SOMETHING I LEARNED IN 2019.
JAN 01, 2020
As I said in this post on Instagram, 2019 was one of the worst year’s of my life.
I was chatting about how horrible 2019 was with a friend even before December was upon us and the end of a year. She agreed, but had mixed emotions because it was also one of her best year’s because she had the perfect labour and delivery for her second child. I had completely forgotten about her child’s birth because I was focusing on the ONE horrible thing that happened to us this year. The birth of her child was such a blessing, and I remember how full my heart felt that she was able to experience a calm and beautiful welcoming of her child.
This then spawned us discussing and reflecting that 2019 indeed did have many blessings, despite the one devastating event in our world.
Prior to my friend passing, while discussing my child care woes she suggested asking our other friend if her kids daycare lady had space for my daughter. This was literally less than 2 weeks before her passing, and I swear it was her last gift to me, or to I guess to my child. My daughter has been in the care of this woman since June and absolutely loves going there and her. This woman cares for my daughter like her own, it’s a beautiful thing to see and know your child is in the best care while you can’t be with them.
This woman has been a blessing this year.
As I mentioned, this woman also takes care of my friends two older children. This summer despite them being older than my toddler, they were able to all bond. The three of them adore one another and it’s almost like watching my friend and I grow up as kids. They even trick or treated together on the street I grew up on, and that our group of friends would trick or treat on as kids.
The bond my child has with my friends two children has been a blessing this year.
I meet with a grief counselor twice a month. She is helping me navigate, pretty much all aspects of my life, and not just the grief part. She shared in one of our sessions that she too lost her soulmate friend 12 years earlier. I don’t believe in coincidences, her and I were meant to cross paths. She is also the counselor for my other two lifelong friends. None of us asked for her as our counsellor. We just got her. She had no idea who we had lost when we were coming in for counselling.
She has been a blessing this year.
Though living back with my parents and sister, plus some extra people that didn’t exist back in the day, is mostly crazy and at times trying, it can also be fun. I involuntarily get engrossed in horrible reality TV my mum watches. My dad and I, as a team, cook almost every dinner together. My sister and I do all the sisterly things. Watch Netflix together, chat nonsense, bicker, shoot blog/Instagram ideas off one another. Just knowing she’s a step away versus a drive away is a nice thing for me right now. The most cherished of this time is watching how they all have their different ways of bonding with my daughter. It’s so fun they get to see her grow week to week in such close proximity.
Temporarily moving back home has been a blessing this year.
Good health for myself, my daughters, husband and other family members – blessings. My supportive friends, the one’s who have listened to my depressing stories over and over again. The one’s who constantly check in, send encouraging messages. Blessings! The support and community of you guys, my Instagram/blog family has been a blessing. My work family, for understanding and being so supportive of my friend passing, a huge blessing. We spend most of our time at work, how horrible would it be to have to work with ugly souls who have no empathy.
Things can be bad, I know that firsthand.
What I’ve learned this year is you can’t focus on just the bad, otherwise you don’t see all the blessings.
I wish you many blessings in 2020. Big and small blessings., but mostly small. The small blessings are the blessings that really show you how good life actually is.
