Nicole W. Barnes Author

But not real fun.

This past year has been a struggle for many (if not all) of us. It all started with the Coronavirus outbreak. The word “pandemic” shot fear through everyone worldwide. We’ve started wearing masks, hoarding toilet paper and hand sanitizer, and avoiding daily tasks due to risk of illness.

My family has been very blessed to have avoided it so far. (Knocking on wood and saying lots of prayers!) With mine and my husband’s jobs, we surely thought it would’ve made its rounds by now.

A few months into the year our small community was devastated by a massive tornado. So many people lost everything and one beautiful family was taken from us. Even through the devastation and heartache, people from all over pulled together (in the middle of the pandemic) to help. Clean up crews, churches, neighbors…you name it.

Fast forward and skip a few things, we went through a very trying time with our oldest. As I’ve mentioned before, her ADHD and mood disorder diagnosis has not been easy. We are still in close contact with her providers and are finally on the right medication path (for now). It cycles, so we take the good and relish in it until it’s time to start over again.

Skip a few more months to October. Happy birthday to me! Oh and thanks for the ER visits and medical bills. My first big health scare in a very long time came the day after I turned 35. Tests, scans, bloodwork, reactions to contrast…and daily medication. But I feel better, I’m gaining my weight back, and my condition is manageable. It turned out to be nothing too serious but had me down for a month.

It’s December now and a bout of insomnia has set in. I have medication for a sleep aid, but feeling hungover the next morning doesn’t work for me. I take melatonin most nights only to wake up around 2:00 am, and now I’m writing this at 4:00.

BUT!! My daughters are healthy, we are face-to-face at school, my husband and I still have an amazing relationship, and I’ve started the venture of writing again. All in all, I’ll take the bad and weigh it against the good. The good outweighs it every time. Optimist? Yes. This day and time you almost have to be.