Why I'm grateful for 2020, despite it all

2020.

A year we’ll never forget. That’s for sure. It’s been a while since I wrote a story for intro.vert, and to be honest, with everything going on in the world I didn’t have it in me. It’s been a long year already, and we still have three months to go. I’ve been grateful for the health of our family and friends; thinking of those I care about affected by mass unemployment and uncertainty; and trying to be patient with myself when the days feel long.

2020.

I liked to say 'make lemonade out of lemons’ way before Jack on This is Us. And, this year, I knew I’d rather be sugar high on lemonade than turn on the nightly news. My life today looks drastically different than it did at the start of this pandemic. We adopted a rescue pup. Truly, who rescues who when you’re stuck in a 700 square-foot condo?

We decided to move out of said condo when we found a house we loved just north of Chicago. I NEVER thought I’d want to leave the city, but suddenly a backyard and bigger kitchen for all of my quarantine cooking sounded appealing. Two days after we closed on the house, my boyfriend of three years proposed. I said yes. And, then, he somehow convinced me to adopt a second rescue pup in late summer. One house, an engagement, two dogs later and countless Fixer Upper binges, that’s been my 2020.

I’m grateful for it all, even as the days blending together turned into months.

XOXO,

Steph