2020: A Year Of Gratitude
I imagine y’all are getting tired of reading the train wreck that has become 2020 and are looking forward 2021. I am picturing the end of the year look back will be a newscasters delight showcasing disaster upon disaster with a gleam in their eye.
Daily social media posts already run the gambit from the bizarre (who had a hurricane in Iowa for 2020 bingo?) to the ridiculous, (pictures of shopping carts crammed with toilet paper.) I won’t even mention politics here!
Unemployment is at a record high. Families are not only losing their homes, but they’re also losing loved ones to the pandemic ravaging our world. Positive testing for Covid-19 has finally hit home for my family. A miracle since I work in health care and my husband works in the grocery industry.
Some people are angry and use violence as their platform of expression, while others live in fear holding on white knuckled to their sanity. Me, I’ve decided on a different approach. I want 2020 to be a year of gratitude.
A Year Of Gratitude
Despite the craziness going on in our world, I have had numerous things to celebrate. For example, my Mom who’s in her 80’s and Father-in-law who’s in his 90’s are alive and well staying safe in the pandemic. I’m a grandma, again. After much difficulty, my youngest gave birth to a baby girl this past August.
We had a family wedding, that didn’t result in new cases of Covid-19. My husband and I have remained employed the entire year and because we’re not eating out as much, but it hasn’t stopped us from supporting our favorite establishments.
I’d like to think we may have saved in our annual food budget. Maybe.
Going From Vacation To Staycation
We had to cancel our trip to Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park, and Durango to see family, but we took a vacation, enjoying the scenery along the north shore drive riding the Gitchi- Gami bike trail with our new ebikes.
We’ve explored several new bike trails and have packed many picnic lunches on our free weekends.
We do more face time than I’d like but have found a way to interact by playing games. Guess Who is one of our grandson’s favorites. We have visited our adult children and their families on occasion when everyone has been symptom free for two weeks.
We planted a garden this year and went apple picking in the fall. Our pantry is full and we’ve never ran out of toilet paper. There’s plenty of gratitude for that! And yes, all my book events were canceled this year and I miss seeing you all at the various book signings. It will make next year even more special when we can see one another again face to face. In short, I have to say I’ve been blessed and for that I can only be grateful.
To all whom have cancelled holiday family gatherings, I feel your distress. It doesn’t make it any less sorrowful but think of the joy I will experience when we can be together again and I let that promise carry me through. In my family growing up, and as a nurse in my own family, it was not uncommon for someone to be working the day of a holiday. And though it didn’t seem fair we learned to accept the reality and made our own holiday when every member of the family could be seated around the dining room table.
How To Pay Your Gratitude Forward
I can’t fix the world or cure a virus but I found some worthwhile suggestions a friend of mine posted that I’d like to pass along. If you’ve got a lot to be grateful for, here’s how you can pay it forward:
Live beneath your means.
Return everything you borrow.
Stop blaming others. Admit it when you make a mistake.
Give clothes not worn to charity.
Do something nice and try not to get caught.
Listen more talk less.
Everyday take a 30 minute walk.
Strive for excellence not perfection.
Be on time. Don’t make excuses.
Don’t argue. Get organized.
Be kind to people. Be kind to unkind people. And be kind to yourself.
Let someone cut in front of you in line.
Take time to be alone.
Reach out and call someone you know who’s been isolated.
Cultivate good manners. Be humble.
Know when to keep your mouth shut.
Go an entire day without criticizing anyone.
Learn from the past. Plan for the future. Live in the present.
Your opinion doesn’t change things. Your actions do.
And finally, don’t sweat the small stuff. It’s all small stuff.
