There is no getting around that 2020 was an extraordinarily hard year. But it wasn’t all bad. As proof, it’s a return to the joy jar tradition! We have a Mason jar in the kitchen that has dated slips of paper inside, each denoting something that gave us joy on a particular day during the year. Lisa and I read these out loud on New Year’s Eve. Here are highlights from 2020. And yes, there are many:

• Completing the “Silver Falls in Winter” video. Some of my very best work, and it even received a compliment from the director of Oregon Parks.
• Lisa earning her Associate Certified Coach credential.
• Aria engineering trains in the dining room with Grandpa.
• After accidentally deleting my website installation and eight years of content on the first day of 2020, I got all my backups running and the site fully functioning again after a week. A miracle!
• Listening to the total joy of Aria’s and Clarke’s laughs as they play tag upstairs.
• Aria spending afternoons under Clarke’s desk while he works.
• “Mom, are we getting Dairy Queen?” — note slipped under Lisa’s home office door in May.
• Walking down the stairs at midnight and seeing all the stars clearly through the staircase window.
• Evening walks during the summer to Crossler Middle School with Aria.
• Watching Aria walk down the block with Clarke while wearing her full rainbow unicorn onesie costume.
• Aria knows she can come to her daddy for comfort, especially after a tumble.
• Seabrook trip with the family in what would be our last family outing before Gary got sick.
• Seeing, hugging, and having dinner with my dad after he spent five nights in the hospital.
• Aria motioned at me to rub her back one more minute tonight. She put her little hand on my leg and promptly fell asleep.
• Watching the progress Aria has made on her scooter since Christmas day. She has gone from timid to very confident in a week.

Because of so much difficulty this year, we didn’t just save our favorite notes. We kept them all and put them in a time capsule with the others from years past. The new year will have its own challenges and opportunities, so a new joy jar is ready to go for 2021 as a reminder of all that’s good during the next 365 days. Happy New Year!