2020, a Scrapbook
Looking back, the twelve long months of 2020 still feel entirely surreal. This spring, I set aside some time to put together our scrapbook from the year, to commemorate some of our favorite moments, and was struck by the collection of photographs I had come away with. How they revealed the quietness of three people living alone at home day after day, and the rhythm of daily life that emerged after months of quarantine.For our little family, 2020 was a year full of changes, and challenges. We spent months tucked away, working remotely and caring for our new baby daughter alone in a new town, in a new state hundreds of miles from family. Like so many other small business owners, I watched nearly an entire year's worth of work evaporate over night, and in the months that followed, spent countless hours helping couples and families shift plans, interpret changing regulations and start again from scratch. 202o was hard, and often lonely. But throughout it all, we knew still how lucky we were. We were healthy, we had work we loved, and we had each other. While it would have been easy to focus on all of the many things the pandemic took from us, instead we tried to focus, especially on the most difficult days, on all of the joy that still remained.Looking back now, I know that this year will likely stay with us our entire lives for so many reasons, but I hope that what I remember most will be these things:
How as 2020 began, we were just welcoming home our sweet baby daughter Evelyn and ringing in the new year as a family of three! As you might imagine, and as many first time parents likely already know, those first few weeks were quite the education for Jesse and me as we still had lots to learn (see the photograph of us confirming that the carseat was correctly fastened in the hallway of the hospital for reference). Luckily I think we're finding our way, and are quite lucky that Evelyn is a fairly patient instructor ;)
That while we didn't know our time with extended family would be so limited, we had almost two full months where we were freely able to travel to and visit with family members before pandemic lockdowns hit. Jesse's grandmother was able to hold Evelyn, and each of our families was able to visit us at the hospital the day after we delivered. Two of Evelyn's aunts were able to snuggle her close, and we even had a couple of friends come by for brief visits too <3 Happily, Evelyn will finally be able to meet her other aunt and uncle this weekend for the first time ever, and she'll also be able to meet her new baby cousin who was born last summer.
How we were lucky enough to spend the first few weeks of the pandemic in an extended bubble with my in-laws. We had originally planned to visit for just one night but when we saw the news reports about "that new Covid virus", and as travel restrictions began to take effect, we extended first for a week and then nearly two months. Any couple who has experienced first-time parenthood I'm sure can appreciate that having two loving grandparents at home to help made us feel incredibly lucky during our transition to parenthood.
Sitting on the front porch of our new home drinking coffee absolutely surrounded by rhododendron blooms. In the summer of 2020 we relocated to Pennsylvania where Jesse was offered his first teaching job after completing his PhD, and moved into a beautiful old house with lots of room for gardening and space for the pups to run!
Exploring our new town, and making time for almost daily family walks in all sorts of weather. From our porch we had the chance to watch the fog roll in, see walls of storms make their way across the valley, and experience sunrise after sunrise (fun fact: did you know babies really like to get up early!?). The view from our home was constantly surprising us with beautiful sights.
I hope I'll remember how cute Evelyn was as she learned to walk (and is currently learning to talk!) toddling around our new house and garden, and had many baby-sized adventures as she grew. Currently she loves giving our two doggies kisses and pats, reading books about animals (especially cats), and watching helicopters fly to the local hospital!
When Jesse was happily busy with course prep, grading and faculty meetings, Evie and I kept plenty busy too. Summer months were devoted to hours in the garden planting roses, peonies, alliums, tulips & lots and lots of wild flowers, while the fall and winter found me in the kitchen trying new banana bread combinations, and hunting down the perfect chocolate and vanilla cake recipes, all the while also perfecting our new favorite sourdough loaf with lots of pockets for butter and jam! Evie still loves to poke the dough with her cute chubby baby fingers to help me "check" to see if it's ready to bake :)
I'll also be forever grateful to all of the family and friends who helped us to celebrate Evelyn's first birthday from afar. When we knew we wouldn't be able to travel to see family for the holidays this year, we knew that we would also be celebrating Evie's first birthday at home too so we set up a special zoom party for her so that all of her loved ones both far and near could witness her first cake experience! She was clearly thrilled with all of the decorations and a huge fan of frosting (as evidenced by how much made it in her mouth as well as in her hair!) and though we couldn't be with our "village" in person, it was wonderful to feel all of the love for our little girl even from afar.
Even beyond these big picture events, I hope I remember the little things too: the sunset light kissing the apple tree in our back yard & watching the lightning bugs come out in the summer, hearing Evie giggle as we pull her around the yard in her sled, because even though she "saw" snow the winter before, she couldn't remember it, and so it's all still so new. How the house always smelled of fresh bread and pies, and how as Evelyn's hair grew longer it curled in little ringlets at her neck, and how soft they are against my cheek as I rock her to sleep at night.More than ten years ago, when I photographed my first wedding, I remember thinking to myself that a wedding day really must be the happiest of someone's life. Now, years later, I think about wedding days a little differently and wish even more for my couples than that "happiest" day.
Because even after this year, I've seen myself how much love and happiness can still be yet to come.
