How did new parents survive before the great baby product boom?! Just fine, actually. After having our third kid, a lot of people asked which baby products we’ve used for all three, and which ones were one-and-done. And, to be honest, there aren’t a ton of “must-haves” on my list.
For me, having a bassinet on every floor of the house was important, so the MiClassic travel bassinet has always been in heavy rotation. The Baby Bjorn bouncer is also, in my opinion, the only lounger/positioner you will ever need. (Fun fact: most “activity center,” and “jumper” products can actually stunt infant development, so you’re better off putting little ones in the bouncer when you need to, and on the floor the rest of the time.)
The Hatch light has served as an excellent sound machine for all of my babies, and I love that you can turn the light red at night. This allows me to see just enough to grab and nurse baby, but isn’t so bright that I have trouble falling back asleep afterwards. I’ve also included a bunch of products that were very helpful to me throughout my breastfeeding journeys, as well as my NUMBER ONE recommendation: the Rohm (Yogasleep) portable sound machine.
Lastly, I’ll link a product I only purchased for baby #3 here. It’s basically a baby cage (ok, more of a play yard), and has been super helpful in terms of allowing the littlest one to do some independent tummy time, without being trampled by other kids, and/or dogs. (It’s also portable, and great for taking to the park or beach. You can put a fitted sheet over the top for shade as well, since the sides are made of breathable mesh.)
Best Toddler Travel Buys:
Taking toddlers on the road can be daunting. They come with a lot of stuff and, if your family is anything like mine, a lot of sleep issues. While I would like to say that I have a product to solve every potential problem, I don’t. And no one does. At the end of the day, the number one thing they need is YOU, and the best thing for everyone’s sanity is to pack as lightly as possible. Because of this, I always recommend renting big-ticket baby products (like carseats and strollers), or calling hotels and rental properties beforehand to check whether they have things like cribs and pack n’ plays available. However, there are a few things that we usually pack to make overnight stays with little kids a little bit easier. The bed bumpers are definitely my number one for hotel stays, but the large stroller clips have also been crucial when trying to navigate an airport without leaving anyone’s backpack behind…
Last week, Walter turned 3 months old, and we passed the oft-exclaimed about fourth-trimester milestone. And, honestly, I have some mixed feelings about it. I enjoy this phase of babyhood so much more than the earliest months—Walter is smiling, giggling, and can finally hold his enormous head up (most of the time). But I also feel like the three month mark signals some things about where I should be, that don’t really line up with where I actually am.
Mental Health
Let’s start with my mental health. Having three kids, four and under is wonderful, but it’s also exhausting, and incredibly emotionally draining. Someone gets injured, has a meltdown, starts a fight, and poops his/her pants every single day. Neither of my older children nap on a regular basis (and no, I don’t need advice on how to get them to), so I have approximately 0 moments to myself between the hours of 6:30am and 8pm.
Some days, I’m mentally prepared for it. I have enough patience and energy to navigate the highs and lows, and truly enjoy spending the day with my kids. Some days I even catch myself wondering how I got so lucky—to have this family, and to get to stay home with them. But then there are other days when it’s really hard. Days when I’m sick, or when the baby was up all night, or when I just really wish I could go to the grocery store alone.
Sometimes it’s hard to reconcile these two feelings—my absolute adoration of my kids, and the constant underlying desire to be away from them, at least for a little bit. A lot of days I feel overwhelmed by it, or guilty because of it, and while I know that the emotional highs and lows are probably very normal, the stories I’ve been told about motherhood (from other women, the media, etc.) don’t always make me feel that way.
I also have begun to experience a resurgence of some of the complicated feelings I first felt after deciding to take some time off of work, and embrace the title of stay-at-home-mom. While, in many ways, having “one” job is so much easier than having two, I really miss the adult interaction, mental stimulation, and external validation I got at work.
And that, in itself, has gotten me thinking about why it is I crave external validation in the first place. Motherhood, like most things in life, is not a thing one should do and expect to be thanked, or rewarded for. I wonder, sometimes, if my feeling that I do need, or deserve those things means I have some personal work to do, in terms seeing myself as “worthy,” outside of my roles (as a mother, or otherwise).
My Postpartum Body
Long story short, I have lost almost none of my baby weight. That’s right, 0%. Immediately after giving birth, I lost about 15 pounds, which consisted of 9 pounds of baby, a few pounds of placenta, and a bunch of fluids… And while my body has definitely changed (I’m less puffy, and the good old uterus has shrunk back down to size), the number on the scale has stayed the same.
More interesting than my weight itself, is the fact that I’ve noticed a pattern in the ways in which I respond it from day to day. On good days, I literally could not care less. I have elastic waist shorts for goodness sake! What more could a girl need?!
But on the days that are a little more chaotic (or a lot more chaotic), I suddenly start beating myself up about it. And I’ve realized that my wonderings, on those days, about when I’ll have time to exercise again, or eat something other than my daughter’s grilled cheese crust for lunch, are really just my anxious brain’s reaction to my lack of control in general, projected onto my weight (and all of the factors that go into that) in particular.
So the answer, I guess, is that I need to get better at releasing control, especially during this phase of life. I need to remember that, even though the timeline is fuzzy, it will get easier, and I will, eventually, have time to take care of myself again. And I especially need to remember that I can celebrate Mom A for making organic salads for lunch every day, as well as Mom B for returning to spin class when her baby was 5 weeks old, without feeling bad about the fact that I did not.
On a more positive note, I have found a lot of solace recently on both Instagram (yes, Instagram), and through the Stroller Strides class I very sporadically attend. On Instagram, I follow a lot of postpartum women, as well as influencers of all shapes and sizes. A lot of these women have helped me look at the process of clothing my postpartum body in a different light (clothes can be joyful guys!), and have helped me get into the habit of celebrating my body, instead of constantly criticizing it. And at Stroller Strides, I have the blessing of getting to work out exclusively with other new moms. New moms who are in yoga pants, and sports bras, and all types of bodies. Going to class always reminds me just how little I care about the shape and size of other women’s bodies, as well as just how little they (or anyone who matters) probably care about mine.
Self-Care
Lastly, and to be totally honest, some days I feel trapped in my own home. In the mom group I attend every Tuesday, we talk about “doing something for ourselves” every week. And while that’s good advice, it also feels impossible.
I know I could make it work—that I could take an hour to get my nails done on a Saturday—but sometimes the mere prospect of everything that would have to happen in order to prepare the family for my leaving is enough to make me change my mind.
And I am fully aware that this one is on me. That I’m making excuses, partially because I’m tired, and partially because I have trouble releasing control. But if there’s anything I should probably start working on now, before my kids are old enough to feel the pressure of it, it’s letting go.
So…
In sum, my first week in the “fifth trimester” doesn’t really feel any different than the fourth. And that’s OK—mostly because it has to be, but also because the timelines we put on ourselves to feel “normal” or “free” again never really made a lot of sense in the first place.
At the end of the day, what I value more than my free time, my old body, or my one-time ability to journal and do yoga every day, are my kids, and my husband, and maybe even the dogs. And while some people are able to take care of all of those things and also do a bunch of stuff for themselves, a lot of other people aren’t, and I’ve decided that it’s OK (and probably very normal) for me to feel a little bit envious of those on the other side, as long as that envy is unaccompanied by shame or self-doubt.
So, while I don’t have too many tangible goals for the weeks to come (besides, hopefully, getting a little bit more sleep), I do plan on putting on my elastic-waist, big-girl pants and refusing to feel bad about the messiness that is my real life right now. And I hope that if you happen to be in a similar phase of life as well, you’re able to do the same.
We drove up to Mammoth from the Orange County area, so I will be speaking mainly about this route–although some of the lessons may apply if you are traveling from other locations. The quickest way from Southern California to Mammoth Lakes is via the 395 freeway. Despite the fact that this road travels past Sequoia and King’s Canyon National Parks, it is in no way “scenic.” The majority of the drive (about 4 hours) is through pretty remote desert country, with few places to stop and/or stretch your legs. Because of this, I highly recommend packing all of your own snacks, drinks (and possibly even lunch), just in case someone claims they are “starving” when they’re nothing but Joshua trees and dust bunnies in sight…
There are a few cute towns a few hours out from Mammoth that we have stopped in for food, or an emergency playground visit–including Bishop, Lone Pine and Big Pine. On this trip, we stopped at the Lone Pine Smokehouse for dinner (a little less than 2 hours out from Mammoth) and really enjoyed it. There was a large outdoor patio where we sat with the kids and dogs, and the food was both kid and grown-up approved. And there’s a highly recommended place next door if BBQ is not your speed. We’ve also stopped at the Bishop Burger Barn in, you guessed it, Bishop (less than an hour from Mammoth), and really enjoyed it as well. This stop is definitely a true hole-in-the-wall with little actual seating, so I don’t recommend it if you’re not willing to eat in the car or on a plastic lawn chair…
If your kids are young enough to use a travel potty, I definitely recommend bringing one. Rest stops are few and far between and, if you’re kids are anything like mine, “emergencies” are bound to come up in the most desolate locations… We have had both the Baby Bjorn potty and the OXO pop-up travel toilet, and I recommend them both.
Where To Stay
Since having kids, my preferred accommodation in Mammoth is a condo or apartment rental. I love having access to a kitchen so you don’t have to pile everyone into the car for every meal. Many of the condos in the area are also designed to fit a lot of people in a small amount of space (which makes sense when guests are more than likely to be out in the woods, or on the slopes, all day), so it’s easy to find a place with bunkbeds or a loft room for the kids.
My favorite area to find a condo is in Snowcreek (not to be confused with the Snowcreek Resort, which is a bit pricier but has access to more amenities like a golf course and athletic club). The more modest Snowcreek condos we stayed in are spacious, well-kept, and adjacent to a beautiful meadow, replete with walking paths, a small creek, and a duck pond. During our most recent trip, we picked a unit that looked out on the meadow, and we spent many early mornings and late afternoons lounging in the grass, or traversing the creek.
We have also stayed at The Village Lodge, which also offers condo-style rentals, but is located in the commercial center of town, surrounded my restaurants and shopping, and steps away from the gondola. This resort also houses an amazing outdoor pool, perfect for those hot summer afternoons.
Hikes and Outdoor Activities
Horseshoe Lake Hike
Our favorite hike to do with kids in the Mammoth area is definitely the Horseshoe Lake Loop. Horseshoe Lake is about 20 minutes from the center of town, and is part of a cluster of beautiful mountain lakes. This lake in particular is fascinating, in that it is partially surrounded by a grove of dead trees–all of which were killed by the carbon dioxide that’s being emitted by still-cooling underground magma which resulted from a series of earthquakes that hit in the late 80s. While there are signs labeling the area as “hazardous,” it’s really only dangerous if you dig a hole in the sand and stick your head in it (so, you know, don’t do that).
The lake itself is crystalline blue and freezing cold, but my kids still had a blast splashing around in the shallow water. There were a few people paddle boarding in the lake, or letting their dogs run in the sand. In dry years, the lake shrinks significantly in the summer, so if you’re visiting in July or August and have your heart set on deep water, it’s best to check on water levels with the locals before you make the trek.
There are several trails which begin at Horseshoe lake, including the Crater Meadow Trail and the McLeod Lake Trail. Both of these trails have beautiful views, and some elevation gain to them, so they may be better suited to families with older children. The Horseshoe Lake Loop, however, was the perfect adventure for our three little ones, as it’s a short 1.8 miles, circles the entire lake, affords some nice views and entertaining creek crossings, and is wide and flat enough to accommodate a jogging stroller.
Rainbow Falls
The Rainbow Falls / Devil’s Postpile Trail is another great hike for kids, which can be done in stages, depending on your kids’ ages and abilities. The hike from the Devil’s Postpile Ranger station to the falls is about 2.5 miles, and stroller-accessible. Devil’s Postpile itself is a fascinating geological formation made up of hundreds of towering columns of rock. On the hike, you’ll get views of the columns themselves, as well as the impressive piles of rubble that have chipped off over the thousands of years of their existence. The trail ends at Rainbow Falls, where you can access several other trails, or take the stairs down to the bottom of the falls, where you can put your feet in the water, or just enjoy the sound of the cascading water.
June Lake
June Lake is my absolute favorite place to spend a sunny summer day in Mammoth. The lake is crystal blue and surrounded by green-washed mountains. For most of the summer, there is a long stretch of shallow water on the side of the lake closest to the parking lot (in drought years, it may look a little different). My four-year-old daughter was able to safely explore this portion of the lake on her own, climb on submerged rocks and float around in her water wings. For warning, however, this lake is fed by snowmelt (even in the summer) so it’s pretty cold–but if you have kids, you know “the cold doesn’t bother them anyway.”
This lake is also an excellent spot to launch a kayak, paddle board, or inflatable raft. While there are rental locations at other nearby lakes, you need to be able to transport your craft to June Lake and launch it yourself. There is also very little shade at the June Lake beach, so I highly recommend bringing an umbrella or beach tent. And sunscreen.
There are several hikes that leave from the June Lake beach area, but we haven’t done them in a while as most are not stroller accessible. If your kids are old enough to walk a few miles on their own, I highly recommend checking out this post by June Lake Accommodations, which describes all of the local trails in detail.
Gull Lake
Gull Lake is just minutes down the road from June Lake. It’s less of a swimming lake, and more of a boating and fishing lake. The Gull Lake Marina rents everything from pontoon boats, to kayaks and paddle boards, and for an affordable price. There is also a local tackle shop where you can pick up everything you need to fish the lake, or the nearby trout pond. (They also have lounge chairs and board games available for the kids to stay entertained while you shop.)
If your kids are little, like mine, you might also enjoy the gull lake playground, which is located to the right of the marina, and overlooks the water. It is surrounded by great views, picnic tables, and clean restrooms.
And when we’re in the area, we always head to June Lake Brewing for lunch and afternoon beverages. The beer is great, and the Hawaiian food truck, Ohana 395, which is parked outside Thursday through Sunday cooks up hands down the best burrito I have ever eaten. I can not recommend the food, and the atmosphere, enough.
Mountain Bike and eBike Rentals
While our kids are currently a little young to bike such hilly terrain, when they’re older we definitely plan on renting eBikes to explore the village and surrounding mountains. eBikes can be rented in the village, or at Footloose sports, and are basically just mountain bikes with pedal-assist technology (so you don’t have to struggle up those steep inclines all day). We saw many families using these bikes on the paved trails around Horseshoe lake, and throughout town.
Where To Eat
Stellar Brew and Natural Cafe
Whenever we visit Mammoth, Stellar Brew is our go-to for morning eats and drinks. They have great coffee, smoothies, pastries and breakfast sandwiches (and is there anything better than a breakfast sandwich on a cold, mountain morning?!). I recommend heading over early, as the line can get long, and they can run out of sammies if demand is high.
Roberto’s Cafe
Roberto’s is notorious in Mammoth for their authentic Mexican food, and “world-famous” margaritas. The ambiance is fun, and we always leave with full bellies, and leftovers. During the pandemic, they were doing to-go margaritas with your takeout orders, and I sincerely hope they continue to do so in the future. I am personally a huge fan of both the duck quesadilla, and the fajita veggie burrito, but, honestly, it’s all good.
Mammoth Brewing Company
Mammoth Brewing Company is by far my favorite spot to have a casual mountain lunch. The brewery itself has some indoor seating, but the best spots are outside on the dirt lawn. We gathered with several other families on shaded picnic tables, and munched on everything from peach pizza to a shaved Brussels salad. The brewery serves a variety of beers, or you can try a seasonal flight of 8 different options–including a delicious hard kombucha. The yard is also dog-friendly, and our kids had a lot of fun romping with the other patrons’ pooches.
Shelter Distilling
Shelter Distilling is a relatively new distillery & restaurant located in The Village at Mammoth. When we visited, we were able to grab a picnic table next to a heat lamp, just outside the restaurant. It was the perfect spot for all ten of us (we went with two other families) to gather and let the kids get a little rowdy. The food was excellent (think fancy bar food, pizza, tacos, charcuterie, etc.), and the grown-ups all enjoyed sampling some really interesting cocktails, many of which we made with in-house spirits. This restaurant is also located just steps away from Hugs Ice Cream, so the kids were able to indulge in a little after-dinner sweet treat as well.
Books For This Trip:
Enjoy!
I hope you found some of these resources helpful in planning your trip. If you do end up using some of this advice, hit me up with a comment about how it went. Enjoy!
I’ve gotten five phone numbers from 30-something women in the last month. That’s probably more than I’ve gotten from men in my entire life (don’t feel bad for me, two of those have been from my very handsome husband). I’ve gotten numbers from women at the park, outside of dance class, and even at Trader Joe’s. And even more impressive I think, is the fact that I’ve actually used all of those numbers. Despite the fact that we are still one foot into a pandemic, and my newborn is allowing me no more than 3 consecutive hours of sleep at night, I am suddenly more social (and more excited about being social) than I’ve been in a very long time.
I’ve never considered myself an extrovert. In college, I used to sneak out of parties a little early so that I could protect a moment of alone time before bed. For the majority of my adulthood, I was very much the same, and took up long distance running for both the solitude it provided, and it’s usefulness as an excuse for skipping out on many an “after-hours” event. When I became a parent, I was more than a little bit grateful that the notoriety of my three young children’s sleep habits (or lack thereof) essentially eradicated my need to come up with excuses for why I needed to be home, and in bed, by 9pm.
It’s not that I don’t like people. I have a few close friends who are fiercely important to me, and I have always enjoyed getting together with my broader circles in small, predictable settings, but I was never one to enjoy making small talk in a room, or playground, full of loose acquaintances.
And then, Covid hit, and I spent 15 months at home with my children.
At the beginning of the pandemic, I took a leave of absence from my teaching job. As a result, I went from talking to approximately 150 people every single day, to two. And one of those people couldn’t even talk back. I quickly discovered that, as much as I loved my then three-year-old and one-year-old, they were far from suitable conversationalists. Many an afternoon, after the 10,000th request for a snack, or the 300th read-through of 5 Minute Frozen Stories, or the 20th round of singing Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree, I would stare out the window and think to myself, “I would LOVE to talk to another adult right now.” And, it wasn’t long before my so-called “introverted” self realized just how much I hated being alone.
As the weeks wore on, It struck me just how much I missed connecting–not only with family and friends, but with the hundreds of other people I used to orbit around every day. I missed laughing with teenagers over the inane memes they would show me on their phones before class. I missed catching someone’s smile across the room at a staff meeting, and returning it with a silent snicker, or a good, old-fashioned eye roll. I missed the checkout woman at the grocery store telling that she, too, had bought her son the same, ultra tame, Volvo Hot Wheels car that my son was clutching in the front of the shopping cart, and that he still played with it years later. And I missed meeting other moms–at the playground, the coffee shop, heck, even the doctor’s office–and having a whole world of other people to talk to about how beautiful, difficult, exhausting and inspiring my day had been.
Finally, in April of this year, I received my second Covid vaccine. Suddenly, I was flush with antibodies, no longer pregnant, and ready to open the flood gates.
Whereas old me would have loved nothing more than to spend every evening at home on the couch, post-pandemic me has something on the schedule every dang day. Every morning, I find myself chomping at the bit to do things, see people, and make plans. My one-time aversion to small talk is no where to be found, and I am suddenly thrilled by the idea of chatting with absolutely anyone who will have me. And while a part of me wonders if my friends and neighbors will be put off by my newfound exuberance, I have quickly come to notice that I’m far from the only newly minted chatty Kathy in town.
At the park, the parents who have spent a year on separate corners of the sandbox are suddenly clumped together again, chatting about preschool and the Trader Joe’s snack aisle, and hypothesizing as to why toddlers can’t seem to keep their tongues out of the sand. Moms I had passed a million times on the trail at the nature center have started stopping to say hi, or staying to finish out the walk with us. I have started talking with neighbors I had never met about soccer, and T-ball, and the insane things we bought, or built to entertain our kids during the pandemic. Our kids have overheard us, and invited themselves to a jump session in Charlie’s bounce house, and a playdate at Louis’s dad’s shoddily-built treehouse. We’re spending so much more time laughing, agreeing, exchanging numbers, and grabbing lunch together on the way home from the beach that I feel like a 12-year-old at sleep away camp–out of the house, newly self-assured, and ready to capitalize on my first taste of freedom.
In the “before time,” I had so many opportunities to connect, that I stopped seeing the value, and essentialness, of connection. I had a million opportunities to make new friends, and often squandered them, or willingly let them move away from me, for no reason other than the fact that I assumed another chance would eventually come my way. I threw around labels like introvert and extrovert with a definitiveness they didn’t deserve, and diagnosed myself as the former without taking a moment to consider the ways in which being social were fundamental to my daily existence–both at home, and at work.
So, for the first time in my life, I’m calling myself an extrovert. Not due to any kind of personal renaissance, or reimagining of the the term itself, but more because I’ve started to realize that all of us, in our own ways, are extroverts. As much as many of us might enjoy a quiet night with a book, what we need is community, companionship, and an openness to letting others in. And while I know that this initial excitement will eventually fade, and that our memories of this year at home will become a little softer around the edges, I hope that we never forget how incredibly valuable life, and the people, outside of our own four walls really is.
I started this blog one year ago today. It was a birthday present to myself because I was lonely and completely overwhelmed by the pandemic, and work-at-home motherhood. I felt like I had no time to myself, and no time to be myself, and I was drowning because of it.
For ten years, teaching had been my creative outlet. It allowed me to imagine, play and perform on a daily basis. I truly loved lesson planning, and the process of trying to puzzle out how I could possibly make learning prepositions, or reading Jekyll and Hyde engaging and entertaining for 12-year-olds who also had access to Instagram and TikTok…
But teaching from home really killed that joy for me. The weeks between the shutdown in March of 2020, and when I started this blog in May, were long and exhausting. I was teaching, but not in the way that brought me joy. And I was momming, but in a truly half-a**ed way that made me really take pause and reevaluate what mattered, and what didn’t.
I was incredibly privileged to be able to make the decision, at the end of the 2019-2020 school year, to take a break from teaching. I was uncertain about what the next year would look like, so I decided to put my family, and my mental health, first.
When I reflect on who I was before the pandemic, I know that “she” would never have made that choice. For my whole life, I put pressure on myself to “do something important.” I worked my butt off in school, and in Teach for America, and at the various jobs that followed. At 27, I went back to school for my Master’s degree, as well as another credential. I told myself that I needed these degrees, just like I needed to go into school administration one day.
But, to be honest, I hated a lot about my credential program. About 1 year (and thousands of dollars) in, I realized that being in administration would mean spending 90% of my time on the 2% of things I hated about teaching. Yet despite the obvious fact that I didn’t really want to be a principal one day, I kept going. Part of me stayed because I genuinely enjoy school, and I wanted to keep learning, but another part of me–a pretty big part–stayed because it’s what I thought I “should” do.
There have been many moments during the past year–like last week, for example, when I found myself chasing the dog around the backyard, screaming at her to drop the toddler’s poopy diaper–during which I have wondered what in the heck I am doing with my life. I have pictured the account statements I received in the mail every quarter that I was enrolled in graduate school, the late nights I spent at the library in college, and the countless hours I clocked at the Starbucks on Melrose, sipping a latte I could barely afford while lesson planning for my very first job. And now, after all that work, I spend every morning dancing to Raffi in my pajamas before loading the kids into our brand-spanking-new minivan and heading to the park.
But the greatest blessing of this year has been that, for the first time in my life, I don’t really care about whether it was “worth it,” or even what comes next. I have finally realized that just because I put effort into something, or had different priorities in the past, doesn’t mean it’s a “waste” to leave those things behind, and move on to something new.
The effort I put into my schoolwork, and my jobs, and everything else I did during that “other” part of my life made me who I am today. It made me realize what I like, and what I don’t. What I’m good at, and where I should probably pass the baton. It made me realize that it’s OK to pivot, and that pretty much everything in life is a sunk cost–something you can learn from, and appreciate, but don’t need to spend too much time dwelling on.
This year, on the eve of my 33rd birthday, I am happy to report that I have ZERO, actionable goals for the year ahead. I am so incredibly lucky to be doing the job of motherhood, and am grateful that it’s one you can’t really study, or prepare for. Like all parents, I’m learning on the job, and am finally starting to appreciate that journey for what it is.
While I don’t have much free time anymore (I’m not sure I really did before either…) I have truly enjoyed refocusing my creative energy on writing, reading, and connecting with you all on the internet. Every time I “meet” someone new on this platform, I feel inspired to try something new, or challenge myself in some way. I have home projects I plan to tackle for the first time, cooking endeavors I’m excited to begin, new art projects and homeschooling activities up my sleeve, and, of course, a whole bunch of new books on my TBR.
For the first time in my life, my once rigidly forward-thinking self has learned to care a little less about the things that don’t fill me up, and a little more about the ones that do–regardless of whether they’re “important,” or where they’ll take me long-term.
So, I guess this is a thank you, to anyone who has ever read my blog (or even pretended to), for coming along for the ride with me. But it’s also a thank-you to myself, and to this very weird year, for allowing me to welcome change into my life, and learn to find happiness exactly where I am.
