Opening The 2021 Box

At the beginning of 2021, Facebook gave me a rare useful idea.  I was scrolling through my feed when I saw a post suggesting a way to preserve the best memories from the the coming year.  Every time a happy event happens, write it down and put it in a jar.  Then at the end of the year, open the jar and gain some perspective on how the year was.  With COVID still raging and restrictions still keeping us from enjoying life to the fullest sometimes, it's easy to think of 2020 and 2021 as "bad" years.  When we open the jar, we see it wasn't as bad as we thought.

I decided to try this.  I didn't have a good jar, but I had this charming wooden box that wasn't being used for anything else at the time.

Throughout the year I made my best effort to write down every happy event and good day we had.  I would use any little scrap of paper I had on hand at the time.  On New Year's Eve I opened the box and went through it with Kevin before we went out to dinner.  

I think of 2021 as a year that was even worse than the infamous 2020.  It's true I felt the isolation and ennui of the spring lockdown to be nearly unbearable in 2020, but nothing disastrous happened to me.  In 2021 I started the year with some hope life would improve.  Instead it felt as if disasters were coming at me from all sides.  It was a much worse year than 2020 in some ways.  Opening that box reminded me there was a lot of good with the bad.

I always like to take photos everywhere I go and for everything I do (a photo is a form of time travel after all) and some of the memories were preserved that way.  I even posted a "highlight reel" of photos on Facebook.  Photos can't capture everything.  Some events are not things you can take pictures of. That's why writing everything down was so important.  

I wasn't sure what to do with all these slips of paper.  I was about to throw them out, but Kevin was horrified that I would toss out these important memories.  We should preserve them so we can keep going back to them.   I realized my blog would be the best place to record them.  I can share them with everyone who took this journey with me, either virtually or IRL.

I intend to do this again for 2022!

So here is the 2021 Memory List

December 30, 2020 - Kevin rides Jenna again after she spent several months recovering from her injury.

January 14, 2021 - Kevin gets a job offer.

February 21, 2021 - Our nephew Malcolm becomes engaged to his longtime girlfriend Steffanie.

February 25, 2021 - Kevin organizes his first new business meeting.  My mother gets her first vaccine (a source of relief for the family).

March 9, 2021 - I purchase my new car.

April 18, 2021 - Kevin and I are both fully vaccinated.

May 22, 2021 - The family celebrates Mom's birthday at La Panetiere.  This is the first time we have all been together for months.

July 4, 2021 - We celebrate the holiday with a barbecue at the home of our friends Bryan and Jenny.  This is the first time since before the pandemic Kevin's friend group has been able to get together.

Week of July 25, 2021 - We went to Chincoteague.

August 13, 2021 - We had a fun night out at the Immersive Van Gogh Exhibit with Rich and Mickey.

August 19, 2021 - We were able to take my long-awaited staycation day (meant to be taken on my birthday, but jury duty erased that fantasy).  We had lunch at a fabulous Chinese restaurant, went to the Whitney Museum (first time for me), and then admired the view at Little Island.

August 30, 2021 - Kevin has his first contract signed at work.

October 6, 2021 - Our 20th anniversary.

Weekend of October 28th and November 8th - Kevin performs in The Shawshank Redemption at ACT.

November 25, 2021 - Thanksgiving together with the whole family again.

November 29, 2021 - Sian comes to visit.  We have a fabulous day that started with breakfast at Angelina, visiting the Treasures collection at the New York Public Library, we strolled through the Bryant Park Holiday Market, spent the afternoon at the Guggenheim (only my second time there), and had dinner at Ayza Wine and Chocolate Bar.

December 10, 2021 - We are cast in the Harrison Players production of Priscilla Queen of the Desert and are thrilled to have a theatrical production to perform in for 2022.  

December 11, 2021 - This was simply a perfect day.  Kevin and I bought our Christmas tree.  Then my dance class and I performed at the local senior center Christmas party.  When I returned, Kevin and I decorated our tree.  Then we went out for a long overdue dinner with Rich and Mickey where we nearly closed the restaurant down. 

December 25, 2021 -  I make Christmas dinner for the family for the first time since the pandemic.  We are all united for another holiday. 

Happy 2022 my friends.  I hope you had plenty of good memories for 2021 and make plenty of beautiful new ones!