Quick update to ring in the new year

Not a great statistic, but... the United States hit an all-time high record of 2.2 million positive Covid cases in the country in 1 week. Thankfully the latest variant, Omnicron (which has a rapid transmission causing the surge at the end of the year) is not as deadly.  There is less hospitalization from this variant -- about half the hospitalization rate than was reported with Delta variant.  

The milestones at the end of the year for Covid:  5.4 million have passed world-wide from this disease.... including over 824,000 in the US. 

I'll get this out of the way:  beloved actress Betty White died on New Year's Eve at the age of 99.  She would have been 100 in mid-January.  I honestly thought she would ALWAYS be around... she seemed to keep going and going and going (like the Energizer bunny)!  

There have been a lot of images of her with dark hair published this last week from her early time in acting.  Didn't recognize her like that but this is the Betty my generation remembers.  (Golden Girls, skits on SNL and irreverent TV commercials). She was a legend!

And how the year officially ended here in our household:

Our new year's celebration was a bit of a dud... it started with a TORNADO warning!  In December!  It was caused by a low-pressure super-cell.... something that is seen in the plains and has not been documented in Georgia since 2006.  In the end, it was fine but the whole thing was so strange.  

We made lettuce wraps and egg rolls for a twist on a unique NYE dinner.  Isabella wasn't feeling well and slept through dinner, but she was awake for ringing in the actual new year.  (ish)

I feel like 2020 and 2021 were "survival."  I want 2022 to be Intentional.  Nurturing.  Enjoyable.  And - definitely much much more self care!

I think that we may be able to move past some hurdles and some challenges... and hopefully have a positive year ahead.  Mercer had a chapter close in 2021 (his little-league baseball run ended... he moved into a different age group).  He also has a spark of interest in one of his classmates -- it's so sweet and innocent... really cute.   

Isabella has possibly ended her stint with little-league as well - as she moved up to "kid pitch" and did not enjoy it.  But - she started (therapeutic) horse riding in 2021.  She's meeting with a therapist on a consistent basis (not over zoom like before). She also started piano lessons in December.  Hoping she can find her thing.  

I had a chapter close as well - finishing up the teaching certification program in May of 2021.  The school year is off to a better start than my 1st year (doing virtual), but has still had some challenges.  I am hopeful that I'll be able to continue to grow in my new position and add my flair.  (I have about 8-10 students who are voluntarily staying after school to learn more about sustainability and LEED.  I have one student who is also interested in biomimicry... I am sooo excited to nurture this interest and grow in this area too!  It feels like this year is more dynamic than last year was -- and we're only 1/2 way through it at this point... we're about to enter "competition" season with that cool design project we did last year hybrid.)  So - there's promise professionally as well.  (Again - so grateful that I changed jobs... have I mentioned that in the past blog post or two??!!) 

Todd's small firm is staying busy.  They're dabbling in a new building type to help diversify and hopefully do well in the ebbs-and-flow of the economy.  Hopefully that pans out in the end and is a good business model!

So, we ate a traditional New Year's Day southern meal to hopefully bring about prosperity and wealth.  Beans and greens are healthy too, right?  

We finally played games (that we didn't get to play on New Year's Eve) -- our new FAMILY favorite that even the 13 year old likes:  Uno Flip.  We bought some new appliances.  We released a contractor to finish the work on our hose that the previous contractor didn't finish. 

We did science experiments.  And we binged-watched Lego Master's TV show series.

The new year seems to be off to a good start.

From the talented poet Amanda Gorman

"New Day's Lyric" (per interview with ABC) was written to celebrate the new year and honor the hurt and the humanity of the last one.

May this be the day

We come together.

Mourning, we come to mend,

Withered, we come to weather,

Torn, we come to tend,

Battered, we come to better.

Tethered by this year of yearning,

We are learning

That though we weren't ready for this,

We have been readied by it.

We steadily vow that no matter

How we are weighed down,

We must always pave a way forward.

*

This hope is our door, our portal.

Even if we never get back to normal,

Someday we can venture beyond it,

To leave the known and take the first steps.

So let us not return to what was normal,

But reach toward what is next.

*

What was cursed, we will cure.

What was plagued, we will prove pure.

Where we tend to argue, we will try to agree,

Those fortunes we forswore, now the future we foresee,

Where we weren't aware, we're now awake;

Those moments we missed

Are now these moments we make,

The moments we meet,

And our hearts, once all together beaten,

Now all together beat.

*

Come, look up with kindness yet,

For even solace can be sourced from sorrow.

We remember, not just for the sake of yesterday,

But to take on tomorrow.

*

We heed this old spirit,

In a new day's lyric,

In our hearts, we hear it:

For auld lang syne, my dear,

For auld lang syne.

Be bold, sang Time this year,

Be bold, sang Time,

For when you honor yesterday,

Tomorrow ye will find.

Know what we've fought

Need not be forgot nor for none.

It defines us, binds us as one,

Come over, join this day just begun.

For wherever we come together,

We will forever overcome.

And - from the Boston Globe:

Gorman offered an alliterative response when asked what inspired “New Day's Lyric,” telling the AP that she “wanted to write a lyric to honor the hardships, hurt, hope and healing of 2021 while also harkening the potential of 2022.”

“This is such a unique New Year’s Day, because even as we toast our glasses to the future, we still have our heads bowed for what has been lost," she wrote. "I think one of the most important things the new year reminds us is of that old adage: This too shall pass. You can’t relive the same day twice — meaning every dawn is a new one, and every year an opportunity to step into the light.”