I’d Rather Count My Lucky Stars

As 2020 finally draws to a close I would rather look back on the good things about this year than the bad. The bad is low hanging fruit and is best to let rot on the vine. For the good we have to look a little harder and cherish it, because now we know how bad things can get.

For me the best thing about this year is I got to spend more quality time with Russ and Carter than I ever thought I would have. When Quarantine happened in March, Carter was bound and determined to stay in Boston and ride it out. After two weeks of her being all alone I told Russ that I couldn’t take having her there without any support system. He said, “If you go and get her, she will be home for two months.” That was very optimistic. She was home for four months. I had long given up on having such a long block of time with her. Russ and Carter have been my brightest stars.

Other positives for me were the things I built this year. The fellowship hall at church was not physically built by me, but every brick, board and tile were chosen, supervised and worried over by me. It was probably easier on me to do it without the weekly supervision of other church members. I didn’t get a lot of questions about, “Why that color?” or “Which flooring treatment are you going with?” Now that it is over and everyone can see the whole project my decisions are not up for discussion and thankfully I have not been drummed out of church for them. I consider that building a big star.

The thing I actually built, my garden, with its forty foot retaining wall, 32 yards of fill, seven foot deer fence and eleven raised beds was the hardest thing I have ever built myself. If it weren’t for the pandemic I never would have attempted such an undertaking. As long as I live here I have something big to show for 2020. The garden should be my star that will keep on giving.

I created a couple of spectacular quilts this year, one for my mother and the other a collaboration with my friend Carol on her Africa quilt. Although I don’t have either of those quilts in my house I consider them stars out in the universe shining brightly on others.

The twinkling stars of the years have been the friends I reconnected with this year, or spent more time zooming with than we talked in the last few decades. I have read books with friends, played games with friends, taken walks and needlepointed. Even things done virtually have been blessings.

I hope you have more good to take stock of in 2020 than bad. May the stars shine brightly on all of us in 2021 and may the sad parts of 2020 fade in our memories as we moved forward towards the light.