THIRTY greatest hits of TWENTY TWENTY

Fascinating year, man. Such a ride. Instinctively I say that my main theme this year was self-growth. Wait, but isn’t that every year? Well, sure, but this year was freakishly unique. I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t agree with me on that.

Self-growth in the sense that I, along with virtually every other person on the planet, had a lot of lifestyle adjusting to do; not necessarily out of choice, but out of necessity, because globally drastic times call for globally drastic measures in order to help make things better, and 2020’s situation was interesting because, regardless of there being billions of humans on the planet, the power of ONE human became a very real thing, to many a mind’s eye. (Oh hello there, 79-word-long sentence.) (You went back and counted them all, didn’t you?) (Stop that.) There was a “patient zero” of this whole ordeal. That was a big whoop. And, in a way, each one of us—even though each of us is just one person—is now seemingly a little bit bigger deal than we previously were, because a clear, certain responsibility is placed upon each of us as it pertains to the well-being of the larger community. That responsibility I guess has always been there, but to me it just seems like it’s never been as obvious as it does now, with the whole “wear you mask, keep your hands clean, and stand back” thing.

Anyway, enough about that, and back to more self-growth talk, haha. I think I’m just gonna attempt to make a chronological bulleted list of the events in my 2020 that provided some sort of opportunity for me to grow, adapt, move on, etc. And maybe plug in some pictures along the way. Because I’m a pictures person, don’t-cha-kno…

1) Familial bonds of love helped me through ALL the months, even before the pandemic hit. They anchor me and keep me afloat simultaneously.

2) The memory of both attending AND performing in live musical productions earlier this year, pre-pandemic, has kept me going. Has kept me realizing that it really, really is going to happen: we really are going to be singing again together IN-PERSON, with LIVE audiences. Soon. The light is in sight.

Unashamed to declare that the utter and complete absence of my busy Tab Choir life has been the absolute hardest part of this year for me, from day one. There’s a gaping hole in each heart belonging to that marvelous organization that I adore being part of, and the hole is noticeable and sad every. freaking. week. But the Sunday reruns have been a massive blessing. And the random lil’ album we put out in May (May, right?)—built from the recordings we did the year before—was stellar, and was such a great pick-me-up at a time when choir was being missed especially dreadfully. LISTEN TO OUR AVENGERS STUFF.

3) I donated blood several times throughout the year! I think I saw it as a way I liked to express my gratitude for a healthily working body. A gift that I wanted to pass forward in some tiny way. Donating blood helped infuse purpose into this year, for me.

4) Experienced my first real earthquake! March 18^th. Not an insignificant first by any stretch. Could have been a lot more gnarly, but it was an attention-grabber, for sure. Made these four items fall off of my living room bookshelves. I think this changed me for the better, in some way or another.

5) I went to physical therapy for my first time this year, for a stretch that lasted from late-January through mid-August. It meant that I haven’t been doing a thing that I love (running) for well over a year, but the therapy was really good for me. I remember feeling kind of scared about the idea of PT, before I started. But ever since I “graduated” from it, I’ve been really missing being able to go!

6) Another super-rough characteristic about 2020 is that it’s been blocking temple-goers from being able to go to the temple! To go inside them to work, at least. I miss that! I miss being able to drive to whatever nearby temple I want, after a workday is through, and spending a bit of time in there to help an ancestor on their spiritual journey (and myself on mine), prior to going home later that night. But what’s been nice is that I still have been able to physically go to my day job at my office and witness the Salt Lake Temple construction progress firsthand. I’ve really liked that. That project is about 25% done now!

7) P.S. I’ve become a fan of masks. There, I said it! And now I know for sure that my breath, in general, is not abhorrent. Because I’m forced to inspect my own breath quite frequently.

 

8) I had a coronabirthday (wouldn’t be surprised to get one more this coming April) and it was actually one of my favorite birthdays! It was a work-from-home, PJs-all-day kind of birthday! Got a whole lotta love on my front door from the sweetest friends, watched some “LOST,” hung out with my pet cockatiel, and my parents and brother came over to surprise the livin’ heck out of me!

9) Hiking out in the woods and up to the peaks was my ROCK! Put unintentional, or was it? I should’ve tracked the number of miles I went, the number of feet I climbed. It was thousands of feet and definitely more than a hundred miles total. Oh yeah, most certainly more than 100 miles. Which has been awesome, because running was a no-no this year, for my Achilles’ sake!

Oh, and almost failed to mention that hiking is the main reason for the grand number of brand-new extremely dear friends I made this year. What cracks me up is that this pandemic has been going on for SO long now, that some of these friends, whom I already feel like I’ve known forever, have never seen me in my true “I’m too busy with choir” element. They’ll see that at some point in the coming months hehe.

 10) Painted the bejeebers outta my garage! Got new balcony flooring, painted said balcony railings as well as the porch/porch steps, and also my utility closet flooded, with a flood that surely rivaled Noah’s back in the Genesis days. HOMEOWNER JOYS! Again, help from family has been amazing. My family is amazing. So eager to help beautify things and to calm me down when things go atrociously wrong.

11) Held a lamby-bobo at Eastertime! Can’t think of a more precious reminder that I am His lamb and He will always help me to get un-lost again. And again. And again.

12) Oh, and remember when they took the Angel Moroni down for safe-keeping? That was really cool. That’s all.

13) America experienced a lot of unrest in 2020. Political, racial, worries over natural disasters. So much that it made heads spin. There are so many ways that a person can go about dealing with it. I did what came most natural to me: I buckled down, prayed for strength to become a better and more empathetic version of myself, sat down and calmly watched some “Remember the Titans,” then went forth and tried to peacefully invite others to join me in the personal pursuit to be gentler, kinder, and more aware that diversity is actually an extremely beautiful and needful thing.

2020 altogether was a year full of heartache, stress, illness, and other sorts of ailments for a lot of loved ones I care about. These past 12 months have been filled with quiet hours of thinking — thinking about who could use some prayers right now. I think 2020 has helped me to become more thoughtful of others. I want that trend to persist as time continues to roll by.

14) Painted a ton, yo! Spent so much time at home this year, and I NEVER was bored at ANY moment there in my house. Oodles of hours were spent developing more of my creative side. Including loads of music-writing sessions (tried my hand at choral composing recently!).

15) Binge-watched a couple of my favorite shows. Self-growth? Maybe not. Or maybe it is. Because it definitely is self-CARE. It’s a healthy thing to do for your mental and emotional balance during a pandemic. It’s probably scientifically proven by now. Here’s Stanley running during the basketball episode of “The Office.” Look at his hand!!! Stanley’s my favorite.

16) Yeah, I went to Lagoon during the pandemic. With a handful of the best souls. It was the best. It seriously was. Some people would rather not ever go to an amusement park in such times as these, but especially as a single, spouseless, childless person just trying to make her way in the world—particularly during a hard year like this one—quality time with friends has been CRUCIAL. It can be done while still taking the health precautions.

 17) 2020 meant being able to spend bunches of more time at home as a bird mom to this cutie!

18) I still am mildly-to-moderately terrified by technology (I was born 100 years ago), but I did get to Zoom a tiny handful of times with friends just because (later on in the year, I even got to teach a full-fledged church lesson via Zoom!). Here’s me with some of my buddies I made in Cambridge UK last year!

19) Had SOOOOO much puppy time with friends’ coronapuppies. I truly need both of my hands to count the number of pals who impulsively bought dogs during the pandemic hahaha!

20) Also, I actually went on an abnormal number of dates this year. Somewhat ironically. No pix to show here for it. But believe me, it happened. Dating always means personal growth, right? If you’re going about it the right way, which I always hope I am.

 21) There was some glorious, GLORIOUS makeupless times this year. Here’s a middle-of-the-night campsite bathhouse image. You know you wanted to see this.

22) Bought myself multiple self-care bouquets. Need to toss in a dash or two of colorful brightness every now and again in your home nowadays, do you not?

23) I DID get to sing in a tiny choir that one time, didn’t I? With funny little clear face shields! The song was Maurice Duruflé’s “Ubi caritas.” SO much fun. Next time I hope will be with a very NOT tiny ensemble—HINT HINTTTTTTTTT. (Okay, now I think I’m mostly just rattling off my favorite notable things that occurred in my 2020, period. Which is more than fine.)

24) Church life looked much different this year. Thankfully sacrament meetings still are able to take place – in a modified format, at least. Here’s a pic of me and my bishop, at a drive-thru ward activity. I’ve been deeply, deeply grateful for the chances I’ve still been able to have to connect with my bishopric members and other church friends, every once in a while during this funny year.

25) I’ll never forget the wacky inland-USA hurricane we had here in northern Utah! That shook things up in our community, for SURE.

26) In the fall, I had an incredible chance to spend high-quality time with my dad in the wilderness. I got to see him close-up in one of his favorite elements. I knew he was so thrilled to have me there with him, and I was so thrilled to be there too. I learned so much from him during this time, and I’m profoundly—even infinitely—thankful for all he’s taught me throughout the course of my whole life. Also, check out all those hawt layers I have on. It wasn’t too warm out there!

27) Still got to have a touch of comic con taste this year, towards the tail-end of it! My Dan, my Farris, my Jeff, my Harnells… The world is made better because they reside in it. They’re the kind of people who make me want to be better.

28) And let’s just not forget that the Tabernacle Choir, Orchestra, and Bells all got to have their very own private live-stream Christmas devotional. I cried, and cried, and crieeeeeeeeeeeeeeddddd………

 

29) I watched people get married!! Via technology!! A couple of times!! Here’s my darling young cousin with her dad/my uncle. As I mentioned before, my technological prowess may not be very impressive, but I do see it as a miracle that we have on our planet today!

30) Christmas was still magical. The world is still magical. Life still has trillions of magical, beautiful moments. Even in the funkiest of years. Here’s to an even more spectacular 2021!