2021

 It was a year to forget. From the attack on the Capitol to the one in Kabul, from Delta to Omicron, from the threat on Roe to the one on our planet, from emotional and physical tornado to hurricane, from death to death.

It was a year to remember. From the lives lost to Covid, to the life we once took for granted, from friends and relatives we no longer held in our arms to the emptiness we now held in our hearts, from the freedoms we once assumed were forever to the weight of realities  under which we now staggered.

It was a year in which democracy seemed to buckle around the world. A year in which our Congress seemed unable to even pretend to govern. A year in which for every step forward we seemed to take three backwards.

This was the year we were ready to fight back. We had the vaccine. We had rid ourselves of Trump. This was the year we were to heal our bodies and our souls. This was the year our 2020 vision would fade and we would clearly see the path ahead. 

But 2021 disappointed us in so many ways. And so we hope with every ounce of our strength that 2022 is the year we actually build back better. That this is the year we are able to defeat the worst our enemies can throw at us. That our democracy proves resilient, That we prove resilient.

We remain in the middle of the worst storm we have ever known. It is hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel. But we persevere because we can. Persevere because we must. If we have learned one thing through these never ending hard times, it is that we do not give in. We do not give up. We have survived. We will survive. 

We will survive.