2021: A Look Back

2020 was not a good year. We all know that. When it finally ended, I was hopeful that 2021 would be better.

Turns out that such optimism was poorly placed. At least it felt that way when I sat down to write this post because the final three months of the year were so terrible.

However, when I actually looked back at the entire year, the first nine months of the year were pretty good, which is saying something since we're still dealing with a global pandemic.

Not only is this an excellent example of the primacy/recency effect, it also perfectly reflects how I have lost all sense of time since March 2020. It doesn't seem possible that some of these things happened in 2021 because the end of the year went by so incredibly slowly for me.

The best adventure of the year was deciding to go to all 50 states in 2021, a checklist we completed in September! So many memorable moments as we worked our way around the country...especially spring break in Hawaii, driving to the Arctic Circle in Alaska, and staying at Crater Lake Lodge. We spent hours, days, and weeks in the car together and our summer road trip was an incredible quest that we hope to do again someday! We went to WDW for C's birthday, took Ginny for countless rides, walks, and even her first hotel stays, and I got to spend a week at WDW with my mom, just the two of us. We also went to four new baseball stadiums (Cincinnati Reds, Texas Rangers, Atlanta Braves, and Minnesota Twins) and one new hockey arena (Seattle Kraken), and were so fortunate to spend a week in Portugal. We also finally saw C's parents after two years, even though the reason for the trip to Canada was to attend my grandma's burial service.

There is of course, one event from the year that overshadowed everything else. Losing our Ginny. It was not only the most devastating thing to happen this year, it was one of the worst experiences of my life. It's been 85 days and it still sometimes feels like it just happened. However, whenever we are overcome with grief, we remind each other of all of the entertaining things she did and we end up smiling and laughing at our memories of her. She was so special because she was with us when we lost our other seven girls, and because she was with us - and particular C - every moment during this crazy pandemic. She was such a gift and we miss her every day, but we are carrying those happy memories of her and each of her sisters with us into 2022 and beyond.

Happy Tails to you!