The Noise and My New Year’s Wish

Hello, my friends!!  Just popping in to say I hope you had a great holiday and to wish you a Happy New Year!  Can you believe it’s 2022? I remember when I was young and the thought of the year 2000 was a crazy concept.  It seemed so futuristic and unreal but here we are two decades later. It really blows my mind when I think about it. During this past week, I watched Back to the Future for the first time in years and realize now how it was not so far-fetched.

It’s been almost 3 months since I wrote a blog.  When I last checked in, I was sharing stories from our two-week adventure through the national parks and the amazing beauty of the country we live in.  I was almost done writing about my favorite hike when I stopped.  

Every week, I had good intentions, but it never came to be. 

I wrote a couple for my own self-therapy and was going to share, but I couldn’t finish them because something would happen and my head would spin in another direction.  In conversing with my mom right before Christmas, I shared with her my reason.  I knew what the problem was but I couldn’t make it stop. 

There was too much noise. 

Noise in my head and noise all around me.  We had gutted our kitchen, started back to school/work full-time, am dealing with all too real extended family dysfunction and prejudice, and I do have 5 kids and 3 grandkids.  The reno was done right in time for the holidays, and I think we all know how stressful this time of year is. 

Those are just a few examples of the stress inside my home, but then there is the world noise.  

The political divide rages on, schools are being threatened with shootings via Tik Tok, the worst tornadoes in history destroyed lives and homes, Governors are actually passing legislation to stop teaching kids about the true history of this country, and yes, Covid is knocking so so many on their ass once again.   I stopped watching the news a few years ago. I can’t imagine how loud it would be in my head if I hadn’t.

There are people still stuck in their houses almost 2 years later.  I couldn’t have handled it.  Thankfully,  I have been back to work since September 2020.  I am hoping the schools will stay open and that will continue, but I am getting a little worried.  Teachers and kids are dropping like flies and my email is blown up daily with several cases in each one.  

I am so tired of the ongoing conversations of who is vaccinated, who isn’t, and why not.  Who got exposed on what day, and for how many minutes …. AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!  STOP!!!  

Even Christmas got a little noisy with Covid disagreements

After hosting both holidays with no days off, and then Joe’s friends and moms, I was told of an exposure.  I felt fine but did the right thing, canceling my plans for the rest of the week that I overwhelmed myself with. I was stuck but it was quiet.  I could think … able to finish a thought without being distracted.  You don’t realize how noisy it is until it’s suddenly peaceful. 

I was blessed to have celebrated with a good part of my family before a positive test hit our home and forced us to shut down again. But my house is clean and put back together. I was able to write this, read a couple of books, binge Yellowstone, hung pictures waiting for months to be on a wall, and for the first time ever – we finished all 200 Christmas cookies! The things that weren’t on the top of my to-do list, but should have been.

While scrolling through pictures looking for some family photos to post on here I came upon a couple of videos with a different kind of noise.  In those clips were the wonderful sound of singing and laughing … a joyful noise.  The only noise I want to focus on.

I hope and pray 2022 brings everyone good health, wonderful memories, new adventures, and all the joyful noise you can handle. 

As always, my love and a hug go out to all who need it. One of the things I would like to do this year is focus more on prayer, so if you would like to add somebody you know to my list, please let me know.

Thank you so much to all who take the time to read my thoughts. I truly appreciate it!

All My Love,

Sandy

PS: Don’t pay attention to this thing below … I can’t seem to delete it. While I am always searching for ways to grow and hoping for world change, the one thing that will never change is me not understanding most of how this tech stuff works.