Goodbye 2020

By Cheryl Owen Wilson

At the end of each year I write an annual newsletter always beginning with a poem.   In the poem I attempt to encapsulate brief historical incidents of the closing year.  Then there are the paragraphs detailing the yearly events of each of our children, and grandchildren (14 and counting).  Thus, it has become more of a newspaper than a newsletter.  Our kids smirk and comment that it’s the best fiction I write, because I always attempt to make it positive with a few smiles and laughs thrown in.  I’m certain it’ll come as no surprise how difficult it was to pen the year of 2020.  

I’ve also included one of the paintings I completed last year.  There are many analogies you can draw from the dark tunnel and fleeting glow both escaping and held within by the trees.  For myself I thought it appropriate for this blog and the poem because I found myself following any flicker of light/positivity throughout the year, much like the firefly’s I chased as a child.  What were the firefly’s you chased, or caught in the past year?  Will those brief flashes of light last through the new year?  What are their patterns and how have they changed you?

Belated Holiday Cheers to One and All

Twinkling lights were hung in abundance while Santa’s appeared everywhere,

as the Spirit of Christmas stirred us out of our COVID infused despair.

We unwrapped gifts by computer screens filled with the faces of loved one’s near and far. 

We adapted from usual routines, but it was not the same.  It was actually, quite bizarre.

Yes, we finally reached the season of rebirth, and good cheer

As the end of 2020 came to roaring end, and WOW! WHAT A YEAR!

From the contentious avalanche of politics, to a global pandemic,

It will go down in civilization’s history as a year most prophetic.

One with hurricanes and fires, too close to home, as Mother nature asked us to take heed,

But when we had to STOP, didn’t we all marvel at her beauty as she could finally–breathe.

Yes, we zoomed and we rationed and we even hoarded toilet paper.

Who knew when buying it I’d feel like I was in the scene of black-market caper?

Yet despite it all, “Some Good News” became the norm.

Thank you John Krasinski, for your show, our heart’s it did warm.

Small packages, of gifts, or food magically appeared outside front doors, and it was understood,

a simple symbol of love, kindness, and solidarity in our small neighborhood.

In May we tracked Space X Endeavor traveling along its steady course.

When it returned safely, we marveled at its technology, and its force.

In July we Oregonians watched the Neowise comet streak across the sky.

It’ll be another 6,800 years before she comes by again, to say “Hi”.

Then as the year drew to an end, scientists once again, came to the rescue of humanity.

With a vaccine in hopes of allowing us to reclaim our masked, social-distanced, sanity.

But before we close the door on the year, let’s send off those no longer among us.

With a bit of fanfare, grandiosity, and justly deserved fuss.

To  the man with the perfect English accent, Mr. Sean Connery,

for me agent 007, you will forever, and always be.

To Kobe and Gianna Bryant who left us way too soon.

I hope you’re shooting baskets together over a glorious, sparkling moon.

And Ms. Helen Reddy, you sang “I am Woman hear Me Roar”.

But it was “Angie Baby” that kept me swaying on the dance floor.

“Oh Golly Miss Molly”  Little Richard did keep us rockin’.

Now he’s showing heavenly beings how to “Keep a Knockin’”.

Chadwick Boseman elevated the ground breaking Black Panther to new heights.

Now he’s starring under the marquees of heaven’s bright, starry lights.

Finally a thank you beyond measure to Ms. Ruth Bader Ginsberg-RBG.

Without you’re intelligence, tenacity, and strength where would women’s rights be?

Now as I close my annual discourse I want to leave you with some cleansing thoughts,

no matter what this past year has wrought, not matter its costs,

when we got up each morning the sun still shone, and the stars still came out each night.

Summer still followed Spring, and after darkness always came the light.

Friends still called to see how we were doing,

and children learned much from their school lessons on zooming.

So let us go into this new year with a renewed attitude,

By embracing an overwhelming sense of the simple nature of, gratitude.

An original Painting by Cheryl Owen-Wilson “Firefly’s Dance”