I hope we all stay healthy. I hope we’re able to recover financially. I hope I can continue to work on myself and keep exercising. I hope my kids don’t stress too much over the things we need to stress about. I hope they can go back to school full-time and continue learning as this environment is not helping them right now. I really, really hope things can return to normal.

I want businesses to open back up and for people to go back to work. I want kids to go back to school. I want people to be able to go back to their churches and other places of worship. I want America to keep thriving as it was doing before the pandemic. I want my kids to learn about our history even if it’s not perfect. Isn’t that the point? I want families to be able to visit each other and not live in fear. I want 2021 to be a better year.

My words from December 2020

This is what I wrote at the end of last year. 2020 was a rough year and I had a lot of hope for 2021. Sadly, it seems to be more of the same. Or worse.

We are really struggling financially. I cannot thank our families and friends enough for what they’ve done for us. Without them, we’d be on the street. But this has to end. We have to improve or that’s where we’ll be. With all the jobs open out there, why is it so difficult to find one? I know the kids are still stressed. About everything. And people aren’t all getting to go back to their places of worship…the one place they should be able to go to and feel safe. And things have not returned to ‘normal.’

However, there are some positives. Many Republican-led states are opening back up. Businesses are opening and people are going back to work. Our school plans to open fully for this school year and no masks are required. Our family and friends have stayed healthy even despite having covid at the beginning of the year. We’re very lucky.

All I can do is continue to work toward a brighter future for us and our kids. So that’s what I’m going to do.