November is for thanks. I love Thanksgiving dinner, but I also don’t mind taking some time to appreciate what I have. 2020 has brought so many throughout the world the pain of loss, sickness, uncertainty, and fear. I have a lot for which I am grateful.
First, my wife. We have had to kind of reacquaint ourselves with working together and that has some quirks. Like many couples, we haven’t had the ability to get away from each other as much and that’s led to some frustration. But we’ve also spent a lot of time doing things that we haven’t done before. We spent some time biking this year. We’ve watched about 30 movies out of a list of 100. We’ve also been splitting cooking and clean up more than ever.
Next, the rest of our family. While we don’t get to see my family as much, we have managed to keep in touch with more frequent phone calls and video chat. We did get to spend some time with my parents and youngest brother and those were mostly good times. It would have been nice to have been able to travel to see my other brother’s family, especially my nephew but there will be more opportunities. My wife’s parents live much closer and that has allowed us to lean on them, and them on us, when needed. My wife’s family also dealt with the loss of her maternal grandmother this year. She was, and will be missed, especially around the holidays. Amongst all of the social distancing that has gone on this year, we were able to bond with our three animal friends. It seems Barley and Bear were just starting to get comfortable with each other when Waffles joined our pack. While there were some epic battles between them, Bear and Waffles seem to have accepted each other – most of the time. Barley, being older, wiser, and more dog-like, is as easy going and friendly as can be with the younger cats.
Finally, we’ve managed to get through the year generally healthy and employed. We’ve put on a few pounds but have not had to deal with much illness. Our families in general have been able to steer clear of COVID for the most part. We’ve had a few cases and a few close calls where people were in contact with those infected, but have generally been ok. My wife and I are very fortunate to have stable jobs that allow us to live a pretty good life. It’s not always easy, or fun, but we make things work. I’m not great at expressing my gratitude, but I often recognize that I have a lot for which I am very grateful.
As November wound down, the number of COVID cases in our area ramped up.