It’s funny, I found myself thinking about new year’s eve last year and thinking about how we had no clue what was coming for us in 2020. There was all this hopeful “dawn of a new decade” talk and no such anticipation of the challenges that would come. In the same way, we don’t know what 2021 holds but most of us are hopeful that it has to be better than the last 12 months! We have ALL been affected by the pandemic either directly with sickness or through the economic struggles or even the shut downs of vital things, like schools. Parents of school aged children have felt this year acutely in so many ways, especially if you’re a working parent trying to school your children as well.

I probably won’t write anything here that hasn’t already been said but I think maybe the biggest silver lining of 2020 has been slowing down and spending so much time as a family. This has also been a part of the struggle of 2020, but what this year has shown us is that life truly does go on. Even with nothing on the calendar, our days have still been so full! We have grown as a family and our kids have grown and changed an entire years’ worth, even if it looks really different than previous years. I would’ve never imagined on New Year’s Eve that I would start a new job this year, have a kindergartner learning virtually or that I would lose my beloved grandmother. It’s been a mix of blessings and hardships for sure. So much of daily life changed but it has allowed us all to take stock in what matters and what will persevere when other things fade away. It’s been hard to accept that things are really, really different but I just keep trying to embrace all the feelings, while taking it one day at a time. What’s your silver lining of 2020? What has been getting you through?

My biggest daily job is raising my kids, so here’s some updated images I took of them one fall afternoon full of threats and negotiations. I have one child that has no individual images and barely any nice smiles in any photos because he’s 9 and I am apparently asking too much. My oldest two are looking more like teenagers every day, although thankfully we are still about 18 months off from that milestone. My sweet “baby” Benji is a baby no more. This year has changed us all so much. We didn’t do any full family photos because really, who needs to see me aging?! (Kidding, sort of, but it was too hard to schedule in and figure out).

I keep coming back to this Emily Dickinson quote, that even though there may be many harbors for us in 2020 (thankfully!), it does not change the sea or the storm. Hopeful for more peace in 2021!

“I hope that you have power,

and as much of peace as in our deep

existence may be possible.

To multiply the harbors does not reduce the sea. “

~Emily Dickinson

Emily Troutman Photography