As I bid adieu to the year that has been simultaneously indescribable and littered with any number of descriptions, dumpster fire anyone, I have decided to do a year in review.
This year has been hard, brick wall, steel girder, hard. In my own life, challenges and loss were plenty. I started the year, like most, with great ambition; finish my book, work on myself and my relationships, spend time with one of my best friends and enjoy all that my new home had to offer. I got journals and planners, dance instructors and a gym membership...so hopeful. As the pandemic came into full view plans and vacations and camps got canceled, my daily gym routine died, my motivation suffered and I became overwhelmed. I spent the middle of the pandemic pretty much phoning it in, and even that is an overstatement of my showing some days. Naps were the norm, binge watching tv shows and just generally checking out became my coping mechanism. Parenting teenagers in a pandemic is not just hard, it has been soul crushingly brutal, keeping a marriage strong with very little in the way of any real time alone has been frustrating. Finding any semblance of time for myself or my interests was non existent.
I've spent the last few weeks looking through photos of this year, I documented the first 100 days of quarantine, and found myself repeatedly saying "THAT happened this year??" This year has felt like 5 years. I lost a very dear, friend early on this year and I honestly was surprised when I looked back and realized that hadn't happened last year. There was no closure, no ability to say goodbye. The bad parts just kept rolling one into the other til it was a mish mash of crap that seemed to have been going on for years. I am honestly shocked at how much crap has been packed into one measly year, 12 months, 365 days.
Despite all that, throughout this pandemic, I have had a secret, guilty thought..."This isn't so bad for us". By us I mean my family of 4. We have certainly known loss and have friends that have struggled, but for us, if we really look at it, it wasn't so bad. This is certainly not to rub anyone's noses in anything. I don't think there is a person on earth right now that hasn't been impacted by this pandemic in some way, big or small. It is simply a way to look back and not dwell so much on the hard but to see the hidden gifts this year has brought us. I am a firm believer in things happening for a reason and while I don't for one second think the death and injustices we've seen and had this year have any "reason", I hope they have at least brought some kind of enlightenment to people, I know they did me.
So when Steve and I talked to the kids over Christmas break and talked about how lucky our family has been through this whole thing, I decided to go through my year of pictures and remember those good things as a way to usher out a hard year and start the new year with a different frame of mind. Besides these things from my photo feed, so many other things brought some joy to my life this year; watching birds out my window, my 4 legged family members, a little 4 year old blonde boy and his equally wonderful mother that I followed on FB, The Holderness family, The I MOM SO HARD ladies and sunshine...so much sunshine in TN!
My Marshall family 2020 year in review:
January: Started the year in Peterborough after visiting for Christmas, Steve and I saw Brandi Carlisle in concert at the Ryman (the original Grand Ole Opry), Picked up our first NGPR foster Maverick
February: Scrap days with Janette, FINISHED MY BOOK, Caitie's bestie visited from NH, Started the Sit & Play program...PUPPIES!
March: I visited the Garden Show in Nashville, We had a nesting Kildeer in our front yard, Cake #1 made, Explored the Natchez Trace for the first time, Morning walks with Steve started, Neighborhood clean up with the kids, home organization began, dyed my own hair red
April: School closed, Guest room organization finished, Jojen and I participated in a freestyle compilation, Adopted Maverick, Houseparty app workouts with my besties, started work on the garden
May: Started work on the screen porch, Season 2 of Dead to me, planted my garden beds, Aggression in Dogs Conference, Lemonade conference, NGPR transports
June: Cake #2, Peach subscription arrives, Lots of pool days, garden is blooming, Started watching The Office, Family drive on the Natchez Trace,
July: HAMILTON on TV!, Picked up Ramsey to foster, started Reactive Rover classes, visited Cheekwood, 18th wedding anniversary in quarantine, Motorcycle rented for a week, Steve turns 50!
August: Rented a boat with the family-twice!, Bean crazy in the garden, "Back to school", Quick visit with Caitie to NH
September: Re-organized my craft room, Steve bought his motorcycle, Cake #3, Ramsey got adopted
October: Picked up Gabby to foster, Apple picking with the family, Rick Riordan virtual book tour, Cake #4, Birthday trip of the murals of Nashville, early voting, Rylie turns 16, cut my own hair, Escape room...twice, Zipline/adventure course with Rylie
November: My mom comes to visit, Rylie goes to FL. for her AIO camp, Christmas lights in Gallatin
December: Decorating our new home for Christmas with my mom, Clint Black virtual concert date night, Die Hard 1,2,3, Gabby gets adopted, Cake #5, A beautiful Christmas with my 3 favorite people, Caitie finished writing her first book, laughing with my family on NYE watching Bob Marley, starting a new year with a grateful heart
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