To my family and friends,
Oh my goodness...it has been 1 year since my last entry. It's 1:16 am so it's officially Thanksgiving Day. 12 years have passed since my very first Thanksgiving Day letter. In November 2009 I never 1) thought I would continue this yearly letter/ update for TWELVE years... and 2) could not have dreamed that I would ever be able to say "This is my hardest year to write about thus far". But it is, so here we go. I'm not one to stop a tradition just because life, in general, sucks donkey balls.
2020 started off with no particular events to write home about. Afton was thriving in preschool and Levi was in speech therapy twice a week. Then WHAPOW life as we all knew it changed. For everyone, Covid brought unforeseen challenges. For our family, life seemed to completely implode in, what seemed like, a day. We had hired an independent contractor to build a pantry in our kitchen, interpolate our crawl space and build a 6 foot shadow box privacy fence around out back yard. We had become quite good friends with our new contractor. We were happy to work around his schedule... but our work kept getting pushed back and pushed back. Finally one day he did not show up, which was NOT at ALL surprising to us due to some strange behavior he had that previous week. He left us with 3 unfinished projects. If anything positive came from the experience, my dad made a trip to Virginia and helped us with a lot of things. He was a tremendous blessing. 2 of the 3 projects are still nooooot quite complete, but we are getting there. Another tremendous blessing that has come this year regarding our house is that the housing market has skyrocketed. We joke and say if we had not built this house when we did, we would never have been able to build it now. In July 2018 we closed on our house with a purchase price of $167,000. We have 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 1320 sq feet, no basement, no garage... and this past week a house down the street from us (you back out of the driveway onto a major county road) officially became pending for $165,000. This house is 1020 sq feet, 2 bed, 2 bath, tiny back yard. New houses in our area that are comparable to ours are being listed and sold for $200,000. So... I am INCREDIBLY thankful for a housing market that has been working in our favor recently. Our town is the next "up and coming" which is nice.
We had a very very very rainy spring, which meant that the kids spent way too much time inside. Then we hit summer and it was SOOOOOO freaking hot. And for my friends who live in the midwest... your humidity has nothing on us, lol. Since the city pool was closed and the YMCA was closed, we managed with a large blow up pool that I stumbled upon at target. Pools could not be found anywhere this past summer. With my skin cancer history, I have to be very careful regarding sun exposure. Thanks to beach umbrellas, we survived the summer without any major sunburns.
The highlight of this past year would probably be the trip to Myrtle Beach, SC with my little sister. Emily and I had the most wonderful time. We were child free and the weather was as beautiful as it could possibly have been. Forecast said it was supposed to rain but we did not get one single drop of rain the few days we were there. Our hotel was not in the heart of the tourist district but we had a private beach access in a residential area that was a 5 minute walk from our hotel. It was perfection. I'm so thankful for that time I had with my sister. Our chats and the chance it gave us to grow closer together.
This year has been incredibly hard on me, for many reasons. Most of the reasons I will not go into details about, but 2020 has brought me to my knees. My heart has ached for my fellow police wives. I have spent many moment crying because of the hate that has plagued us. I have been a police wife for 10 1/2 years and I have never, until this year, feared for Pauls safety. Financially, Covid took our monthly income and has slashed it by about 1/2. The overtime that we depend on each month was suddenly gone. Panic set in and I was suddenly wondering how we would meet the basic needs of our family. Schools were closing and I had no clue how I would educate my children properly. We went into survival mode and learned very quickly that a few things people were purchasing the least of was cereal and peanut butter and jelly. I knew how to make bread if I needed to and milk was being rationed to 1 gallon per visit in all of our stores. Every day, when Paul would come home, I would make my rounds to all of our major grocery stores. I bought baby wipes and diapers every chance I got. I bought a gallon of milk almost daily because I knew we could freeze it if needed. We bought boxed meals like Hamburger Helper that can be made with canned chicken or no meet. For months we lived off of cereal and sandwiches. I purchased cleaning supplies every single time I saw a bottle on the shelf and I still have 6 spray bottles of my favorite 24 hour germ killer. Paul finally told me I had to stop buying paper towel and toilet paper, lol. I will say this. I JUST used the last container of baby wipes that I purchased in March. One incredibly important lesson was learned over the summer. The things we think we NEED, are not at all what we actually need. I saw where we were over spending and the items we often purchased but ended up throwing away. I am truly thankful for the lessons that I have learned during this pandemic. Another blessing that was given to us was having Paul home... A LOT. I have seen my husband more over the past 8 months than I have in the last 10 years. And thats not a lie. I quickly learned that Paul will need to work once he retires. If not, he will drive me insane. Life is slowly getting back to normal for the time being... but I can definitely say that I now understand what it means to be self reliant and prepared.
Recently I have been learning the art of becoming a minimalist. I cannot tell you how good it feels when you know you own almost nothing. Our attic is perfectly organized. I went through all of my clothes and the kids clothes. Paul went through all of his things. It took me 5 days of cleaning from sun up to sun down and at the end, I had 24 black construction size trash bags full of things. I'm tired of things. They take up room. They do nothing but get shuffled from place to place. I want to own things that have a purpose and bring joy into my home. What an amazing blessing it has been to feel as though our house is lighter. What a blessing it is to know it takes me 1/2 the time to clean my house, and that includes going through drawers and cabinets.
I am thankful for my beautiful family. I have 2 children who are thriving. Levi's speech is now up to that of a 2 year old. He is learning new words every single week and he has now started to referring to his dad as Paul, lol. He is in size 5t clothes and he will be 3 1/2 on christmas eve. He fits best is BOYS xs, lol. He has the most beautiful smile and stunning blue eyes. He is a mommas boy and I absolutely love it. He is in virtual preschool right now... whatever that means... praying he will be back in a classroom setting by January. Afton will be 6 in a little over a week. When I say I cannot believe it... I CANNOT BELIEVE IT. How will be already be 6???????? She started Kindergarten this year and is absolutely loving it. She does not like gym but she does like the gym teacher. Afton is a tiny little thing. She weighs 47 lbs and Levi weighs 48 lbs. Afton is in a size girls 6 but if they had 5x it would fit her perfectly. She has the most beautiful blonde hair and stormy grey eyes. She loves wearing dresses and adores anything that has glitter on it. She is so smart and so clever. This is the first year that she is REALLY excited about Santa too, so thats a lot of fun.
We celebrated out 10th wedding anniversary in July. I'm so thankful for my sweet husband. I'm thankful for his unwavering patience, his constant love, his willingness to stand by my side regardless of the situation. I'm thankful that we have made it 10 years. If we were almost any other couple, 2020 might have broken us. Not for reason that you are probably thinking. We love each other dearly, are loyal and faithful. But 2020 has tested our strength as a couple. I'm thankful for the 2 am blessings that Paul graciously and happily gives me more times than I would like to count. I'm thankful for the hugs and his non judgmental attitude. His compassion. I'm thankful for the, way too many, days that he gets home from work and lets me lock myself away in our room so I can have time without 2 kiddos climbing on me and my son wanting to sit on my face... literally.
I'm so thankful 2020 is almost over. I'm counting down the days. I refuse to have the "next year will be so much better" attitude but I do know that regardless of what comes out way, we will make it through as a family and we will find something to be thankful for from 2021.
I hope this letter finds you all happy and healthy. Please be safe as you travel.
EQ
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