Seasons Greetings to all of you in our 70Candles community!
Ellen and I greatly appreciate and send all our best wishes to you who have been with us for so many years, and to those we continue to welcome as new subscribers to 70Candles.com. We value the thoughtful and heartfelt conversations that continue on this blog as you help and support each other through challenges …and joys.
This year of the COVID-19 pandemic and political turmoil is about to end. The virus remains a threat, there’s no hugging as we stay masked, but the new vaccines offer a ray of hope that we will eventually see the end of this epidemic. Many have suffered illness, loss, loneliness and depression. We hope you are all well and safe.
As we look forward to better health, and more kindness and sanity in the world in the New Year ahead, let’s take a moment to look back on the sometimes bleak days of 2020. Let‘s recall what helped us most to endure and carry on to reach this day. Were there some small pleasures, nice surprises, treasured moments you can share?
I recently Zoomed with a group of very old friends, and was amazed to hear several describe their confinement in positive terms. Some who retreated to country or remote woodland homes considered the time with their significant other there unlike any spent previously. They had had busy high powered careers, with little extended down time together. For them, this isolation was an unexpected gift, even a second honeymoon.
As I look back, I count small moments and what ordinarily would be minor changes, as the positive high points for me. My college age grandson and granddaughter each have come by for wonderfully heartwarming chats at our front stoop, when they’ve been home. I feel so fortunate to be part of their lives.
I’ve continued with acrylic painting and find the hours doing that to be pleasantly distracting, calming and even meditative. Frequent walks outdoors have similar benefit.
A triumph over six months of slow progress…our primary shower is finally useable once more. Leak cured, repairs made, and as a bonus, a new double shower head and a tall unframed glass door. Showering has become a special daily pleasure!
I hope to continue to stay in touch with friends, and will try to notice whatever small moments improve my mood as we enter 2021.
As you think back on 2020, what were some of your best experiences?
Let’s share those here. I think we’d all welcome new ideas to boost our spirits and enhance our well being in the days to come.
May the New Year ahead be a better one for us all.
A toast to 2021!
Jane
An inspiring poem at the new year:
New Year Resolve
by May Sarton
The time has come
To stop allowing the clutter
To clutter my mind
Like dirty snow,
Shove it off and find
Clear time, clear water,
Time for a change,
Let silence in like a cat
Who has sat at my door
Neither wild nor strange
Hoping for food from my store
And shivering on the mat.
Let silence in.
She will rarely mew,.
She will sleep on my bed
And all I have ever been
Either false or true
Will live again in my head.
For it is now or not
As old age silts the stream,
To shove away the clutter,
To untie every knot,
To take the time to dream,
To come back to still water.
This year has taught me some important lessons that eluded me for the first 80 years of my life – slow down, let go of the goal of perfection, and enjoy the moment. These are all age-appropriate lessons, and have made life more enjoyable in the face of the pandemic and political turmoil. I’m looking forward to living this new lifestyle when these two huge external stresses are behind us! Happy 2021!
When I told our younger daughter that I felt I had been robbed of a year because of COVD, she replied that she felt she had been given the gift of a year. Going forward–for however long it will take–I have resolved to look upon the stay-at-home order as a gift. Now, if I could just stop looking at everything that needs to be done around the house, I’d really be in great shape!
Think of all the seventy year olds since it was we who paved the way with your leadership. I haven’t found this year too taxing, although I lost two friends which made the Covid business more real. As if it weren’t real enough.
There is so much support from my church community, and so many interesting things online, and so much time to digest all of them. I am so fortunate to have three generations in the house.
Happy New Year to you and yours. What an adventure this life has become. Love from Emily x