Happy New Year. I have not been on here in quite a while. I’ve been busy with life, and not prioritizing my blog. If I don’t start using it more, I may move back to a free blog option. That being said, the plan for January is to write a blog post once a week. I know better than to attempt to write every day this month. I’m learning a new job, being mom to a four year old with very high energy, and doing as many wood photo projects that I can. I have a month planned out for blog posts, and today I’m going to talk about my personal 2020.
2020 was filled with the unknown. It was full of anxiety. It was a year that I couldn’t plan because I had no idea what was going to happen next. To me – a stay at home mom – some parts of it felt the same. People were staying home with their kids because of the Pandemic, and I had already been doing that. At the beginning, the hardest part was not being able to take my son to play when we were going stir crazy. I was a solo mom in the first few months, and I missed being able to go to play centres and playgrounds. We figured it out though.
I tried to embrace all that we had this year. I tried to love as much as I could. I tried to live my life with love for others, and I spent a lot of the year searching for the kindness. It was hard because people were hard on one another this year. 2020 brought out a lot of mean people, but I also saw the kindness in life.
It was a tough year for my son and I. It would have been with or without a pandemic. He is high energy, and I worry about him. I worry about him when he gets further into school. I worry about ADHD – but that is a post for another day.
He’s loving, and he’s kind, but he’s also spontanious and doesn’t think before doing things. He’s hilarious and loves joking, but he’s quick to anger and he has little paitence. And he doesn’t listen. We’ve had a lot of struggles because I have a few of those traits as well. We are learning together.
He turned four this year. I turned forty. He went to Pre K. I started new jobs. Our lives are changing, and I’m happy that even with this pandemic we were able to do all these things. My favourite thing is watching my son learning in school, and watching him make friends.
While I watch him with pride, I hope he can watch my changes with pride as well. I’ve started selling my Wood Photos. I’ve gotten a job as Editor for Family Fun Saskatoon. I’m writing for a living, and I’m able to do it from home. I hope he sees me working, and knows that I am doing something I love.
The year has not been easy, but at times, all I could do was look at my life and feel all the gratitude. I have a house, I have a family, and I have people that love me. The end of the year brought me a job. I also get to take a hobby I love, and make beautiful wood photo memories for people. I’m happy. Going into 2021 , there are things I need to work on. I will always have things to work on, but I’m proud of how far I’ve come.
I have some year end prompts I’m going to do, and then I’ll sign off and the next post will be about what I want from 2021.
10 Highlights: 1) My son turned four. 2) My son got to go to Pre K in the Fall. 3) We went to Ontario for a safe and socially distanced visit in August. 4) We had a pretty kick-ass bubble when we could add people in. 5) We were reunited with family. 6) We had adventures in our own province. 7) We made a lot of crafts. 8) We have spent so much time outside. 9) I read and read and read and read. 10) I had a 40th Birthday photo shoot just for me, and it was amazing, as well as a Socially Distanced 40th Birthday Party, and a night out with some friends.
5 Disappointments: 1) Covid 2) The hate in the world 3) Unhappy people 4) Learning that so many times in my life, I could have been doing better. 5) The comment section on Facebook.
3 Game Changers: 1) My new job changes everything. I get to be me. I get to be a writer. My son has been my priority for his entire life. He still is, but now I also get to have something for me. I get to learn and focus on something new. 2) Obviously Covid was a game changer. It changed everything. It gave us a year nobody expected. 3) The kindness of others. Seeing others jump in and try to change the world was something I needed to see in this year of darkness.
3 Things You Focussed on: 1) My son 2) Wood Photos 3) Family
3 Things You Forgot: 1) This blog. 2) My novel 3) Nanowrimo
Reflection: Everything that happened this year is going to change the way I look at life. I know what’s important. I’ve seen a lot of people talk about the fact that they were so happy to have time slow down, and time with their family. I was happy for time with my family, but I was also happy to have my son go to school. I was happy to find a job. I love my family, but I also like having a sense of purpose other than just my son. I’m a writer. And I finally get to focus on that again. I enjoyed the silence. I enjoyed not going out in crowds. I enjoyed myself, and not worrying about what anybody else thinks of me. I did enjoy the year with my son, but that part wasn’t new. I also loved having other things, and I have gone into 2021 feeling good about where I am in life. (If you had asked me in October if I was happy about where my life was, it wouldn’t have been the same answer, but things changed.) In some ways, I made the changes, in other ways, things came my way, and I am lucky.
Some photos of my 2020:
My dog and son. All the Love. 
Making his Mom smile 
Jumping into my 40s 
After a frustrating week, we took the day off to explore and just be happy. It was what we needed. 
He loves reading. Thank goodness.
My word of the year. Actually, my word always is gratitude. My word of the year for 2021 is laughter. Because I can always laugh more. With that comes patience. I know I need to focus on my patience so it can be my word of the year in 2022.
One more thing about my photos: I am just sticking to sharing photos of myself and son right now. Eventually, I may stop sharing photos of my son if he asks me to stop. If other people are in photos, it will not be until I’ve asked permission, or not of their faces. Obviously this year has not just been my son and I. But he’s a huge part of my world. We had an amazing trip to Ontario with my partner, but I’ve just started out on a new laptop, and have limited photos of anything.
©ErinLeahMcCrea All photos I share on my blogs are my own, please Ask Me For Permission Before Using Them
Writing Momma Life 