It’s January 1, 2021, and I’m finally taking a deep breath and relaxing into, hopefully, a new year brimming with possibility, hope, vaccinations and opportunity.
Weird Space
I don’t know about you, but that week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve is a weird space for me. Before Christmas was even in the books, I had to remind myself to breathe. I knew 2020’s wickedness wasn’t over. During the last week of December, we lost Dawn Wells (Mary Ann of Gilligan’s Island) to Covid-19. Also, a blogger friend, Lori Rose Bebko at Come Hell Or High Water, lost her brother to Covid. I still haven’t been able to wrap my mind around that and I’m heartbroken for her. It’s as though 2020 decided to snuff out what last bit of wholesomeness and innocence that was left in this world, qualities that these two individuals personified…just because it could.
On a more personal note, David and I suffered our son’s last meltdown of 2020 during the last thirty minutes of the year. I won’t go into details, but things were intense. For a moment, I wondered if we were going to actually get to 2021 intact. Extra meds and distraction got everyone back on an even keel. Thankfully, as the clock wound down to midnight, so did the meltdown. We celebrated by playing Yahtzee and watching the fireworks display at Reunion Tower in Dallas on TV. We had no bubbly this year, but David and I toasted with leftover Pinot Grigio because that’s what we had and, by God, we were thankful for the alcohol!
CAN WE DO IT?
I want to believe humanity can stretch the honeymoon of this New Year out just a little longer before the inevitable news of the day comes along. Can we get past 24 hours with only good news? I’m going to do my part by not watching any news today. If I have to, I will spin the shitakes out of whatever negative energy dares to cross my path. I’m going to make this first day of 2021 one I can feel good about. Whatever may come, I’m going to start in a grateful state of mind and stay there as long as I can. I hope you join me. (With enough Pinot Grigio, this is doable!)
Here are three things I’m grateful for right here and now:
- I’m grateful 2020 is over. Can we take a lesson out of Jenny Lawson’s book and just pretend 2020 never happened?
- I’m grateful for my family and friends and the blogging community. No words can adequately describe how much each of you mean to me!
- I’m grateful for the promise of 2021. There’s so much I want to do!
- I’m grateful that my dog loves me enough that he looked at me this morning and said something along the lines of, “Really? You’re getting up at 5 AM when you haven’t even slept, which makes me have to get up with you?” Buddy has a rule that when I get up, he gets up no matter what. Birdie (our cat) thinks this is a stupid rule and ignores it completely. Don’t worry. No dog abuse here. I made Bud get back in bed and I shut our bedroom door behind me so he couldn’t follow me out. Hopefully, when I crawl back in bed after I finish this post, Bud will be fast asleep.
Okay, that was four things out of so many more for which I’m grateful.
I hope that you and yours are doing well and that 2021 finds you looking forward to nothing but good things, too!
What are you grateful for as you begin the New Year?
Also, I’m grateful for the Beatles!
Blessings,
Mona
Thanks for the uplifting song. Let’s keep hoping it’s true. Have a wonderful and safe New Year throughout and hope that 2020 just becomes a footnote in history books.
Hey Barbara,
Ditto everything you wrote! Glad to hear from you on this January day! 🙂 Mona
Mona!!! So glad you’re back and writing about brightness and hope. We missed you. xo
Hey Sherry,
I’m glad, too! I have a ton of catch up to do on your blog and I can’t wait to get going! *rubbing hands in anticipation!* LOL. Mona
1. I am thankful that blogs are incredibly patient things that wait for us through seasons when we could not possibly put to pen or screen the things in our minds and hearts.
2. I am thankful for the prospect of leaving North Carolina and making it up to New Hampshire before the end of 2021.
3. I am thankful that I survived COVID and that the sequelae, while not fun, are manageable and allow for a normal life. Not everyone was so lucky. Some paid the ultimate price, often needlessly. I hurt for Lori right now.
4. I am thankful for receding floodwaters and chances to rebuild. See ya, 2020.
Lille,
OMG, yes, yes, yes to your number one. That’s it exactly.
BTW, I looked up New Hampshire on a map not too long ago. That is way the hell up there! Brrrr! I’m excited for you and Pam, though! Also, I, too, am grateful you survived Covid. I know your symptoms lingered. Are you back up to full steam?
When I read about Lori’s brother…well, I’m still trying to figure out how that can be? I often think about resilience. How humans adapt. Then there’s the flipside. Life is fragile. People, pets and things can be gone in a literal heartbeat with no warning. While I don’t want to turn back the clock, there’s a part of me that is reaching for life that was there and now isn’t. I find myself thinking about Lori and her family several times a day. I’m grateful that she shared her brother so wonderfully with us on FB.
Oh, no, did your home get flooded? Mona
I’m so grateful you’re back and still doing well, going from uneven keels to even ones, and even that is something to be grateful for. I’m also grateful that we have a new puppy who just turned six months old a couple of days ago. She’s named after Junko Tabei, the first woman to not only climb Mount Everest but climb the highest peak on every continent including Antarctica. Our puppy is aptly named too–she’s as smart and fearless as her namesake.
And for me the period between Christmas and New Year’s is always weird too so I’m grateful that I’m not alone in that feeling.
Christopher,
Congratulations on your new fearless wonder! Puppies are the best! As usual, I always learn something new and amazing from you! Junko, huh? I had no idea. What do you call her? Junko? Junk? Junko Tabei seems like a mouthful. JT, maybe? Now I have that Julie Andrew’s song from The Sound of Music, “Climb every mountain…search high and low…follow every rainbow…” stuck in my head. Thanks for that! By the way, can one be both smart and fearless at the same time? You’ve given me a lot to think about in just a few sentences, my friend! Stay safe…and smart. Fearless? Go for that too if you want! Every mountain on every continent…what ambition! Mona
So good to hear from you, Mona. I’m going to follow your lead with the positive attitude thing.
1. I’m grateful for a loving family
2. For vaccine – sometime
3. The doggedness you’re keep writing the ‘book’
Hope to see you soon
SHEILA!!!!! How are you? *Giving you a great big virtual hug*
Can I call you? Are you well? Can I call you? Or you could call me! Yes, you should call me at your convenience! We so need to catch up! How’s the writing going? I’m still plugging along. I’m grateful you have faith in me. Cheers to vaccines and getting re-acquainted with friends! Any bets when we actually get vaccinated? I’m thinking mid January. If not by then, I’ll start harassing doctors and screaming like a banshee. I wonder what a banshee’s scream sounds like? Hmm…I may have to google that. I definitely want to get that right! Mona
It was a most awful year wasn’t it. There’s so much stuff going around about how covid is not as bad as the governments make out, yet my work colleague works in our local hospital and he said its horrendous, the staff are working all hours, and it’s full of covid patients. A truly horrible disease. We are all in lockdown in the UK, and told to stay in, unless we have to work. I work in a school, and only in 1 day per week looking after keyworker children. So sorry to hear of Lori’s loss, how sad, and painful.
I really hope this year there will be some positivity. Happy New Year Mona xx
Hey Pip,
It’s so good to hear from you this January. Covid just keeps rearing its ugly head day-after-day. I can’t wait for my family, friends and I to get vaccinated, but I guess there’s been problems with getting vaccines out to everyone and it’s taking much slower than we’d hoped. Have you been vaccinated yet? Also, the more contagious variant that southern England’s had to deal with has made it to our shores. This week, someone a few hours away here in Texas tested positive for this new strain. My guess is that it will soon find its way to our community. Ugh. And even though we keep breaking daily records for how many people have Covid and are dying from it, Texas remains mostly open. I’m speechless. It will be a happy day when we can return to some sense of normality! Stay safe my friend and the Happiest of New Years to you! Hugs, Mona