For a good stretch of years, Wednesday was the busiest day of the whole week, and there was but one big thought in my head as I made up my bed on those mornings:
I'll be so glad when this day is over and I can be back here.
Wednesdays went down like this:
Rise at 5:30 to straighten up for our housekeeper Brenda who arrived at 8:00 to make sense of the place. In the midst of my cleaning efforts, there were two children to get up, feed, and dispatch for school. Every other week, Brandon Morning Mom duty meant scooting up the street for an extra early school arrival.
A work day followed, then school pick-up, miniature homework launch, a drive with Brenda over to MARTA, children's church choir (with Choir Mom duty), and dinner with friends in the fellowship hall. The finale: get home, last chance at homework, baths x two, bedtime for all. It was certainly a day serving up a bonanza of conviviality, but all I thought about was getting through it.
~~~~~
In the homestretch of of 2020, everywhere I turned--at work, with friends, in public, in passing--there was a spoken chorus with just one verse:
"I'll be so glad when 2020 is over".
And my thought, the same with every one: Please don't wish time away.
I agree that 2020 was a year like no other in our lifetimes. Everything unfolded differently than expected, with a succession of events that hurt and affected so many--lives, fortunes, and feelings of well-being caught in wax and wane. While acknowledging and having profound respect for the depths of sorrow and the harshness that were 2020's theme, there are still some remarkable things that shouldn't be wished away.
Through 365 days, in spite of all the bad, we had birthdays, made new friends, probably reconnected with some old friends, saw sunrises and sunsets, felt deep emotion for others we know or maybe don't know, and perhaps even slowed down enough to consider that life isn't the cake walk we often believe we are promised and/or owed.
Life is hard, always bringing both joy and pain. However, somewhere in the mix is the opportunity to appreciate the here and now we are given, and especially the chance to still participate in the game, come what may.
In the show Ted Lasso there's a line, "Every disadvantage has an advantage", and that's a comforting--and challenging--thought. With the luxury of hindsight, I find invaluable by-products for every hard time in my life--albeit while I struggle to find peace in the painful accompanying losses. I'm striving to be thankful, and to find the good in things that seem bad.
~~~~~
With the passing of years, the wisdom of my late parents becomes more meaningful, and one of Margaret's pronouncements stands out in splendor of truth. When we reminisced about both significant and mundane times gone by, my mother would say these words, always like a brand new idea:
"We didn't know what a good time we were having."
And this is where I live every day. All those ATL Wednesdays blend with countless ordinary days, both in the deep and recent past. Whirlwind years with little children seemed happily endless. Flying great (or not) trips with friends was taken for granted, and just how the months fell into place. And here in the pre-2020 world, visiting with my wonderful pediatric friends in their offices was the best part of how life worked.
The kids are grown and making their way in the world. Brenda is still my friend and I am the housekeeper. I work on the ground and not on jets anymore. Our dear friends are still around, with wonderful ones having been added along the way. And I will be so glad when life returns to its normal rhythm, complete with time spent side-by-side with others in the same place.
Life has changed a thousand times over and, in the last year, the world has turned upside down in most every way. But I'm still here--along with you.
May we all know the good times we are having, no matter what.
Happy 2021--
ET
From "Follies", Stephen Sondheim - reference inspired by the late John Hardesty
2020
