I snapped the ‘single’ snowman picture in April during an unexpected snow in the first month of quarantine. I took the ‘family’ snowmen picture yesterday at the same house. As one can see, the sole snowman grew to a group of snowmen during the nine months of our pandemic. This small miracle illustrates why I am choosing not to write off 2020 as a bad year. I recognize that, although the year may not have unfolded as expected, it was yet another year that we lived, loved, and learned.

Each of us, in one way or another, has encountered unexpected life changes during this year.  The loss of my mother in April, as COVID-19 touched my family personally, was one of the more difficult experiences for me. Despite this unanticipated element of grief, opportunities did present themselves throughout the year. For instance, I witnessed our four young men, ages 18 through 25, build resilience in the face of the unscripted as they navigated their new normal. While this growth may have appeared awkward at times, it served as a reminder that life altering situations can teach all of us to negotiate our individual balance between acceptance and forging ahead. This was also the case with my octogenarian father and mother in-law. While both were reeling with grief over the loss of a beloved spouse, they each found strength from within to stay connected with us and others by phone and by learning to Zoom.

At one time or another, we have all said or heard an expression like ‘life is not a straight line and is full of surprises.’ Now, 2020 has provided us with us the opportunity to experience this process directly, and to become stronger for having lived through it. For this reason, I have chosen to see 2020 as a reminder of that beautiful strength within each of us – to see the positive and grow during all the complexities of change we encounter along the path of our life journey. While some years may appear more pleasant than 2020, just as that single snowman grew into a family of snowmen, we all grew this year.