There is good in 2020. Just look.

I’ve skipped a few weeks. I’m sorry about that. I tend to only write when something is heavy on my mind or heart about topics and I don’t want to just BS my way through a blog post for you if you’re going to take the time to read it.

I had to go into work this week and I work in the city of Pittsburgh. My company has been very understanding through this pandemic. My husband was off work and I didn’t have to rush our little guy to get ready and drop him off at daycare, so that was a huge bonus to the morning already.

Since I went in on Wednesday traffic was even lighter than it typically is right now so I took the time to jam out to some of my favorite songs from this year and enjoy my coffee. One of the songs that came on was, “Thank you Lord” by Thomas Rhett and friends. It really hit home for me on how I feel during this entire year. Give it a listen. Plus it’s a good song to dance to. 😊

I’ve had days I really struggle to wrap my head around what is going on. I’m sure most everyone has had days like this. Then there are days like Wednesday that really let me put it all into perspective.

What 2020 has made me more thankful & grateful for:

• Our health. We have been very fortunate to remain healthy among everything going on and hope to continue to do so. All 3 of us.
• All of our time with our son. Sure, he goes to daycare 3 days a week. But we aren’t rushing him in the mornings and he is not waiting on us in the evenings to pick him up. We have another 2-3 hours with him daily and that adds up to filling our hearts.
• All of the home cooking we do together. My husband and I love to cook and we have taken the time to enjoy that together as well as have our son in the kitchen watching us.
• My parents and in-laws still being healthy through this so we can share memories with them.
• Black Friday shopping online with my Dad to keep tradition. While it may look different this year, we can still shop online and have a day to enjoy together just like we have done in years past.
• The small things.
  • Christmas lights being up in our neighborhood early.
  • Smiles from strangers under their masks.
  • Hot coffee each morning.
  • My furry animals that love us unconditionally and still wondering why we are home so much interfering with their daily sleep schedules.
  • Movie nights with our son on the couch snuggling.

Making a list can be easy but keeping your heart open during this super difficult year is what we should continue to do. I’m sure you’ve seen everyone list something over the past few days on social media about what they’re thankful for because of the season.

My son doesn’t understand what is going on this year and assumes this all to be normal. Thankfully children are super adaptive to change but having all of this extra time with him in these early years make this mama’s heart so happy and full, even on the extremely difficult days.

I hope on your hard days during this year, you’re able to see the benefits of what it gave us. There is good in this horrible 2020 that a lot of you may have experienced.

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Put Differences Aside.

You might not be sure which avenue I’m about to take on this blog post. It’s much more simple than you may assume.

The other week we took a trip north for the weekend for our anniversary. We took our little guy and went to Splash Lagoon, an indoor water park.

I had been to this place years ago in college but this time was going to be different and more fun with our son. We had a hotel room that was in the building connected to the water park making it even more fun for us so we could come and go as we pleased and let him get a nap in during the day to enjoy it fully!

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What I have to mention though, as a parent and in general as a human being, is something I wish we could see more of.

Every child and every parent in the children’s pool got along, was kind to one another, and kept an eye on everyone as if each kid was their kid.

I wouldn’t say it was really busy but there were plenty of people and kids to see all kinds of interactions among one another.

A few small stories…

• A young boy that was older than my son came down one of the slides just as my son was walking in front of it. That boy stopped as fast as he could and as I said “thank you” to him, he smiled and told me, “don’t worry, I saw him!” That made my heart so happy that he has good parents teaching him to keep an eye out all around him.
• I helped my son walk up to and slide down one of the kids slides to my husband. As soon as I let his hand go I saw a mom below telling her son to be careful. I looked and here he’s walking across one of the roped off slides with water running on it and I reached out to help him so he wouldn’t slip. As I did this, she smiled and said thank you. We as parents can’t be everywhere, but we all have the same common goal to keep these kids safe.
• My son watched another boy his age sitting with his dad getting used to the water. While we sat with my son, he didn’t care about us, he kept smiling at the other little boy and splashing to get his attention in hopes he would play with him. He was a little scared yet, but to watch my son instinctively want to welcome another kid to the pool to play with makes you happy to see how easy it could be to become friends with someone you don’t know.
• A dad had helped his young daughter walk up the steps as we did to the double slide and he quickly ran back down to go to the bottom hoping she would go down and he could catch her. He saw me help my son down and asked me to help his daughter since I was still up there. We had never met or knew one another obviously. I quickly asked her if I could help her and she nodded. She almost hopped right into my lap but then wanted to cry when I tried to help her onto the slide. So, we began walking to the steps together to go down and her dad and I met up there. We both laughed knowing it’s not so scary, but he quickly said, “oh no, she’s going down today!” He went back up and helped push her down. Granted, I wouldn’t force a kid to do anything that I don’t know but to have the trust in another parent to help your child that you don’t know is also another thing we as parents hope for in one another.
• Any time kids would meet at the slides at the same time, you would see the older children always slow down and step back for the younger ones to go first. Whether they knew each other or not. I was so surprised to see how well children were acting in a totally new place, to most of them at least. The respect they had for one another was so nice to see. I know not every kid is perfect and patient, but that day really surprised me.
• One last one that stood out to me, as we kept going from one slide to another with my son in the kids’ section, you pass and bump into quite a few people. One of the moms standing and watching her kids felt my son bump her leg and she quickly reacted ready to catch a falling kid. She turned to me and said, “oh I’m so sorry!” Then we laughed because it was a true reaction to being a mom.

We mentioned it several times, my husband and myself, how nice it was to see kids getting along as well as parents! In the world we’re in right this moment, there is too much negativity. So many people not getting along because they do not agree on something. Yet we went to an entirely new place, with every age, race, and gender mixed together getting along. I didn’t know a single person other than my husband and son yet we laughed and smiled with so many parents and kids that day.

I’m absolutely sure we all have different opinions and views on life, but not one of those things stood in the way of a fun day with our family.

Remind yourself this during the trying time, be kind to one another. We’re on this earth to help everyone have a good day and live a great life.