I know we all love hating on 2020 and how awful it's been. (I really wish I'd purchased this ornament for myself!) And I know that millions of people have been sick and dying and suffering.
But we've mostly been... fine? This year has been weird, and I've been very unhappy with the schooling situation, but there's been a lot of good that's happened this year for us, too, and I think I'd be ungrateful if I wasn't honest about that fact. But it's hard to be honest about one's own good fortune, without sounding dismissive of others' sufferings, so I'm trying to not do that. For what it's worth.
So here's a list of Firsts that I experienced this year.
1) Craig working from home. This only lasted from March to July, but I LOVED it. I always used to joke that I wished Craig could work from home, but that just wasn't possible with his career choice. My wish finally came true and it was just as glorious as I'd dreamed!
2) Working at weddings! This turned out to be much more enjoyable than I feared and I'm looking forward to continuing with this some day when there are big weddings again! I really liked doing something outside the home for a few hours and feeling like a grown up who isn't only drowning in kids all day long. I don't need a lot of that-- I actually really enjoy being a full-time mom-- but every few weeks, it's a nice break!
3) "Homeschooling" my kids. This is not my favorite thing! And really, compared to people who actually homeschool, trying to keep my kids on their zoom meetings is really very easy. But that doesn't mean I don't hate it! I'm still keeping my fingers crossed that my kids will all get to go to school some day this year. (Craig tells me not to hold my breath.). In the meantime, I have even MORE respect for people who choose to really homeschool their kids, and I'm very grateful that I have enough confidence in our school system here to not do that. Please come back, teachers!!!
4) Lived during a global pandemic. We are literally all in this together, so I won't go on and on how about how weird it's been getting used to not leaving the house without checking that we all have masks. You've done it, too. You don't need to read about it here. But suffice to say, it's definitely been a learning experience!
5) Funeral preparation. A few days before Christmas, I was asked to help dress the body of a woman in our congregation who had died. I didn't know her, so it wasn't particularly emotional for me, but it was a surprisingly sweet experience, and I appreciated the kindness and respect shown to her by the other women helping out. I'm glad there are good people who do this service for others.
6) Life as a bishop's wife. Obviously, Craig is the one really in the hot seat being the bishop. But it does occasionally feel like some of that mantle is at least brushing my shoulders, too. I am very aware that I have to set a good example, too, and it does force me to try harder at everything than I otherwise might. I'm really glad my kids are a little bit older and not quite as wild at church now! I'm also getting used to the fact that there are things Craig just can't talk about. So when he has meetings with people, I no longer ask who he's seeing or wonder what's happening in their life that they want to meet with him. I just tell him good luck and hope he can help. It's a change for me to not be so nosy, but I'm getting used to it.
7) Not needing babysitters. Since we really weren't sure how much we should have Craig's parents coming over at first, it was sure nice that we felt Bentley and Kendra were old enough and mature enough to be left in charge at times. Craig and I ran out to Costco one evening to buy Christmas decorations and I watched the family in front of us with three very young children struggling as the cash registers all stopped working for a while and the lines just kept getting longer and longer and I thought to myself, "IT IS SO GREAT COMING HERE WITHOUT KIDS!!!" I hope I never forget just how liberating that is!
8) Pretending to be outdoorsy. It all began with my obsessive walking at the beginning of the lockdown, and blossomed into my little hiking club, but I'm slowly starting to think I might just be the outdoorsy type after all!
9) Having an exercise group in Charlottesville. Back in Manassas, there were times when my friend Vangie would lead work out groups and I always enjoyed being involved, but there was just never a way to make that happen with my ward here (the building is too far away, everyone lives so spread out, and there aren't really people who would be interested). So it was very exciting to find FiA! Give me some music and a few other women so we can all complain together, and I'm so happy exercising!
10) Regularly eating out. Craig and I decided to use a chunk of our stimulus money to help the local economy by getting take-out on a much more regular basis than we EVER did before Covid. We got in the habit of letting the kids eat frozen pizza while we got Indian or Thai food for ourselves and BOY was that fun! I LOVE eating out with Craig!
11) Audio books. While I was managing to walk so much, I listened to The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin and a big chunk of Emma by Jane Austen and it was very enjoyable! I discovered that my library has a decent selection of audiobooks, so I don't even have to spend money on them! (I also started The Stand by Stephen King, but once I realized it was about a pandemic, I stopped. I didn't need any extra pandemic freaking out in my life!) For now, I'm back to regular books-- I can't listen to headphones for more than about thirty seconds without my kids interrupting-- but if my kids ever go to school, I can picture audiobooks being a great way to "read" while I get other stuff done, too! Who knows, I might even get into podcasts!
12) Spending money on perfume. This is so silly, but I heard about the perfume Jo Malone's Orange Blossom scent and was intrigued. Ever since discovering them in California on spring break when I was in high school, orange blossoms are one of my absolute favorite scents! But then I saw how much a bottle of Jo Malone perfume costs and I quickly backpedaled... But I just couldn't stop thinking about it and I had birthday money burning a hole in my pocket so... I finally found a store that carries Jo Malone products and got a sample. Thought about it some more. And then went for it! And I LOVE my perfume so much! And now I've gotten myself a candle (darn that store for giving me a $20 off coupon that I just HAD to use!), and Craig got me their shower gel for Christmas and I love ALL OF IT. I'm also trying to be good about actually using it now that I've spent all that money. Usually I would try to save something like this and make it last forever, but my sister Rachael pointed out that perfume goes "bad" and loses its scent eventually, so what am I gaining by not using it? Or, as I said to Craig, "Why shouldn't I smell good every day???" So that's been a bit of a ride for me.
13) Fostering. We've only barely begun on this journey, but it's definitely been a new thing for us! So far it's been very positive. I just got a call this week, and Rodney is going to be coming to stay with us again for another couple days at the end of the month! Apparently, when his foster parents asked him about doing respite care again, he asked if he could stay at the house with the bunny! 😊 So that made us very happy. We said we hoped we could be a soft place to land for these kids, and I like to think that we're providing just that, even if it's just for 48 hours at a time!
So, yeah, what a year! From huge things to little things, a lot has happened!
 |
| Pretty winter sunset. Because why not? |
No comments:
Post a Comment