This will be my final blog post for 2020 and I’m sorry to say I didn’t reach my goal of 366 posts, or one each day. I was unable to write and post to my blog during the five days I was in the hospital. Still, I’m proud of myself for sticking with my goal even though the blog posts I initially imagined I would do never came to fruition. Those would have been all the posts I’d have made during my travels in 2020. As we all know, travel was no longer an option after February.
I also
envisioned a readership of hundreds, if not thousands, when it came to my blog.
I don’t believe my number of readers ever passed ten and certainly not even 20
unless folks read my blog but chose not to “like” or “comment.” But that’s
okay, because I found I was writing more for my own self rather than any
readers. True, it was nice to see comments, to know people looked forward to
the next post, and to read how much they liked what I’d written.
Beyond
that, I’m proud of myself for a number of reasons which I’ll reiterate here.
(1)
When I began this blog, I was so angry at John I could barely say
a single good thing about him. Over the course of the year, I’ve managed to let
go of that anger. Rather than remember how he hurt me I’ve now chosen to
remember all the wonderful experiences we shared during our long marriage. As
someone told me decades ago: ”There are times in a marriage when you feel as
though you are walking alone through a very dark valley and the sunshine is a
mere pinprick in the sky. But you persevere and eventually you’ll climb back
out of that valley to create and share even better memories in the sunshine.
It’s great memories that get you through that valley.” And in our marriage of
53 years, we had far more great, fun, loving and exciting good memories than bad.
(2)
When I began this blog, I thought I’d be blogging about the
exciting life I was planning. I managed to go on one cruise before the world
came to a screeching halt and I really enjoyed that cruise and blogging about
the experiences I had. Since life was definitely not very exciting, I still somehow managed to find stuff to
blog about. Hopefully, the majority of my blogs were not full of “poor me” and
whining.
(3)
Well, I did get a bit tired of whining and looking for stuff to
blog about, so I decided to write an erotic book. I was surprised at how the
words fell out of my fingertips. Even more surprising to me was the fact I
managed to follow the story line and actually complete my story about SHE. In
2021, I’m going to submit it somewhere and see if it’s publishable. Also, did
you know there’s an erotica group on Facebook. I’ve joined, but haven’t done
much with them just yet. I’m going to spend a bit more time there and see if I
find it helpful. Apparently, you can self-publish through Amazon, but I don’t
know anything about that yet either.
(4)
I started a second book that’s more story and less eroticism. It’s
something that’s been in the back of my file cabinet for many years. I wasn’t
able to finish it before 2020 ended, but I’ll continue to work on it in 2021
and bring it to closure as well.
(5)
Most of all, I found I really enjoy writing. I’ve always wanted to
be a writer, or have been a writer, but never actually took or made the time to
sit and actually follow through with a project. I cannot begin to tell you how
many projects were more or less completed that found their way into the
shredder. It makes me feel very good and accomplished when I push back from the
keyboard knowing I’ve created something whether it’s a book chapter or a simple
blog about gardening or a memory of something in my past. I plan to continue
writing because it brings me pleasure.
So,
finally, tonight at midnight, 2020 will come to an end. They always picture the
end of the year as the grim reaper. This year in particular, the grim reaper
has to be totally and completely exhausted from all the souls he harvested
throughout the year. I know, like most people, I will be exceedingly happy to
see the end of this year.
The
beginning of a new year, 2021, is always pictured as an infant. I seriously
hope 2021’s infant has had every single vaccination available. I seriously hope
this coming year will be 1,000% better than the past year. It is my fondest
hope, wish, prayer that by July 1st, if not before, we’ll once again
be able to congregate, exchange hugs and kisses, and look at shelter in place
as something in our pasts, that those of us alone don’t HAVE to be alone, but
can simply CHOOSE to be alone when we wish to be.
So, I’m
wishing each and every single one of you a HAPPY and HEALTHY 2021. And to ensure that it is HEALTHY,
please continue to wear your masks, use sanitizer, wash, wash, wash those
hands and STAY HOME as much as possible. I’m also hoping, praying, and wishing that come 12/31/2021, this
pandemic will be over and that we all learned something extremely valuable from
the experience that will make our lives more wonderful going forward.