2020 – A year as good as any other.

2020 has been quite the year.  It started with a mild hangover, as most years do. Sometimes the hangovers have been raging, but not so with this one. I suffered the standard dull head and sluggishness that greet most New Years’.  I also bemoaned the fact that my husband was in a tidying frenzy and I didn’t really want to join in, however I felt guilty not to.  I also posted my usual annoyance at (and abhorrence of) the hunting community’s need to go out and rip innocent creatures apart on New Year’s Day. I shall never understand that one and am hoping that their blunders this year may finally mark the beginning of the end for their barbaric choice of pastime. That certainly would be a positive.

This year I had cause to feel proud when my daughter was selected for the England U16 Girls Ice Hockey team again and was later invited to trial for the GB U18 women’s team.  She passed her GCSEs and subsequently received an award from the school for her Overall Contribution in her 5 years there. My son completed his A levels and gained his place at University to study Criminology and Psychology.  Both he and my daughter have adapted well to the new learning environment and are working hard.  As a parent, I cannot ask for much more than that (well maybe for the odd bedroom tidy up).

2020 has seen us spend a lot more time together as a family.  Jay’s Online Quiz brought us together as a family on many Thursday nights; we have watched more films together; cooked better and more interesting meals and I think that we have talked more. 

In addition to more family time, our numbers also increased, just by one, but what a one she is.  After much nagging and moaning by my daughter, quite a bit of research and then a search that wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be, we brought home a puppy.  We paid a princely sum for what is essentially a mongrel, but she was the perfect mix of breeds to fit into our little home.  She is a whirling dervish with bags of character; a kleptomaniac streak that the Artful Dodger would be envious of and an appetite for absolutely anything (edible, inedible – it’s all the same to her!).

During 2020, I have made my mind up, changed it, agreed with people and their ideas, disagreed with them, found common ground (and at times lost it again) far more frequently than in other years.  It has been a year of information and disinformation, when my distrust of the powers-that-be has sometimes stood me in good stead and on others lead me to shaky ground. At the end of the day, I can only read up on things, listen, process and then find my own truth.

I always want to achieve something at the end of each 12-month period.  It became clear fairly early on that this wasn’t going to be a year for ticking multiple items off of my bucket list, but that didn’t mean that I couldn’t enjoy a few personal successes.  I became a union rep. I learnt to crochet. I learnt to teach online. I read many books and wrote much more than usual. I participated in wellbeing and writing courses then,  off the back of that, I finally started my own blog.  There is still a lot of work to be done with it and more to learn about the platform that I am using, nevertheless I got it off the ground.

 I consequently entered 3 poems into a national poetry competition, they may turn out to not be up to scratch, however I have put them out there for scrutiny all the same.  A step forward. 

The highlights of the year have definitely been the time spent with family and pets, the dog walks with my parents, the laughs and the camaraderie in our staff workroom at school, the days out with friends, my Smiths teapot from Jo.  Scott and I had a couple of days away, we didn’t stray too far, but we got to unwind, eat out and enjoy each other’s company.   

Other occasions of note were my Birthday afternoon tea; the boozy afternoon in our local pub (the Messy) with Em and the dodgy gin/wine/fizzy crap we worked our way through in my back garden after.  Christmas was unexpectedly awesome too.  We all felt spoilt, stuffed and extremely fortunate. 

Of course there are activities that I feel I have missed out on and some issues that have caused worry. Generally, I have had it good and overall I have been one of the lucky ones. Therefore, if I am to look back at this year and question whether or not it has been a good one, then I would not hesitate in my response.  It may not have always been the kindest but the answer is still, undoubtably a YES.