Seriously – because right now I know you are questioning my sanity with this post – I want to give a November ‘Thanksgiving Shout Out’ to thank that nasty virus for, um, well I know this is going to sound weird but let’s face it. Once this pandemic took over our lives/livelihoods/world/solar system* we have all learned a few new things.

*this is probably a stretch since I have no proof that evidence of COVID has been found in the solar system

Some not so good – that would be the ‘this virus is not fooling around and can be deadly’ part. That is definitely a No Bueno thing we have learned thus far, and wow, it stung.

Some tolerable – okay, okay, masks do save lives, and we can still function with them on. Thanks for sending that message loud and clear, although in fairness, it might have come a little late in the game for some. Just sayin’.

And then still other things have been good. Kinda. Let me explain because even in a weird way there are still things to be grateful for in November 2020, so here’s my short Thank You Covid list:

• You made me stay home more this year and that, in itself, forced me into some productive stay-at-home projects like Marie Kondo-ing every closet in this house. When I finished that monster of a project I went on a discovery mission looking under all the furniture where I found no money but plenty of dust bunnies that were older than my grown kids, cough-cough, and then promptly got rid of them. Another good deed  thanks to C-19.
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• I examined every framed picture – and we had lots of them, everywhere – and made decisions like, heck. Who am I kidding? I took them all down, had the walls painted clean and fresh, so now not a one of them – including the deceased family members that I meant no disrespect to by taking down their beloved memorials – is going to be hung again because, um, why? Unmatched frames, nails, holes in walls, centering (or more often, not). Ugh. It’s hard and I’ve come to love my beautiful blank-canvas walls now. At least that’s my current story and I’m sticking to it.
• I’ve phoned lots of friends that I needed to reconnect with, and as a warning to any friends reading this that I haven’t yet dialed up, get ready ‘cuz this phone-a-friend is on a roll. I highly recommend this activity for those days when you are all about the gloom and doom out there and can’t seem to get anything worthwhile done. Just stop that pity party and phone a friend, then see if you can stop smiling during the conversation. No can do.
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• Play your piano. Or guitar, drum set, etc. Granted, this activity might be hard if you don’t actually own a musical instrument, but if you are like me and do have one ‘hanging around somewhere’ (hello, baby grand piano hiding in plain sight in my living room!) take some pandemic lock-down time to find your musical groove again. That’s what I’ve been doing with my piano, and while I’m not exactly working on my 2021 COVID Cabaret Act (you’re welcome, world), maybe you can at least shake your mariachis again.

I could go on and list more things I’m thankful to COVID for but I’m pretty sure you get the picture here. As awful-terrible-horrible that this pandemic has been to our world as we know it – and it has definitely turned us all upside down and backwards – sometimes, if you think long and hard, you can still find some tiny, trivial things to be grateful for during this traditional month of giving thanks, even if everydamnday is a new start, right?

And on my desk calendar, gratefulness is what I was instructed to think about this month.

So, just like Pollyana before me (if you’re too young to know who that is, look her up ‘cuz she’s a real thang), I’ve been trying to find some meaning in this hot mess we all know as the year 2020.

Foolishly optimistic? Maybe.

But there was a memorable line from The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011) that seems appropriate right now:

Everything will be all right in the end, so if it is not all right, it is not yet the end.

 

 

Do I hear an AMEN to that?

Extending Grace to all, and a Happy and Healthy Thanksgiving