Gratitude

Like so many of us, as the year comes to a close I am reflecting on 2021 and looking forward to 2022.

While 2021 was very challenging for humanity, and my island community, I am choosing to remember the bright spots.  On a personal level, I started a new career, spent the first full year in our new home, welcomed a great-granddaughter, saw my best friend become a nana, watched our son continue to grow into the role of a homeowner, connected with old friends, and felt the joy of the sun on my face and the sea at my feet.

Our community hit some high points, also.  We have the highest rate of vaccinated individuals in the state, we found safe ways to come together to celebrate high school graduation and other milestones, we cheered for our State Soccer Champs, we helped our neighbors in ways large and small, we greeted each other with smiles behind our masks, we provided care to our most vulnerable citizens, and always remembered that we are an extraordinary community of (mostly) ordinary people.

In many ways I’m happy to put 2021 behind me, but I won’t forget the blessings it brought to my life together with the trials.  I am so very fortunate to experience good health, to know my family has made it through the pandemic intact, to have people in my life to share love and support, and to live in a place I treasure.  Certainly 2022 will have its tribulations, and I hope I can meet them with courage and grace.  But mostly I will continue to be grateful every day for the people I love and the place I call home.