How could I start a blog in 2020 and not share my experiences in the year that will forever be remember as the year that changed everyone and everything.

As a mother of two young girls, Kiley 8 and Kenzie 7, I saw things through a very specific lens, which I am sure many people can share the same sentiment. We all worried for someone. Our grade schooler, our HS senior, our college grad, our family, our friends, our elderly, our immune compromised, our health care workers, our essential workers not to mention ourselves, our mental health and our physical health. There truly isn’t a person on this planet who didn’t experience the effects that 2020 has placed on us.

My sister fell sick very early on and it was DAMN SCARY, and then just a few weeks ago I was so graciously visited by the pandemic fairy and spent two long weeks in quarantine.

I will share this… even with my sister falling sick very early on and seeing how it affected her and still does to this day, I was always very loosy goosy around the entire thing. As a family, we remained social throughout. We had play dates and get togethers, we traveled and lived our lives, and to this day I firmly believe that everyone still should…but allow me to state…

….to the extent in which they feel the most comfortable.

Its a PERSONAL choice for all to do what they feel is best for themselves and their families and no matter which way you sway… no judgement from me.

What sucks though, is there is so much damn judgement from others.

We live in fear of criticism, we blame or are being blamed, We are frustrated and overwhelmed by the media, sensationalized information, opinions and the unknown.

I could literally talk for hours on my opinions around this entire thing.. but ya know.. I’ll spare you a bit and keep it to myself for now.

After personally getting sick and going though it pretty bad. After having to be away from my family for 14 days straight with just a wall separating me from everything I love. Well… it rocked me.

Emotionally, physically, to my core this awful virus rocked me, took me off my game and changed me.

I have fears I didn’t have before. I have aches and pains I never had before, and I see the change it made on my girls, their emotional well being, the inability to simply just be kids, the virtual classrooms, the cancelled events, and quite frankly it is what hurts the most.

It really is a loaded topic at this point, as we are just days away from 2021, we are all pretty sick of talking about. We just want it to end. We want whatever our new normal is going to look like to just be here.

I will end the way I began. Its been a year one would never have guessed, we have all experienced sadness, fear, overwhelm and struggles.

AS we head into 2021, let’s get back to what we all know. We are stronger than we think. We can adapt better than we imagine. We will persevere and grow way more than we believe. We are in this together.