Goodbye, so long 2021

Short, sweet and, hopefully, to the point. 2021 is finally coming to an end. While it’s been not one of my favorite years-not even in the top five, there are a couple of things that have come out of it that are positive and life affirming for me.

     First, it seemed to go pretty slowly, drag-y really. But the upside of that is my husband and I have gotten to spend more quality time together. In the recent past, time seemed to spin along like a Wyoming wind. Usually it felt as if we got up in the morning and two hours later we were heading back to bed. Busy, busy, busy! What happened to retiring and being foot loose and fancy free!?! But 2021 felt a bit slower somehow. Even though I’m sure it didn’t actually go any slower, I will forever be grateful that it felt that way. I had the opportunity to reflect, have quality conversations with my husband, and develop a game plan for moving forward into whatever future forward might be. Just being able to sit at night, watching some favorite show on TV with my family has been priceless.

     Secondly, on December 31, my husband I will end our twenty-eighth year together and begin our twenty-ninth (and they said it wouldn’t last 😉). We usually go out to dinner to some nice restaurant. In the past we went early in the evening to avoid the New Year’s Eve crowds. Then in 2020, COVID had just started to shut everything down. Restaurants being the first casualties, we ordered take out from a restaurant that was close by hoping the food would stay warm long enough to get it home. The night was freezing cold, if I remember correctly, around 20 degrees? Back then, no restaurant knew how to do take out. So when we went to pick our food up, we had to sign a receipt because paying online wasn’t a thing yet. While my husband signed, the restaurant person held the food in a plastic bag, in 20 degree cold. The salad was cold when we got it home but so were our entrees. Hey, it was still nice not to have to plan or cook something. Why didn’t we just warm it up while we ate the salads, you ask? Our oven broke right before Thanksgiving, we couldn’t. (Still waiting for our new oven. Next year! 🤞🏼)

     To my second affirmation. Even though the Omicron variant is raging right now, restaurants are open, servers are vaccinated and since we are fully vaccinated and boostered we felt comfortable going out for dinner for our anniversary this year. We went tonight, December 30th, instead of tomorrow because the forecast is for snow. (It’s worth noting this will be our first measurable snow of the season. Snow in the mountains, sure, but this new moisture will be a drop in the bucket to our continuing drought. As I write this, there is a horrendous grass fire destroying an estimated 600+ homes in Boulder county due, in large part, to dry conditions and tornado-like winds. Whole housing developments, gone in seconds. Too bad the predicted snow didn’t come a day earlier.) Anyway, we had wonderful dinner; we talked and laughed, reminisced and felt grateful to be out enjoying a terrific meal. Which brings me to what both my husband and I consider to be a positive omen for 2022. When the time came to pay for our wonderful meal, our waitress told us the bill was already paid by a group of people sitting near us. They didn’t know us, we don’t know them or why they would do such a thoughtful thing for us. We just looked at each other and teared up. Of course we thanked them as we left. They seemed kind of embarrassed by it all. We were at a loss for the right words to thank them for their kindness to us on our special night. Their generosity was simply overwhelming.

     It proves there is more that unites us than divides us. We are more alike than different. More loving than hateful. We want to help, we want to uplift each other more than inflict harm. We can disagree and not want to smash each other in the face. There’s more harmony than discord. Those kind people may never realize what a positive impression their gesture made. But we will never forget it. We will pay it forward if we can. May we, all of us, be always mindful of others and their needs.