Hello to my two readers out there who are actual people and not bots! Apologies for being away for so long. November crashed my computer, which now has a new drive and is in the hands of my child. It also brought Thanksgiving which I was going to spend with my Mom, brother and his family, but with the spiking Covid numbers in California, we had Mom just visit with my brother and his family who rented a home for Thanksgiving nearby while getting away from Los Angeles. We will, hopefully, bring Mom over to our home for Christmas and Zoom with them.
The year is winding down, thank God. It has been long and arduous. But since the election, I’ve felt a small bit better. I feel like at least our country stands a chance in the coming four years. If Trump had won, I fear democracy would have been crushed. We are far from being out of the woods, and I realize the Democrats are no panacea. I at least though feel that the Gestapo like direction of the current state of the Republican party has been tempered, all be it momentarily.
It is strange living in the US these days with a pandemic raging, people claiming “freedom” by not wearing masks and endangering others. Our world is so damn selfish right now it can be quite demoralizing. Yet in the meantime, I have a family who are friends of ours who are moving away. This is sad to our family but it has also shown an amazing coming together in our community.
The oldest child is in my daughter’s class and one of her closest friends. She has two younger sisters that in some way had become surrogate sisters to my child. During the summer we would occasionally go over to their house, or they would come to ours, and we would sit outside and barbeque. The kids would all play together. It was so very… normal in a very un-normal time.
So this family is moving away across the country to the home town of the mom. It has been hard for us to see them getting ready to go. It has been particularly hard for my daughter. This friend, supported her a couple years ago in school when other girls who she thought were her friends, were particularly mean to her. I became close to the mom at this time and the dad too who is a native San Franciscan like myself. This family, has had a profound effect on many in our community. The kids in my daughter’s class have put together a book of memories for the eldest daughter. They are arranging a car parade to go by the house with kids from all the girls classes. There have been well wishes in school newsletters calling out this family in particular as they have touched many. They will be deeply missed.
All of these actions have also reminded me of the good in our community. I am reminded that the little things that don’t make the “news” are really the moments that make up a life in good times and bad. While I as an individual often look for the big things going on in the world, it is really these little ones that make a life, and a life worth living. It isn’t glamorous, but it is real, and thankfully, kind.
This year has had so many challenges. People can be so mean to each other online and in person. It is an important reminder to me that it is the day to day that makes up a life and those people in the day to day that make that life worth living. They may not always be with us, but while they are, they do make life better. Those people on the East coast who get this family in their community, don’t know how lucky they will be.