New year, same me and that's okay

Hi all and happy 2021!  I'm going to continue wishing everyone a happy new year until the optimism about a fresh start dies (so probably in a week or two).  I hope y'all had a lovely holiday season and everyone was able to safely celebrate Hanukkah / birthdays / Christmas.

Bryan and I had a COVID scare in mid-December (his work), and for a few days, we were planning on self-isolating for the holidays.  Luckily we both ended up testing negative multiple times, although I did fantasize about spending the holidays very quietly with just the two of us with a few good books.  During the holiday "break", we were able to visit my dad twice, host a few dinners for immediate family, and sleep in a few mornings.  All in all, I'm not sure you could ask for more out of a holiday break except for it to be longer.

At the end of the year, we were keeping busy with small, silly things.  I'm not of a TV show person but in December, between Bryan, my sister, and her husband, we finished Ted Lasso and season 2 of the The Mandalorian.  As usual, Bryan and I watched the old James Bond movies like we do every December.  I also found a new, shareworthy podcast: Levar Burton Reads.  He reads short stories, more geared toward science fiction and speculative fiction if you like that sort of thing.

I think y'all know that regardless of the quarantine, I'm a pretty big homebody anyway.  During the last few weeks, I spent quite a bit of the small spaces of silence thinking through what I really appreciate and what has been really special.  The sunny days that are so much more cheerful and invigorating after a week's worth of rain.  The breathtaking cold in the early mornings are that much more shocking because of the 60 degree days we had the previous afternoon.  The contrast between things, a greater appreciation of what was and what is and what will be to come as well.  I think 2021 will likely be a year of stark contrasts, and I won't lie and say I'm not a little bit anxious and apprehensive.  If anything, 2020 taught us how to tackle challenges and I will continue to remind myself to take it one day at a time and breathe through it all.

The thing I'm most looking forward to for 2021 is my dad coming home.  He's been at the hospital and in other facilities for over four months.  We were able to visit him a few times - in a socially distant fashion - over the holiday break and he is certainly also ready to come home.  The rehab facility where he is staying is trying to help us prepare for his return home but he will likely need a caretaker a large majority of the time to help with his daily routine.  Right now, he is not able to do anything on his own - including toileting, hygiene, walking, pushing himself in his wheelchair.  I do think there's still more progress that he can make in a therapy program, and we'll have to figure out what that means from an insurance / Medicare basis.