Remember those school assignments from grade school given at the start of the year where the teacher asked for an essay along the lines of ‘How I Spent My Summer Vacation?’ I picture many of us telling the stories of our pandemic experiences for years to come. We have all been in the thick of the collective for the pandemic, Black Lives Matter & social justice, the state of our democracy, shelter-in-place, masks and vaccinations and all the while under the umbrella of the fear of a deadly disease.

Even though there is a lot we have all gone through together, in many ways we have gone through it alone, separated into our family or pod units as well as separated by the stark and growing economic differences that have affected how we did and did not weather the ravages of Covid-19 and the growing political divide. Many of the outspoken people I know felt like we lost our voice as we watched in horror at what has/is happening in our country. And it felt like there was never a time to catch our breath from the unfolding horror of the news.

Here are some of the things that have defined my 2020:

• We spent the first 8 weeks of the shelter-in-place orders in Teton Village, WY, at the base of the ski mountain, in the home of our son and daughter-in-law. The quiet, the snow and the peacefulness of the setting was very calming in a world gone upside down.
• While there I came across a very inspiring, therapeutic writing practice call Wild Writing, created by Laurie Wagner. Each morning I woke up to a video in my inbox in which she read a poem, gave some jump off lines and I wrote for 15 minutes, saying yes to whatever showed up on the page. I would describe it as freeing and grounding and empowering and healing in any time, but especially when sheltering-in-place, during a pandemic, in somebody else’s home.
• We celebrated our 31st anniversary in 2020 and our 32nd in 2021. Both of us feel lucky and surprised that it still works for us as a couple after all these years. We negotiated, discussed, and sometimes fought, over how to continue to make our lives together work, whether it was figuring out how to travel or grocery shop in a pandemic or give each other space and privacy in our home.
• Also, in 2020 our daughter turned 25, our son turned 30, our daughter-in-law got pregnant and I turned 60. Like everyone I know, we celebrated our milestones differently than we had planned.

The practice, which is a practice like yoga or meditation, made a **huge** difference to my life. Some weeks I did my practice daily, most of the time 3-5 days a week. I was so blown away by the power of the practice that I applied and was accepted into the Wild Writing Teacher Training with Laurie Wagner.

I’m excited to announce that I am about to graduate from the training course and start leading my own writing circles that I am calling, Pearls of Wisdom Writing Circles. Look for more information soon about upcoming circle dates.

How did you spend the pandemic? What were some of the coping mechanisms you found to help you get through this past year?

All the best,

Heidi