Well, here we are at the end of 2021! Many of the stressors of the dreaded 2020 had unfortunately trickled into the last 12 months as well: job burnout, the challenges of virtual learning, major construction lasting for over a year, the inability to fly, and COVID variant concerns. But, as compared to last year, some of those areas of previous tension are slowly waning and moving toward a more sane normal. My ‘Best of 2021’ comes in the form of optimism.
What can I say about a year that many would like to forget? 2020 was rough…
The last time I dealt with a dangerously contagious illness was in the early 2000’s. Working in a hospital brought the occasional meningitis or Tuberculosis patient across our threshold; the anxiety and fear of contracting a potentially lethal infection only lasted for a shift or three–to our added advantage we had layers of PPE (personal protection equipment) between us and the patient. To be constantly fearful about becoming exposed to and infected with a virus as insidious and unknown as COVID was all new territory: I would never look at travel and simple activities such as grocery shopping the same way again. In 20 years of nursing, the word quarantine had never crossed my lips, but now was being uttered multiple times per day–every day.
Isolation from our family and friends was difficult. Rumination and worry ruled our days. We cleaned our mail and groceries; unopened Amazon deliveries sat on the back porch for days. Groceries were scarce and essentials were non-existent. When the schools shut down and virtual schooling began, navigating through the programs and monitoring my son’s progress felt like a part-time job–online learning is not for everyone. Varying opinions about COVID complicated matters. The impact on the mental health of my household was palpable–normalcy was not on the horizon.
As the summer ended, the stressful decision came as to whether or not to go back to school in August: I chose to go back to work and my son chose to stay home and continue virtual learning. Our COVID numbers at school were high, as were emotions and hypervigilance. School nursing was worrisome: What if I caught COVID? What if I was one of those carriers that remained asymptomatic but contaminated my family and friends? The word overwhelming was an understatement. The light that glimmered at the end of the tunnel did not become visible until the vaccine arrived in early 2021; so as this post is about 2020, I’ll say that the year ended with little changed from the beginning.
I’m a verbose person. I write haikus for fun to practice being concise. I had an entire commentary written to commemorate the history of My Veg Table, observing its 100th post in seven years. Instead, I scrapped it and presented myself with a challenge: celebrate my 100th post in 100 words…
Well, another year is on its way out—they seem to be passing by faster and faster. So much so, that in researching back over the past year for this post, I realized I never posted a ‘Best Of’ for 2018. And beyond that, there was a gap from August 2018 – June 2019 when I didn’t post anything AT ALL! Well, it has been a busy two years with adjusting to being back to work, trying to ‘fit it all in’, and traveling more than we have in some time; it didn’t leave much time for blogging. The 2018 post is now up, and without further ado, here is 2019!
Yes, you read that correctly: 2018; and yes…I am a year late. I really enjoy looking back over the past year and summarizing it all in a ‘farewell to the year’ post. It’s just unfortunate that I only realized now that last year’s piece never made it to print. So many amazing things happened last year, I would be remiss to not give it the proper attention it deserved. Here is 2018 in a nutshell, and then be on the lookout for my 2019 post!
Today is my late grandfather’s birthday and the last day our Christmas decorations will be up. My mom would always keep everything decorated until January seventh and it’s one of the traditions I still keep in my own home. Not only does it remind me of him, I like that it extends the holiday season a couple of weeks more and gives me time to mentally prep for the New Year. And now…the time has come to bid adieu to 2016.
It feels like not long ago, I was reveling in the fact that I had been blogging for an entire year. Writing and cooking was how I spent much of my free time. And now…year two has flown by and year three has begun! Within the last few months, I went one step further and am now a guest writer on a local foodie website. I was so nervous about reaching another set of readers, but realized that taking that leap was an important challenge for me to accept. I’ve got five posts under my belt on StPetersburgFoodies.com and it has not only helped build my confidence as a writer, but also has given me much needed discipline to meet my self-imposed deadlines. So that you don’t miss a recipe–no matter where it’s actually posted–I’ve created a Publications section on my blog. Those brief snippets will have a link to follow to get you to the post and recipe du jour. Who knows where my posts will be showing up next year?!
