A New Year's Miracle

 So much heaviness hangs over my city as 2021 comes to a close. Mother Nature showed her monstrous side, sending hurricane-force winds to turn sparks into flames and flames into a destructive inferno that ravaged the Denver suburbs of Superior and Louisville. I have a pit in my stomach thinking about the six hundred homes burned to the ground, the families left with nothing. Where's the good? Where's the hope? I was glued to local news channels all night looking for something. It wasn't there. Until the morning dawned. As videos and pictures of destruction filled tv screens and social media sites, there it was. Hope. Families gathering together expressing gratitude that they were alive, vowing to rebuild. Communities coming together offering housing, clothing, food, money, comfort. The governor and local authorities announcing everyone was accounted for, no lives were lost, calling this a New Year's miracle. 

As survival stories begin to replace the horrific images, true miracles become clear--the page of a prayer book in the midst of rubble, a horse running to safety propelled by pure instinct, the understanding that nothing is more precious than family.

A horse runs through Grasso Park in Superior as smoke and fires approach. Photo: Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post via Getty Images

Thankfully, family was front and center for me this year. Having gone through almost all of 2020 without being with most of my family members, it felt like Heaven seeing everyone this year. I was able to road trip to Nebraska, and Nebraska and Minnesota family came to Colorado. 

Nebraska fam

Mom and Roger

Colorado fam

Colorado and Nebraska fam

Family truly is everything!

Also front and center this past year was being retired.  Well sort of. I'm doing some online teaching again this year. I can't help myself! I teach several high school English classes for Hudson Global Scholars.  I can design my own schedule and choose which classes I want. We have students and teachers all over the world, and I love getting to know all of them. My family asks why I can't just be retired. I tell them this doesn't feel like work. When it does, I'll stop.

My schedule

Although not enough, I did find time to knit. My big accomplishment this year was a sweater for our Violet. It took me forever, and I almost quit several times, but  I finished! It was challenging but fun, and seeing Violet snuggled inside was everything.

Oh Violet!

I can't end without applauding our Jessica for taking a huge leap of faith and moving to England to work on her Masters degree. Not knowing a soul and never having seen the college, she packed up last September, hopped on a jet plane, and despite some drama with flight delays and lost baggage, she is now well into her program and taking Durham University by storm. We all miss her dreadfully, but we are so proud of her.

Miss you, Jess!

2021, although not perfect, brought back some of the normalcy that was missing from my life, and there's hope in that. As I get ready to toast a new year, my heart is with the resilient people of Boulder County who lost so much. May 2022 bring you peace, and may Mother Nature be kinder.

Happy New Year!

New books and a Christmas Coke (champagne doesn't feel right)

Fabulous Kari, Fabulous Fifty

October 12, 2020

 

Dear Kari,

 

I don’t know what I did to deserve you, my beautiful friend. Sometimes I am in awe just thinking about that.  What do people do without Kari Laniel in their lives?  

 

How do they get through a happy hour?  I love our happy hours where we take on the huge, and I mean huge, problems in education and politics.  And share stories and pictures of our families and friends. And laugh our heads off about the silliest things. And cry our eyes out over our dogs and cats.

 

How do they watch movies in a theatre without someone to hold their hand when they’re about to sob? Or sing out loud when any Bruce song is in the background?

 

How do they even get through life without you checking in with a text? Or reading one of your blog posts, captivatingly written each time in a style your own. Or opening the mailbox to find a perfect card with a perfect message. Or receiving a gift from you like mermaids, or Christmas Coke straws or Royal Baby word searches or sweet journals complete with prompts. Hand-picked, straight from the heart every time.

 

How do they survive one single day at work without going into your room to vent, to celebrate, or for a hug? Nobody can hug like you. Nobody.

 

How do they watch football?? Whether college football at a Husker bar or a live Bronco game, to be in your presence and witness the frustration, anger, suspense, energy, and pure joy of the game is nothing short of magic.

 

I know I could not exist without you in my life, Kari Laniel.  I thank God that he made our paths connect.

 

Happy 50^thbirthday, my friend.  May your day be as beautiful as you are.

 

Love,

Cheryl