Hi Neighbor!

This time last year, I wrote to you about the surreal experience of publishing an events newsletter with no events. The WHO had just declared Covid-19 a pandemic, and the cancellations and postponements were piling up faster than my family’s laundry. I felt like I was in a deep fog during those early days, constantly searching for new information but not quite believing what was reading or seeing. Yes, I knew that schools were closed, but then I’d see one of my daughters rummaging through the fridge at lunchtime and wonder why she was home. Several times a day I would turn to my husband and ask, “Is this really happening?” “Yes,” he would say, shaking his head sadly. “It really is.” (If I needed proof, I could just listen to the sound of my children fighting.)

One year in and I feel like I’ve lived a lifetime—one year of disrupted school schedules, working from home, eating in, curbside pickups, face masks, Zoom meetings, health screenings, drive-by birthday parties, quarantines, cancelled plans, social distancing, home workouts, doomscrolling, too much screen time, too little face time, boredom, loneliness, despair, and a staggering amount of sickness and death. We’ve also faced some hard truths about racial inequality and social justice in this country. It’s a lot to digest. I started watching a show the other day in which the main characters were grappling with the arrival of Covid in the U.S. I had to turn it off. They had no clue what was coming, and I wasn’t ready to relive that time with them. After all, I just graduated from living day by day to week by week, cautiously optimistic about this summer and the 2021-2022 school year.

So let’s all take a moment to give ourselves a well-deserved hug. Who cares if you watched too much Netflix, ate too many snacks, lived in PJs and loungewear and forgot to brush your teeth some days? You made it an entire year! And that, neighbor, is something to celebrate.
Onward & Upward,
Kate