20 Blessings in the Year 2020

     This past year has been horrible in so many ways. Our world has been cowering in the shadow of a pandemic since March, and in some way, its tentacles have seeped into everyone's lives. The deaths of black men and women this spring at the hands of police sparked protests and riots for months. Wildfires burned through Australia, the Atlantic hurricane season spawned so many storms that meteorologists had to dig deep into the Greek alphabet for names, and murder hornets sprang up out of nowhere. 
    In a year with so much bad, it can be a challenge to remember the good things. I decided to take up the challenge to find 20 good things that happened this year, and while it was hard at first, once I started it was hard to narrow it down to only 20. Here, in no particular order, are 20 things that have been blessings in my life in the year 2020.

Performing in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat: This was a blessing this year in three different ways. The main reason was because of how much fun I had doing it. I have always loved to act, and getting to do it with my church family was amazing. It also helped that Joseph is such a fun show. The various styles of music throughout tell a well-known story in an exciting new way, and as one of the brothers, I got to sing almost every song. We had some trouble with some of the dances, but once we got them down, we were unstoppable. Even hurting my ankle two weeks before the performances didn't keep me down, although it did mean wearing an ankle brace to rehearsals for a week. The worst part of the Sunday performance was that it was the last one, and all the fun I had was coming to an end.
    Another way that performing in Joseph was a blessing was that it allowed me to get to know people so much better. Other than the boy who played Joseph, I had known everybody in the cast for years, and I had even been in plays with some of them before. However, the more intense rehearsals and the inherent camaraderie of the show allowed me to really get to know them in a way I hadn't before. By the end of the show, the eleven of us playing brothers were really starting to feel and act like a real family. Admittedly, there were some people that I didn't like before we started rehearsing for this show, but spending so much time with them has allowed me to see them in a new light, and now I can call these people my friends.
    The third way that doing this show was a blessing was the timing. We sang and danced our hearts out for three performances the first weekend in March, and within a few days of the final performance, everything began to shut down. We have not yet had our cast party because the church was forced to shut down the day we were supposed to have it and hasn't yet reopened. I am incredibly thankful that we got to perform. We had put so much work into it, and the memory of those performances served as a beacon of hope to help carry us through the rest of the year.

Watching I Still Believe: This didn't happen the way I had planned it by any means. I had a ticket to see it on St. Patrick's Day, but the movie theatre closed that morning. I got tickets so that my parents and I could watch it at the drive-in the next week, but then that was forced to close as well. Fortunately, it was released on demand that same weekend, and while the $20 for a ticket was more than I wanted to pay, it was worth it to me to see it, and since I had access all weekend, Dad was able to see it too.   

    The reason I went to such great lengths to be able to see the movie was because I had been looking forward to it ever since I had first heard that it was being made. The movie tells the story of Jeremy Camp and his first wife Melissa, who died of cancer shortly after their wedding, prompting him to write the song "I Still Believe". The song itself was a great comfort to me after my grandmother's death 16 years ago, and although I already knew the story, I was looking forward to seeing it told in the movie. Even though I ended up seeing it on a much smaller screen than I had planned, I still enjoyed it. Also, watching it at home allowed me to do a few things I couldn't do in a dark theatre, like pause it to use the bathroom and get snacks, back it up when I missed something, and crochet the whole time.

The Kansas City Chiefs winning the Super Bowl: I have been a Chiefs fan for as long as I can remember, and I had accepted long ago that they were a team that I could cheer for during the season, but not a team that would make it to the Super Bowl. As I grew older, I found out that the Chiefs had been in the Super Bowl before, and had even won once, but that their days of Super Bowl brilliance were long behind them. That began to change after Andy Reid became the head coach seven years ago and the Chiefs began to win playoff games once again. Two years ago when Patrick Mahomes began as the quarterback, the team began to play like I had never seen them play before. They made it all the way to the AFC championship game, where they lost to the New England Patriots. The night of that game, I wrote in my journal that in Patrick Mahomes' second season, they would be unstoppable, and I was right. Now the win wasn't pretty. In fact, the team was down by ten points with only nine minutes left in the game. But in that crucial juncture, the team gained its second wind, scoring three touchdowns without letting the 49ers get close to their endzone. After 50 years where they hadn't even gotten to the Super Bowl, the team was victorious once more.

Technology: A lot of the ways that people have been able to stay connected this year is because of all the technology we have. Early on, people were referencing the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 and comparing it to our current circumstances. The most glaring difference between the two was the differences in what technology is available now. When schools were shut down this spring, I was able to do Google Meets with the students twice a week. When my church had to close, services were moved onto Facebook. Meetings were moved onto Zoom, which was a fairly limited platform before all this started. Since we had to cancel the cast party for Joseph, we were sent links to videos of the performance. For remote learning this fall, we used Zoom for daily class meetings, and Seesaw for assigning work to the students. Being separated from others has been difficult, but technology has made it a little easier. 

   I also have acquired some new technological items throughout the year. In my earlier post "Pows and Wows of Pandemic Life," I talked about my new phone and our new printer, both of which were acquired early on. I also got a new computer this summer. I had been using a refurbished Dell that I knew was operating on borrowed time, and it finally conked out in May. I borrowed my dad's computer when I needed it for the next few months before settling on a computer I liked late in July. While it's not perfect, it is much better than what I had before.

Videos on YouTube: My earlier post mentioned the encouragement I got from watching "Mornings with Mandisa" and how much fun I was having watching Broadway shows on the channel "The Shows Must Go On". Since the time I wrote that post, I have also discovered the Holderness family. They have found a way to make the best of this situation, and their videos are hysterical. My favorites are all the parody medleys they have done, especially the ones that involved crazy costume changes.

Listening to new music: As I mentioned in my earlier post, finding videos on YouTube of my favorite artists has allowed me to find songs of theirs that I had never heard before. In addition, there have been some really great songs that have come out this year. My favorite by far is "Together" by For King and Country. This is a song that they had started to write a couple of years ago, but they could never quite finish until this spring. The song itself is the perfect reflection of what we are going through and how we can make it through if we just stick together, and the music video they created for it is stunning. It is a compilation of videos taken in the homes of all the featured singers along with poster board testimonies from the artists and some of their many fans.

Livestream concerts: Since their concerts had to be canceled and tours ground to a halt, many artists went online to do concerts for their fans. Early on, many of these concerts were free, and I watched a few of them. One of the best things about them was that unlike in-person concerts, these could be watched at any convenient time, and could be viewed from the comfort of home. The artists could also perform them from the comfort of their own homes, and some even admitted to doing so without shoes on. While I look forward to the day we can all be together for concerts again, it's fun to still be able to watch my favorite artists perform.

Zoom meet and greets with Christian artists: I like to be able to meet artists, but most of the time that costs extra money, either in the form of a VIP ticket or a Meet and Greet Merch package. I did once buy a Meet and Greet package to meet Danny Gokey, and there have been some times that artists have done an autograph line after their show, but other than a quick comment and sometimes a photograph, there's not much time to interact with them. I've heard VIP tickets provide a better experience, but I can't afford them. That's why these Zoom meet and greets were so great: they provided a VIP experience for free. I met Dan Bremnes back in May and Mike Weaver in November, and I got to ask them questions and hear them sing. Also, through the technological marvel that is the screenshot, everyone in attendance got to be in a photo with the artist that was then posted to Facebook.

Doing Facebook live videos: Before this year, I had never done a Facebook live video. I am incredibly awkward in front of a camera, and I didn't want to do a video that I couldn't edit before posting. But this year, in the spirit of doing new things, I decided to try it. The first video I did was the day after Palm Sunday. I was feeling really down about the fact that our online Palm Sunday service meant that I was not at church singing with the choir but was instead at home trying to sing along with a recording from last year. I decided to walk to the park near my house to clear my head, and while I was there I did a live video talking about how I was feeling, and I sang my song "The Only Way" as well. 
    The second live video I did was on my birthday. I was supposed to do a craft fair that day, but like so many other things this year, it got canceled. I decided to do a live video that evening showing off the things I would have taken to sell at the craft fair had it not gotten canceled. I had planned to do it at 7:00, but when it was almost six before we got to dinner, I knew that wasn't going to happen, so I decided to move it to 8:30. Due to some technical difficulties, it was almost 9:00 before I actually got started. I didn't end up getting many viewers, I forgot to say the prices until almost the end of the video, and I didn't sell a single thing, but as awkward a video as it was, I still did it, and that sense of accomplishment is priceless.

Trying new recipes: Since Mom and I didn't have to go to work for a few months, we had extra time to make dinner, so we finally got around to trying some of the many recipes we had saved on Pinterest. We thoroughly enjoyed all of the ones we tried, and we have continued to make some of them. The one we've made the most often is the Rueben bowl because it's relatively quick to make, and it's as delicious as it is healthy.    

    We've also tried out some dessert recipes. Years ago, I had pinned a recipe for making ice cream with bananas as a base but had never gotten around to making it. The extra time at home provided the motivation I needed to finally try it out, and we ended up liking it so much that we kept making it, trying out different flavors each time. We also made an adaptation to a Pinterest recipe for one of our New Year's Eve snacks. With a few substitutions, what had been Reindeer Crack turned into Dumpster Fire Crack, a fitting snack to finish off this crazy year.

Trying out new crochet patterns: Having extra time at home also gave me more time to crochet. While I could have spent that extra time simply working on patterns I had already mastered, I decided to try a few new ones. I had bought my mom some crochet pattern books a few years ago, and one of them was for different granny squares. I used some of my leftover yarn and worked my way through that book, making some of the squares out of cotton yarn to sell in my shop as trivets and coasters. I also started making can cozies and coffee sleeves from another pattern book. I also tried a few patterns from a crochet magazine I've subscribed to for years, including making mermaid backpacks for my cousin's daughter and the little girl my mom takes to school.

Attending a new church: Unfortunately, my church has been closed since March, and other than a few outdoor services, worship has only been online. I didn't really mind at first because everything was shut down, but as everything else began to open up again, it began to bother me. It soon became apparent that I needed to worship with other believers again, and since other churches were opening up, I knew that I could do so. My plan was to go to different churches that friends of mine attended, starting with one pastored by the husband of one of my coworkers. Unfortunately, my coworker and her husband were gone the first week I went, so I went back the next week so I could hear him preach, fully intending to try out other churches afterward. However, his sermon was so compelling, the praise band was so spiritual, and the congregation was so welcoming that I decided to stay. Being around them has helped carry me through this year in a way that the solitude of online worship never could, and I even got the chance to help with their Halloween celebration for the kids. While I long for the day when I can attend my church again, I am glad to have one to help sustain me right now.

Doing three Bible Studies simultaneously: This one kind of happened by accident. I was signing up to do a study on Missing Pieces by Jennifer Rothschild as part of Bible Study Bistro. While I was signing up, I saw studies for Finding God Faithful by Kelly Minter and Defined by the Kendrick Brothers and clicked on them to find out more information, not realizing that the links would sign me up for the studies. Now, I could have just stuck to the study I had intended to sign up for and not do the others, but I had the time, so I decided to go through with all of them. I only bought the book for Missing Pieces, but I watched the videos online for all three of them. Those three studies pumped me full of encouragement from God's word at a time where I could only receive that sort of encouragement online.

Doing a Bible in One Year plan: Though I know this Bible app plan was written long before the pandemic started, it was amazing how relevant it was at times to what I was facing throughout the year. The authors were very prophetic when they wrote this plan, even if they didn't know exactly what people would be facing. I'm glad a friend invited me to do this plan with him last December.

Watching extra football: I already wrote in an earlier post about getting to watch football on Easter, but that wasn't the only time I got to watch football this spring. With the seasons of most spring sports delayed or canceled, the networks had spots in their schedules that they needed to fill, and many of those spots were filled with old Super Bowl games. I was able to watch games I hadn't paid attention to because they aired before I liked football, games I had watched since I started liking football in college, and even a few that were played before I was even born.

    My favorite of the games I got to watch was a rerun of this year's Super Bowl, which was fun not only because the Chiefs won, but also because they showed the entire game in only an hour and forty-five minutes, which is a full two hours less than the initial broadcast. That meant commercials were almost non-existent and some non-scoring drives were eliminated. It was fast-paced and crazy, but I loved it anyway.

2020 jokes and memes: Laughter has always been the best medicine, and this past year is no different. Throughout the past months, we have found a way to poke fun at almost every aspect of this situation. These jokes and memes have covered everything from the toilet paper shortage to all the events we forgot about because of the sheer number of other things that happened this year. All of them brought a bit of levity to a difficult situation, and for that, I am grateful. 

Zumba in the gym: The studio where my Zumba class normally meets has been limited to a capacity of only 15 people for most of the time since it started up again in June. Since that class can easily have 30 or more people attend, the limit was clearly going to be a problem. Fortunately, our instructor was able to get permission from the front desk to move the class to one of the gyms when enough people show up, and I'm finding that I really enjoy it. There is much more room in the gym, so I can do the moves without worrying about running into or accidentally hitting someone. Personally, I would be okay with the class meeting in the gym on a more permanent basis.

Facing my anxiety: There have been so many things this year that have triggered my anxiety, which I'm sure is true for almost everyone. Normally before when I was feeling anxious, I was able to push past it by doing whatever I was anxious about or keep the anxiety at bay by staying busy. However, early on in the shutdown, there was absolutely nothing I could do and nowhere I could go to escape its clutches. This ended up being a good thing because instead of relying on my activities or my friends to help me feel less anxious, I had nothing to rely on but God. Relying solely on God to help quell my anxiety has grown an intimacy with Him that I never had before. Now, I can't say that my anxiety is completely gone, but I am now much better equipped to deal with it.

The health of friends and family: While I do know some people who have been infected with the Coronavirus, every single one of them has recovered, and as far as I know, none of them ended up in the hospital. The health issues my uncle was facing at the beginning of the year have all resolved themselves, and he was able to return home from rehab before the lockdowns started. Also, my mom continues to be cancer-free two years after she finished chemo. It may have been a rough year, but all of the people I know and love are healthy and safe.

Meeting new family members: My cousin brought her boyfriend and his two daughters with her when she came to my aunt's house for Christmas. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to meet them, and feel like the three of them will easily fit into my slightly crazy family.

    Looking back on this year, I could easily dwell on all that went wrong and how different it turned out than how I wanted. However, I choose to look for the good even in this crazy year, and I hope and pray that the next one is better.