A Letter to 2020

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Dear 2020,

You’re the worst. You’ve ruined everything we were looking forward to - vacations, pool time, school, happy hours with friends, play dates, I could go on and on. The year was ripped away from us - everything taken within a week’s worth of news updates. COVID has officially turned this year into the year we will always remember, although many of us would like to forget.

While 2020 has definitely been a year of bummers and disappointments, it has also been awakening and eye opening. We’ve been forced to slow things down - to remember life before nonstop plans and the constant hustle. And for that, I’m thankful. March seems like a lifetime ago - when we were first forced to stay inside for fear of a global pandemic.

Never have we ever been a family that sat around the house. We always try to get out at any opportunity so immediately I felt constricted. I was scared - what the hell were we going to do being stuck in the house all day long?

But you know what, we made it work. In the beginning we did obstacle courses, school work, played games, did A LOT of coloring. And after the first week I thought “wow this isn’t so bad”. I found myself to actually be enjoying the family time inside. My little family of four laughed, talked, cried, yelled and had a whole lot of fun. We relied on each other so heavily and all I could think was how happy I was to have them. We were all healthy and had so much to be thankful for. We taught the kids how to ride their bikes sans training wheels so family bike rides have been our thing. We go to the neighborhood parks daily, often ending at the local ice cream store.

So while this year certainly wasn’t what we had planned, I can’t argue with what it has taught me. That no matter what’s happening outside our four walls, as long as we’re healthy and together inside, I’m happy.

Oh, and we also got a quarantine puppy that we are all head over heels in love with <3

A huge thank you to Sarah Sloboda for taking these beautiful photos. SARAH IS CURRENTLY BOOKING VIRTUAL PHOTO SHOOTS. TO BOOK, FOLLOW THE LINK ON HER INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT, @SARAHSLOBODA OR CLICK HERE

TO VIEW MORE OF HER WORK, CLICK HERE

Meet Troopa!

Meet Troopa!

Melissa Mandula1 Comment