Aside from that, I have other reasons to look with hope to 2021. Rick will be starting a new job, one which will put him behind a desk and ease the constant wear and tear on his reconstructed back. He'll be working his brain again instead of his brawn, doing construction estimating and project coordinating from his own office. I cannot begin to tell you how incredibly grateful I am.
My entire family have thus far been safe from the virus, despite my sons and husband having worked steadily throughout, all of them being deemed Essential Workers. Jared's partner, who works in a medical field, has been safe and has received her first dose of the vaccine. Sam's partner has quarantined twice due to exposures from work and family, but has been safe both times. My grandchildren are also healthy and safe. My extended family, most notably my 90-year old mother, is healthy and fine as well, due to the excellent care of my brother, with whom she lives, and my younger sister, who faithfully goes over (fully masked) every day to exercise her.
All of us are ready to get our vaccinations as soon as possible. As my husband's grandfather was so fond of saying, "We can't wait fast enough."
Now, on to my Good Things Jar, which I started a year ago today. I decided to write down Good Things as they occurred/occurred to me all year long and place them in the jar. Last night, I read them aloud (most of them) and Rick and I reminisced about the Good Things that happened to us in 2020.
There were 80 slips of paper in the Jar, and I think that says something. Granted, a few were relatively trivial; they had no significance to anyone but me. But as I was reading them, I started to notice something--so many were about Jared and Sam, or about neighbors, or about Zydrunas, or about others.
One of them made me tear up, and I decided to do a little experiment for this post. I counted out how many of the slips were about others and how many were about me. Of the 80 Good Things, 33 pertained to me, and 47 were about others.
Here's the one that brought tears to my eyes. I didn't date the slips, so I don't know what prompted it, but it's so very, very True.
Welcome, 2021. I can't wait fast enough to see what Joys you bring.
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Happy New Year Nance! I love your good things jar, that is very cool. What would one of the 33 that was about you be? Would an example be if you had found your ideal mascara and it was also on sale? We are also very fortunate and have come through 2020 pretty well. If it weren’t for the stress of all of it, it could have been a pretty good year on our micro personal level.
ReplyDeleteJ--One of the 33 was actually about a very nice comment that you left on one of my posts. Another was the day that the grands called me Nana for the first time. Still another was that my hair was getting long but looking great during this lockdown. LOL! Pretty wide range, right? I'm going to continue my Good Things Jar again this year. It was a valuable exercise, and it was fun reading and reminiscing last night.
DeleteYour good things jar sounds like something we all need to do. I am far more grateful for everything around me than for things directly related to me if that makes any sense at all. Happy New Year, stay safe.
ReplyDeleteMeredith--It makes perfect sense. It's very like what the Good Thing said that brought tears to my eyes. Happy New Year; I hope yours is serene and wonderful.
DeleteHappy New Year, Nance.
ReplyDeleteWe started our year with getting our second shingles shots. That way when the Covid vaccine is available we are READY! Pennsylvania seems really slow in getting their act together. :-(
Hope you have a year that fills that Good Things Jar absolutely to overflowing.
Dee--Happy New Year. I really need to get on that shingles vaccine. I had chicken pox--a severe case--when I was a freshman in high school. Those damn things were everywhere. I thought I'd either die or be disfigured forever.
DeleteOhio is a disaster. Most states are, thanks to...well, we all know why. No federal plan or guidance. It's no surprise.
Thank you for your generous and kind wish for 2021. I hope the same for you, truly.
Yes, get that shingles vaccine and you might want to see if one for pneumonia is in order.
DeleteJoared--At 61, I'm not yet eligible for the pneumonia vaccine. But rest assured, I will get it when it is time.
DeleteHow very very true and how appropriate. I think we are all looking forward to vaccine and the end of the tension and fear that the threat of the illness causes. I just did a year retrospective myself and, apropos of your finding, I think only one is about me, sort of. Happy New Year's day to you and yours, blogging buddy.
ReplyDeleteMary--Happy New Year, Canadian friend! You make such a good point about the heavy burden placed on us all by the tension and fear of this virus. This sustained stress (and add Politics as a source for those of us in the USA) has truly compromised our mental and physical health. We are all waiting for that burden to be eased.
DeleteFingers crossed that we get that relief sooner rather than later in 2021. Happy New Year to you.
Wishing you and yours the happiest and best of this new year...
ReplyDeleteConstantly, I remind myself to be content in the situation I find myself... Mostly, I am thankful for every day that I am on this side of the dirt...
May the doldrums of Winter stay far from your door...
Denise--So good to see you again! Thank you for the good wishes, and the same to you and yours.
DeleteI, too, remind myself to Be In The Now and be happy for the goodness of my life. In many ways, it is better than what I had imagined.
We have certainly had the greyest of days, haven't we? Sunshine is rare. I'm doing whatever I can to keep the doldrums at bay. I know you are as well. Stay safe and I wish you joy in the new year.
I agree with this side of the dirt. 2020 ranks as #8 worse year so take some sort of comfort in that opinion. #1 1862 start of the Civil War, #2 1929 stock market crash, #4 Influenza epidemic of 1919............
DeleteI already have a bottle of champagne in the fridge ready to pop on January 20. I so glad your entire family has remained virus free. We have been very lucky as far as that goes as well, I'm so thankful. I love your Good Things Jar, that is such a great idea Nance. I wish you and your family all the best this year - oh and congrats to Rick on the new job!
ReplyDeleteMartha--We've had our special bottle of bubbly set aside for a while now. We'll chill it in time for the Inauguration and happily toast President Biden.
DeleteI'm glad to hear that your family is well also. May they stay that way and get the vaccine to ensure their health.
I'd love to take credit for the Good Things Jar, but it's not my idea. I read it on another blog--Jean's at Misadventures of Widowhood, I think--and decided it was worth a try. It's rewarding each time a Good Thing goes in, and it was a joyful and poignant part of our New Year's Eve.
What a fun idea this Good Things Jar. I hope 2021 will bring you many good things including fun, joy, good health and contentment.
ReplyDeleteVagabonde--Lovely to see you. The Good Things Jar was a good idea that came to my notice and I'm glad it did. It was both fun and rewarding. Thank you for your kind wishes for the New Year; I wish the same for you. Thanks for stopping by.
DeleteFirst, beautiful penmanship! And I love your pick for "first place". Hope the New job will be a good, healthy move. 19 days...count 'em...19 days!!!
ReplyDeleteAnni--Why, thank you for the comment on my handwriting.
DeleteThis job is a blessing for Rick. His back simply could not handle any more hard physical work, although he loved the variety and the service part of it. He was hastening the deterioration of his spine. This job will stop his pain and save his back. Our relief is immeasurable.
I've been keeping a countdown on our kitchen whiteboard and announce the days remaining every morning. SINGLE DIGITS, HERE WE COME!
Help is on the way.
Oh, now I must make a Good Things Jar! Mr. O. and I have commented many times over the last several months that in spite of all the fear, uncertainty, and depressing things happening, that we have to be so thankful that we both still have our health, a roof over our heads, and food on the table. I so sympathize with folks who had to weather 2020 coping with children at home, so many of my students who had to work in ‘essential jobs’ and endless other disruptive things that up-ended their lives. But we survived it, and will be all the stronger when we come out of this pandemic.
ReplyDeleteSo glad to hear about the welcome change in Rick’s work. Our husbands have the same jobs!! Luis has freelanced for years doing construction estimates, although in recent years most of his work is focused on preparing site plans and getting construction permits. He used to supervise a lot of the construction as well for commercial remodeling, but that got to be a lot of ‘heavy lifting’ that wasn’t doing him any good, either. Much easier to transport copies of site plans than hundred-pound bags of cement and heavy scaffolding!
Like everyone else, I am also counting down to 1-20-21, too, which I just realized is a palindrome! I hope that’s a good luck sign! Last night we each ate our 12 “grapes of good luck” at midnight. (Spanish custom which Luis goes along with to humor me.) In Texas, you’re supposed to eat black-eyed peas on New Year’s day. Regardless, I think hope is on the horizon. We still have a lot of challenges ahead, but our marching boots are broken in. Wishing you and your family all the best and eventually a whole lot of hugs that we all need to catch up on! XXOO
Ortizzle--You have had quite the year, my dear friend. Bless you for your Gratitude. But you're right; there are multitudes of people who have had their lives devastated by this virus in one way or another, so we are truly fortunate.
DeleteYes! Luis and Rick will have largely the same jobs. Rick is, however, in residential remodeling rather than commercial. It's such a huge relief for us, especially since he had to return to the doctor for an increase in pain. We were scared that he had somehow re-injured his back or something had happened to the latest reconstruction/fusion.
Like you, I think Hope is on the horizon. Palindrome year or not, I feel that President Biden, like President Lincoln, was a president made for the times. In my Eastern European culture, sauerkraut and pork are eaten on New Year's Day, so we ate that yesterday. I think we might incorporate some blackeyed peas and cornbread next year because it sounds so good!
I love your metaphor of our marching boots being broken in. So perfect. And can we try to make the long-awaited Nance and Ortizzle Meeting happen this year? XXOO
I so agree that even though he was not my favorite pick before the pandemic hit us, I truly believe Biden was the right person at the right time this year. And getting Kamala for Veep was the icing on the cake. They will make a good team.
DeleteAnd yes, maybe we *can* make the Nance-Ortizzle Meeting happen this year. So many unknowns still with the pandemic, but sooner or later... :-D
I love the report on your Good Things Jar---how you broke it down. I'll bet your jar for 2021 will have more than 80 notes inside by this time next year.
ReplyDeleteJean--I have you to thank for the Good Things Jar idea, I think. Didn't I get the idea from your blog mention of it?
DeleteI do think 2021's jar, as you said, will have more than 80 Good Things. Let's hope that one of those is that the pandemic is over.
A good things jar sounds like a great idea. Interesting to discover and have confirmed in the number of your notes what gives you the most pleasure. Of course, one could also consider whether or not you might want to do more specifically for yourself -- just a thought.
ReplyDeleteJoared--I loved being able to write down a Good Thing and put it in the jar. The act itself was joyful to me.
DeleteYour point is well-taken. I'm thinking about that.
This is so lovely! If you're comfortable sharing some others, I would love to hear. It has definitely been a year where the world has had to try a bit harder to focus on the good.
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year! May it be happy, healthy, safe, and fun!
Mikey--Hey! I had a picture of you on my Christmas tree, you know.
DeleteI certainly could share some others. I'll toss a few together in another blog post, just for you. Stay tuned. Maybe it will encourage others to start their own Good Things Jar.
Happy New Year, my friend. I hope to see you in 2021!
Happy New Year! Happy to read about your Husbands new (safer) position; that is wonderful news. I LOVE your Good Things Jar and I'm not surprised about the ratio/outcome. Bring on the good stuff.
ReplyDeleteBB Suz--Thank you for sharing my Good Stuff. I hope you try the Good Things Jar. You'll certainly have some terrific additions of your own in 2021. Happy 2021, and I hope it smiles on you and your family.
DeleteEvery night after I get in bed, I go through my gratitude list for the day and often I fall asleep before I can finish so I know that I must have a lot to be thankful for! :)
ReplyDeleteWishing you all you need in 2021 to make your life sweet!
Thanks so much for your blog! I am always grateful to see your posts!
Ellen--I'm so glad to hear that you have a great deal to be thankful for. That my readers are gifted with good fortune truly does warm my heart. So does the fact that you all are a kind and giving group, prone to looking at Life with a grateful heart. That doesn't make us Pollyannas; that makes us humane.
Delete2021 will find me devoting more time to my writing overall. I slacked off even my journal writing recently, and that should not have happened. I want to write here more often and get back to my daily journaling as well. Thank you for the encouragement and impetus to do so.
Happy New Year, Ellen. I hope it holds much happiness and serenity for you.
Oh that's great news about Rick's job! Will he be working from home at all, or go into an office?
ReplyDeleteI did something similar to your Good Things Jar one year, but I don't think I called it that (I'll have to go back & look - thank goodness I was blogging because otherwise it would be lost to the mists of time). It really was a powerful exercise. I think I'll do it again this year & see what kinds of things "make" the jar.
I know that at one point you had contemplated not blogging anymore, so I'm glad that you are still here - healthy, wise, and funny!
Bug--Rick will be going into an office. It's a longer drive, but anything would be. His old job was only five minutes away from home. At his former job, he drove sometimes 300 miles a day to go to different jobs all over the place. That, and the work, really hurt his back.
DeleteIt's funny about the Good Things Jar: I once tried to keep a Gratitude Journal or something like that and I abandoned it. I struggled with writing three things every night that were positive things only. I hated being confined like that. But the Good Things Jar is so unstructured, and I can toss things in whenever I want, that I had no such problems.
Thank you for your encouragement. I did seriously think about letting go of the blog. Then I rethought my whole reason for writing here. I'm glad I'm still here, too. And I'm really glad all of you are, too!
Happy 2021, Nance! Despite so much that is dumpster-fire-ish still occurring, I'm so very hopeful for new, wonderful, and more normal things occurring for all of us. I love your Good Things Jar. I started to overthink the jar aspect but then got out an etched wine carafe that we received as a gift years ago. We'll start with that and if another, more suitable container presents itself, we'll simply switch to that. During the first few months of the "kids" relocating here due to COVID, we share a "one good thing that happened today" at the dinner table. It was very helpful at the time. There was no requirement to have something to share but we always founds something to share just because we took a minute to focus on the good things. So many good things that happen to us and others are really small things but they truly make a difference. Yesterday it was a glorious sunset, which was timed perfectly for Bo's birthday. Such a gift!
ReplyDeleteI feel like most people, most normal people anyway, are more likely to see and celebrate the good things that happen to others, more than what they themselves experience. Especially when those good things happen to those we love.
We're still hunkered down here so we're staying safe. I still worry about others, especially because COVID is so unpredictable. My aunt and uncle--both in their early 80s--are recovering from COVID (he had a short stint in the ICU but they sent him home to give his bed to someone else who needed it more) and their biggest worry is when they can get back to bowling. They want a clean COVID test so they can resume their social life. I'm not even kidding. I mean I'm relieved for them but continue to worry about the rest of my family. Some of my family members and friends have already gotten the first dose of the vaccine as they are either medical workers or medical volunteers. I'm happy for them for sure.
How wonderful on Rick's new position! He'll come home feeling a lot better with less stress on his back. And I know you'll be less stressed about him going to work each day.
Hoping we'll be celebrating anew on January 20th. So much BS going on right now. It's still exhausting TBH. Not quite as bad as it was pre-election but T and these GOPers just won't quit.
Shirley--Your Good Things will reside in far more elegant repose than mine. I use an emptied out Peanut M&M jar! I buy the huge containers at the warehouse club and save the jars for whatever. One of them is at the lake for my granddaughter to put baby fish in if she ever manages to net one.
DeleteI do think being able to identify and share the Good Things is helpful during the tough times. When the pandemic lockdown first began in Ohio, we were stressed and scared. I put "Today's Yay" on our whiteboard and wrote a daily Good Thing there. I felt like I was doing something good for the effort, you know?
I completely understand your aunt and uncle's urgency to return to a normal social life. We all want that to varying degrees, and for the elderly, seeing others is a bright spot in their lives. They truly enjoy having the interaction. My mother really misses seeing her great-grandchildren and having family celebrations.
The anti-American, anti-democracy, seditious republicans are worse than 45* himself. I truly do not know what their motivation is. They have completely lost sight of their oath, their responsibility, and their own rectitude, which I'm assuming they once had. Karl Rove can thank himself for this downward spiral of the party which he reconstructed when he took on the job of making it into something that would elect George W. Bush.
Your GOOD THINGS efforts paid off. What wonderful discipline in a tough tough year, to find the good! I do a daily thanks as I fall asleep for the wonders of that day. It is just between me and the Lord. Somedays are a bit tough, but I can always find something good, even if was a good shoulder to cry on.
ReplyDeletekathy b--Oh, it took almost no effort or discipline at all, really. That's what drew me to it as a project. I kept the jar and its pen and paper right on my dresser near my bed. It was a nothing to write things down whenever they happened or I thought of them. I didn't confine myself to doing it daily or anything. I chafe terribly under such restrictions.
DeleteYes, there are always tough times. We've had them, and many of us have had them unrelentingly sometimes. I like knowing that the Good Things are in there, too.
I'm pleased to know that Rick has a better job. No doubt he'll feel better because of it.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea with your Good Things Jar. I can see you scribbling your goodness and then plopping it into its official jar. I like this idea much better than a Swear Jar.
Ally--Thank you; I know it's the right move for his health.
DeleteI'm glad I came across the idea of the Good Things Jar. It's a satisfying exercise with very little effort and a lot of reward.
Yay for Rick's new/better job. Wonderful news. I like your idea of a Good Things jar too. So often we all focus on the negative and it's nice to be reminded there are good things always.
ReplyDeleteVera--Thank you. We'd been hoping for an opportunity like this new job, and we feel so relieved and grateful. It's going to make a huge difference.
DeleteYou're right that it's easy to focus on the negative, and that had been a bad habit of mine for many years when I was younger and working. When life moves faster, I think that's an easy habit to fall into. Still, having that Jar and feeling satisfaction as it fills up is a good impetus for finding small Joys in my days and weeks.