Last day of the year

It's the last day of 2020 here. It has been a unique year. 

Thinking back, I wanted to write. Not a retrospective. But a thank you note.

Thank you, 2020, for the chance to appreciate the leaves in the park. The flowers in the garden. The smell of cut grass -- over and over and over. The way the light moves through the bedroom window. 

Thank you for the time to spend with my family. Kind of. At least the parts of the time that weren't stolen by the endless zoom meetings. The boy did comment from the depth of the online-ness that we might be seeing even less of each other, as we huddled in our separate rooms and drained the life out of the internet. But there were more meals together. More walks. Thank you for the walks.

Thank you, 2020, for the excuse to exercise regularly and frequently again. When the rules only gave us 60 minutes outside per day, and only for exercise, I took all that 60 minutes and used it. Daily. 

Thank you, 2020, for strange but wonderful connections with family far away. For Zoom Yatzee, Zoom Scattergories, Zoom Telestrations. Zoom games. 

 

Thank you for a mother who mailed an envelope of hand made face masks when we needed them, all the way across the ocean. 

 And for a mother-in-law who mailed another box, when we mentioned we could use more. 

Mothers, we have gotten so much use out of those masks. Thank you so much. Thank you for the time, the postage, the thoughtfulness. You probably have no idea how big a part of our lives you have been in the last several months.

Thank you, 2013, for the chance to live in Australia, and 2014 for the chance to come back. And 2015 for making it happen. Thank you, Australia 2020, for making us Australians this year. Full time. Dual citizens. It is not a perfect country -- no country is. But it is a wonderful country. I am so lucky to be a part of it, to do what I can to make it better. Here, I have been stretched in ways that I never would have stretched had I stayed where I was. Thank you, 2020, I think? For the chance to take big steps up in leadership positions, to where I can help. To where I must help. 

Thank you, life, for sending me a child with a moral compass that is straight and true. One who was motivated enough to guide his own online learning, and needed to be reminded not to study, rather than the other way around. 

Thank you for that boy who changed his entire eating patterns, and those of his parents, earlier this year when he decided to take a stand against cruelty. He will go places, figuratively speaking. Sometimes I hope he will not physically go as far as I did from my own parents. But his choices will be his own.

Thank you, March 2020, for that run on the yeast in the grocery stores. And consequently, for sourdough bread. For a husband who learned to bake bread. 

Thank you, life, for that husband. For a life partner who makes me laugh every single day. Who stands next to me, not in front, not behind, hand in hand and side by side. There is no one I would rather spend my days with, over and over, same apartment, watching the leaves change and fall and grow again, scent of fresh cut grass, patterns of sunlight moving through the bedroom window, at his side.

Thank you, 2020, for perspective.