My Pandemic Year

It's been an entire year now!  Can you believe how time has flown and how we've made it through this year with so much tragedy and loss.  Looking back on the past 12 months, we've seen and heard a lot - good and bad, but here's what I have learned and how my 2020 was shaped by the pandemic.

1) Being Content on the Farm Helped 

 Being an introvert and being stuck at home, working from home, no travel, hasn't been a huge issue for me.  My life did not change that much. Yes, a few trips were cancelled, I have not seen my friends and family much but I have a happy and satisfying life where I am.  While there were days I wanted to be somewhere else, being content really helped during the pandemic. If you are not content then time to fix it.  Yes, I am looking forward to my trips again - the US Open, Keeneland, and Canada but not until late fall at the earliest if we are lucky.

2) The Horses Had a Bad Year Too

The horses kept me on my toes in 2020.  Looking back on the year it didn't start well.  Madda and I took a bad fall in January that kept me out of the saddle for a month.  When I finally got back the pandemic hit and the horse shows were cancelled. In April, April colicked for the second time and lucky for her she rallied and came out of it.  While I tried to keep the horses going all summer, Madda got hurt in early September and was out for the remainder of the year.  Alfie picked up the slack and had a great last horse horse show in early November before he got hurt this January. So it wasn't a great horse year here on the farm but having them here was the best medicine. Many of my friends could not see their horses for months at the height of the pandemic. I could hug mine every day - and did.

 3)  Our Normal Lives Will Never Return

I thought I would miss not going to restaurants, not going out, but looking back on it, this part of life won't return to normal for us. I like to cook and have invested in a food processor, a new mixer (a holiday gift), new pots (Le Creuset), and utensils for cooking.  I don't see us going out as much as we once did post-pandemic. It's been over a year since I dined in a restaurant of any kind.  We'll keep cooking at home, ordering Home Chef some weeks and enjoying where we are.  And those masks, they aren't going anywhere.  Some of us will be masked for years.....this virus isn't going anywhere either!

4) Stitching Helped

As many others discovered, there is something therapeutic about needlepoint.  For those who have been stitching for years, we know this.  But now the world has discovered this fantastic hobby.  Some will leave their Silk & Ivory behind post-pandemic but my personal stash has never been bigger. Love this ornament!

5) It's the Small Stuff That Matters

I spent the afternoon yesterday cleaning my barn - a deep spring clean that will take some time but I tackled the area where I clean the horses and enter the barn.  There's nothing more satisfying or fun than piddling in my barn.  Cleaning brushes, sweeping aisles, washing water buckets - this is not sexy stuff - but this is what I love - just doing the small chores, everyday life, that can be satisfying.  We have gotten too tied up in materialism, having the biggest house, the newest car, the most expensive outfit, that we forget that all of that can leave us in a heartbeat and in the end no one cares anyway. Make your own happiness in this world. There will be more pandemics in our lifetime most likely. Learn to live with what life throws you.  The only constant in this world is change.