Well, we did it. We finished that really long chapter of our story and successfully turned the page. This year we rang in the switch with some dear friends and a fabulous, amazing, house full sleep over! Does not get better than that!
It's a new day, a new start, a shift, and a beginning. New year's are always so exciting!
I didn't need to see 2020 go though. It wasn't necessary for me. I didn't want to burn it down, I didn't want to call it a dumpster fire, I deeply, truly, and without question am finishing the year with an incredibly fond view of it. I know, call me crazy, but 2020 was a gift and one that I will forever look back on with deep and swelling pride. WE CAN DO HARD THINGS. Our lives and the joy we hold are not simply limited by our circumstances, nor are they ultimately defined by them. Joy is so much more. Jesus is so much more, and 2020 has forever changed how I live and hold onto this world.
You know the absolutely greatest thing that our family has learned? Nothing matters but people and relationship and loving all in, all out, all the time. You know what we shouldn't waste our time on? Anger. You know what is more stealing than any pandemic? Fear. You know what plays the biggest thief in your lives? Selfishness. And 2020 forced us to daily make the choice on all three. What a gift.
Time is fleeting, it goes fast, people die, people change, elections happen, life happens. Stop wasting any of it in anger, fear, and selfishness. Hug all of your people, all of the time. Let not one encounter be lost, life is too short for all of that.
The tone of our house has gone through a massive shift since the first few months of quarantine. Our parenting has shifted. Our marriage has shifted. LIFE IS TOO SHORT to spend it angry. It just is. Lily and Evie are getting tired of us never rising to their fighting and reminding them on repeat, "Your sister is not guaranteed tomorrow, why spend a second of time being this angry over legos?" They cry and tell us that its so sad to think about and YES it is. Living life is a gift. HOW you live is a choice and today is the only day that matters. Choose to love, and then do it again.
This place that we have found ourselves in may have otherwise taken us a lifetime to arrive in. But then 2020 happened.
2021 You are welcome here, and 2020 I know you have to go. Thank you for teaching us Longmires how to live better and more purposefully. I will always be grateful.
Lily and Evie,
2020 is one of the best years I have had of being your Mom. I am so grateful for your part in my life. You both are deeply loved by your Daddy and I. We are always on your team. Always. Promise me that you will never forget the joy of 2020. Its okay to remember the hard, but never forget everything it gave us and the lessons we learned.
Extend grace, do it over again, on repeat. Love first, always, and often. Love divinely and purposefully and do the loving thing first. I promise, its powerful.
Set captives free, forgive, love, let go. Liberate those in pain, liberate those in fear, and break the chains of anger and bitterness. Shift and shift again. You have been made by LOVE in order to LOVE. Look up Child and remember Whose you are!
I am proud of you both. I am in awe of your resiliency and adaptability. You both are so possible and so worthy.
Love, Mom
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