I hope this holiday season finds you well, and at least content. I don’t need to tell anyone that 2020 was an “unusual” year; we are all still living it. Didn’t expect any part of it, to tell you the truth.
I should have known something big was coming for 2020 when I burst into tears on the way to a New Year’s Eve gathering the last day of last year. I am not a routine crier and Jon had only seen me really have a crying jag once before years ago when thinking of my brother, Joe, so this one took us both by surprise. Jon pulled over to the side of the road (we were almost there) and asked what the problem was, and I just couldn’t give him one, only that life wasn’t fair to everyone and why are people taken inexplicably, like our young neighbor had been just a few months before? It was weird and has kept being weird since right about then.
The list is long and I won’t get in to much of it, but as for personal upheavals, mine started with Jordan moving out on a whim in January. It was a welcome change for all and we are looking forward to him making his life what he wants it to be; for now, that’s in Florida and he’s doing pretty well doing graphic art and IT stuff for a golf magazine. Once we can do it, we will go visit him to catch up. Every one of us is looking forward to that.
I was then challenged by being laid off in February. Luckily, I got another job that started April 1st, but the month I had off had to be spent at home instead of one of the many destinations we have been imagining for so long. Well, we did get to pitch a tent in an unfinished house in Stockton for a few days while Jon did an installation consultation; we had fun, but it was not a dream destination for anyone but Remy, who got to roam free on a walnut and cherry farm, and chase squirrels all the way to a conclusion. He was in heaven; I swear I saw him smiling.
New jobs are always challenging, and my new one is 100% remote (not due to the pandemic), so Jon and I worked through those first few months together – me in meetings and trainings, and him talking me off the proverbial ledge and getting used to me being at home ALL THE TIME. And me getting used to me being home ALL THE TME. Remy thinks it a very good arrangement. Jon and I have actually enjoyed all the extra time together; I think we still are 🙂
In March, I got a stomach bug that caused a pretty dramatic weight loss. No one associated the symptoms with COVID-19 then, so I wasn’t tested, but now they are on the list; who knows. I am still down a few pounds but feel good. Jon had to have surgery on his wrist due to an injury from our car accident two years ago and is still wearing a brace at times, with a follow-up surgery most likely needed. He is weathering that very well. Remy is in perfect health.
My mom recently relocated to heaven to be with my dad. It came quickly after her last diagnosis of ovarian cancer, and she left peacefully one evening. She was very beautiful that night and ready to move on. We have not yet had the time to process but that will come, and services in Prescott, AZ, will most likely be delayed until after immunizations are more widely available. I will always remember how excited she got to go hiking in the Grand Canyon; it was her special place and she got much peace and fulfillment from making those backpack trips, the latest one to celebrate her 80th birthday (not so long ago). Before our first rim-to-rim hike years ago, we would talk several times a week for months, just discussing the minutiae of how to compress our packs and reduce to only what was necessary or important to us. We would tear up paperbacks and only bring what we hadn’t read yet, talk about how to reduce the size of our toothbrush to its smallest still-effective size, and exactly how much dental floss one would need on a 5-day backpack trip (for me, the answer to that was zero). I loved having that with her. She was a complex person, very smart and talented in many ways, and was most happy that she got to vote in this last election (she watched lots of politics on TV and had her opinions, which she would share, prompted or not). Jon will miss her lavender cookies, which she made as payment for technical advice – that was the premise, but she made them for him if he helped her or not. I could talk him out of one or two, but they were both stingy with them. All of us will miss her.
I am reminded again and again that we are all in this together; for the good and the not-so-pleasant, we are not alone, and I am thankful for my family, my neighbors and the strangers that remind me. Monday night we went out to a high spot to get a good look at the Christmas Star; the evening was clear as the sun went down and we saw the star appear in the sky. It was bright alright, but as we had our faces turned toward it, a shooting star came across in front of us, flaming and streaking through the sky, as close and big and amazing as either Jon or I have ever seen; we could see the flames on it – and we were “sore afraid”... well, not really, but it did give us great joy! A sign of better things to come, I hope.
As we move toward 2021, our wish for all is a better year, whatever that means to you. Peace, love, health and happiness to all of you this holiday season and all year long, and we love you.
Steph and Jon