This is the first year in 12 seasons – 9 with my previous bell choir Campanillas del Sol in Scottsdale Arizona and the past 2 with MVR – that I haven’t spent the fall practicing Christmas music in preparation for a busy month of Christmas concerts. By this time, I’d be in the middle of a fabulous routine each weekend of schlepping bells in and out of venues, playing for festive and receptive audiences, and enjoying the holiday season with my bell-ringing family. I’ll be honest with you, it’s been hard not to be with my fellow MVR ringers and with our audiences this year. Lots about this year, obviously, has been quite hard, though what I’ve tried to do is keep finding the silver linings, and that has helped make this difficult time so much easier.
The main silver lining this year has been all the extra time I’ve been able to spend with my family. My daughter, Libby, is 4 years old (3 when the pandemic started), and we took her out of daycare the day that my job told me to start working from home on March 13th. The first few months were rough getting into a new routine, but as winter turned into spring, we started working outside on our garden, taking regular afternoon walks and eating lunch out on the deck. We even jumped on the bandwagon and got 4 chickens, which my daughter named after some of her favorite TV and movie princesses: Ariel, Sophia, Aroura, and Elena.
Two of my family’s favorite activities are hiking and camping, and we did as much of both as possible. The week of 4th of July, we camped in the Berkshires and Central Mass for a week. Though it rained most of the week, we were able to play lots of games and hike between rainstorms. We also taught Libby to fish, went canoeing, and picked some of the season’s first raspberries. In the middle of the summer, we went camping near Mount Monadnock and enjoyed relaxing in the hammock and touring local covered bridges. Labor Day weekend, we went back to the Berkshires because we love it so much the first time. We stayed at the base of Mount Greylock and hiked around the mountain, went apple picking, and even got to listen to live music outdoors at the campground for the first time in months!
Though we haven’t seen many people because of social distancing, we have been lucky enough to see my parents outdoors a few times over the summer and for Libby’s 4th birthday. I’ve also found the joy in Zooms with family and friends that wouldn’t have happened without the push of a pandemic to make us reach out to one another remotely. And there’s still been some music with fellow MVR-ringer and best bell friend forever (BBFF) Jenn Stack sitting in my gazebo or masked up playing boomwackers! Check out of video here of The Holly and the Ivy on boomwackers!
I think I will look back at this year and remember how bonkers it was. But also remember that I was able to eat lunch with my daughter every day, grow a garden that produced what seemed like hundreds of tomatoes and cucumbers all summer, explore tons of local trails, watch dozens of movies since starting Friday night movie night early on in the pandemic, and focus on the simpler things in life. That being said, I look forward to next year when we will all get back to ringing together. Until then, happy Holidays, stay safe and find your silver linings.
