About a year ago, I wrote:

Ugh, what a year. 2019, get thee behind me.
Bring on 2020. Please!

Little did I know what 2020 would have in store for us – for all of us.

My energy for writing an update this year is low. For one, I’m not sure what to say. I feel like there’s been so much already said, already written, already taking up space in our heads about this past year. I feel like anything I could say that attempts to capture what this year felt like would be incomplete.

So let’s not! Let me just give you the personal good news and bad news as it relates to our little family, and then we’ll give out some awards.

OK, bad news first:

  • At the start of 2020, our cat Princess had a lump on her hind thigh. It grew before bursting in the spring, creating a wound that we’ve been tending all year, along with other various accompanying health ailments.
  • Starting in March, we all started working and schooling from home. We thought this would last a few weeks, maybe a few months at most. It continues today and it is clear that there is a certain mental exhaustion that has built up over the course of the past 9 months due to this upending of our daily lives.
  • In August, Katie was furloughed.

Here’s the good news:

  • Our family remains healthy and generally happy. We are lucky to find ourselves on solid financial ground.
  • For all the difficulties they went through in 2020, our children continue to grow into the humans we strive for them to be. They are often kinder and cleverer and funnier than we could possibly expect.
  • In our first official annual post collab, Katie created the 20 awards below!

Wait, what’s this about 20 awards? What is this BEST list anyway? Enjoy this slideshow of the 20 awards we’re giving out as we wrap up 2020.

 
So that’s 2020. I hope you agree that these awards went to deserving winners and that you were able to win your 2020 Dai Family BEST List Awards Pool. May your 2021 be full of renewal and joy. I’ll see you in a few days with my recommendations from 2020.