Goodbye 2020

By Jennifer Thorpe

“On the highway of life, we most often recognize happiness out of the rear view mirror”- Frank Tyger

2020, like a violin, you have pulled on many heartstrings. The year began with a celebration of a New Year, birthdays, another wedding anniversary, and then in an instant…there was a crash that pulled on my heart as a wife, a mother, and a human being. Disbelief! Unimaginable!

I had no idea just how long and how hard you would tug on my heart. Powerful images! Painful images! He was only jogging, she worked to save lives and was shot 8 times, he was unarmed and in handcuffs, struggling for 8 minutes and 46 seconds. 8 minutes and 46 seconds….”I can’t breathe!” The rhetoric over the value of a man’s life was exasperating! Disbelief! Unimaginable!

Civil war. Civil unrest. An office dies, another one dies, and another… the callousness and presumed guilt is painful. Are they all guilty? Surely not! Should the color of one’s pigmentation equal guilt? Absolutely not! Songs for change, peace, and love! A global awakening!

Hatred is a deadly disease that bursts from the seams of the human heart!

School closings, social distancing, while family and friends try to navigate a new normal.

A FORCE for SOCIAL JUSTICE dies and a BEACON of EQUALITY finally rests.

The vulnerable and oppressed are victimized and often forgotten!!!

So much loss, so much grief, and yet one more day allows for healing and renewal.

The images in the rearview mirror seem further away as I keep moving forward! Life is strangely beautiful that way! The lessons learned moving forward are another gift of life!

2020 thank you for perspective, clarity, the opportunity to stop and recognize who and what matters most, and why they do! Thank you for teaching me I am not in control! For propelling me to brave and to enjoy the simplest pleasures of life! Thank you for a family to love and celebrate, thank you for friendships that have lasted decades, friends and neighbors who have become family, and thank you for all the joy, laughter, and genuine happiness you gave. It was truly beautiful to write down all the gifts this year! I dare say, I almost missed the hidden treasures under the sand, in the dark sky, and the showers of pouring rain. God, THANK YOU for all the kisses in 2020 and kindness! We scaled the wall (Psalm 18:29 NLT)!!! So goodbye 2020 and hello 2021!