approached Matt and our neighbors had been talking about an elaborate spectacle of pirate ships since the previous Halloween. But it looked like Halloween might get cancelled. Was it worth the effort of moving ahead? No. Instead we decided on a pumpkin extravaganza and friends and family stepped up to create unique, intricate shapes and smiles on tall, large, and sideways orange orbs we set to glow for a week. Every night I’d stare at them, wondering why carved pumpkins brought their own sense of wonder and awe. Was it the light? A connection between the northern lights and these faces, ravens, and owls aglow?
I’m drawn to the light. I’ve been afraid of the dark since I saw Gremlins and began sleeping with the light on until I was twelve. While freezing at night on top of Kilimanjaro I’d anxiously wait for a sliver of sun to appear over the horizon; knowing my day would improve when the sun lit my world. Magic, innovation, and warmth emanates from light. It shows us where we are going.
Shed Light on COVID
I’m aware one of the reasons I can see good in COVID is that my loved ones remained healthy throughout this year. I did not suffer personal human loss and I’m still working. That is something to be grateful for as 2020 comes to an end. This year was not without frustration, grief for parts of our lives that went missing, stress, and a constant concern about feeling judged for every decision. I’m not attempting to make light of a difficult year. It just surprised me when we started discussing the year how much good remained, how much light shown in. And to survive, that is what I need to focus on because it reminds me that when moments feel dark, lonely, and scary the light is still there. Nature provides it for us, and, because of the ingenuity and obstacles people overcame before us, we can light our own torch and move forward. There is always good in the world.
Keep Reading
Want to hear more about those beautiful local walks we found? Click here.
If you need a chuckle to start the year, click here for some fun Pilates cartoons.
An oldie but a goodie…here’s one of Maggie’s old plank stories.
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