Kickin 2020 to the Curb!

Like so many others, 2020 didn't turn out the way I had planned. What I thought would be one of my biggest years of international travel ever - a cruise around the Greek Islands, visiting the fjords of Norway and a 10 day road trip in Nova Scotia - turned into mostly local travel - visiting state parks in the Southeast, cruising Tellico Lake in Tennessee, visiting Jekyll Island for my first time, deep sea fishing off the coast of North Carolina and watching hang gliders take off at Lookout Mountain outside of Chattanooga. And I'm thankful that I was able to do that much during a year of pandemic. ( To be transparent, we are mask wearers, stayed at air bnb's when we could so that it was contactless check in and out and did our very best at being as responsible as possible) 

For the most part, this year I: cleaned out every closet in the house, got a phone call from my daughter - twice - that she had Covid (she works in a hospital, was thankfully not extremely sick both times and yep, she's a two timer), binge watched Netflix and read more books than I have in years, went to Florida in February to spread my in-laws ashes,  drove to Ohio twice after my 92 year old mom broke her hip and took turns taking care of her with my sister, Skyped with my daughter in Australia (it was very interesting to see the difference in the way they have handled the virus- at one point they had no cases for an entire month), went to my daughter's lip sync birthday party over Zoom, used our boat more than we ever have thanks to some awesome spring and summer weather, and found out the exciting news that Mr. UR and I will be grandparents next June. 

So, though I am ready to kick 2020 to the curb - and my heart goes out to all those suffering in so many ways and I don't want to minimize their suffering - I am still grateful for the year that was. I'm choosing to concentrate on the positive. I am grateful for my and my family's health, for what this year taught me, for the comforts of home, and for all of you who continue to come here bi-weekly. I appreciate each and every one of you! 

Happy New Year everyone! I wish you health, happiness and love in 2021! And I realize that the turning of a page won't solve all our problems, the one thing that it does is give hope. Hope for our future and to work toward a better day.