Happy New Year! It has a whole new meaning this year, doesn’t it? I should be wishing you a happier and kinder New Year. For those of us that survived 2020, it will go down for me as a year I never want to repeat. It has been a year of loss, stress, isolation and fear. It has also been a year of insight, strength and love. Going into 2021, it is as if we are living in different countries with different rules. Where I live in Southern California, we are going through the worse of the pandemic RIGHT NOW. There is a stay at home order that many people and businesses are not adhering to. Hence, the ICU capacity in SoCal is 0%. Back in Indiana where I am from, life seems to be going on as if the pandemic is completely under control. It is confusing to see people on vacation, while we are afraid to leave our home. Our daughter flew out for Christmas and I still feel a little guilt over exposing her to airport and airplane germs. It was important for us to be together as a family, so she came.
I am encourage by the fast development of the vaccines to fight Covid and discouraged by the slowness of their distribution. I am also concerned with the number of people afraid to take the vaccine due to different conspiracy theories. These vaccines are miracles of modern genetic science and I will gladly take one as soon as it is offered to me!
So, I am entering 2021 the same way I enter the Pacific Ocean to swim. A little bit at a time, getting my footing, checking the current and being sure I am comfortable before I go under water. I have come up with a little acrostic poem for the New Year.
Freedom to move around
Overdue visits with friends and family
Release of the weight of a pandemic in the world
Welcoming visitors into my home again
Actually hugging people again
Relaxing on vacation without worry
Distribution of an effective vaccine
This is my New Year’s wish for the world moving forward. What is yours?
Safe travels, Lori
No Map Necessary 
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