Well….that was something. Where do I even start. I had many grievances to file under the Festivus Pole in December, but the truth is, we’ve had it pretty good, considering. My husbands job is secure, we were already established homeschoolers, and we live on an island that has had minimal Rona cases. We’re normally a pretty low-key family. We do home cooked meals and small but loving celebrations. We also knew we’d be doing most of these things alone anyway because we had just moved provinces away from our friends and family. We were already mentally prepared for that part. As far as the “terrible” goes we’ve mostly lucked out. Of course there were frustrations. I’m very much a homebody in the Winter so it was a little hard for me to let my precious warm months go by so quietly. The kids had been looking forward to making new friends in our neighbourhood over the Summer and that never got to happen either. Continuing conversations about racism and discrimination have been necessary and difficult (as always) and as O and E get older, that much more important. We’re a mixed-race family so these conversations have always happened but in light of the Black Lives Matter movement it was even more important to get in front of the conversation with them. Indigenous relations have also been a focal point this year as many Canadians have been forced to take their blinders off and accept our own failings as a country. 2020 was a lot. A lot of important conversations but also a whole lot of semi-avoidable shenanigans.
We had a lot of good times too though so I’m choosing to focus on that. We read great books, and learned new things. We made friends with another homeschool family last year and were able to “double our bubble”.
We celebrated holidays and birthdays and each other.
We played in the yard, ran through the sprinkler, and hiked some trails. We took day trips and explored quieter pockets of the island.
We swam in the sea!
I’m choosing to take the lessons, patience, and creativity we used to get through 2020 with us into the new year and leave the rest behind. There’s a lot going on in the world and in our country. That doesn’t stop because the dial added a 1, but that doesn’t mean we give up. It is a new year and with that a new chance to learn more, create more, and love more.
xxo
C
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