Take a Minute. You Made it.

To all you healthcare workers who are putting your lives on the line daily. Who have held the hands of the dying, and broken the news to those still living.

To those who are grieving and still managing to get through the day.

To those who have lost your homes to disaster or eviction.

To those of you who delivered food, stocked shelves, and fulfilled orders during the graveyard shift. Who have valiantly shipped our shit to our doorsteps for us, and secured our ballots during one of the most insecure elections in our nation’s history.

To all the small businesses who took that PPP money and paid your employees, radically re-writing your business plans, collaborating with other small businesses. If your local enterprise persists, take a bow.

To those who managed to conduct multiple zoom meetings a day while conducting your children’s multiple zoom meetings a day.

To those who keep singing and dancing, putting your art out there for free.

To those taking care of your elders by not gathering during the holidays, not shopping in person, not hugging, as painful as it is.

And to those who were even able to read some books, make some bread, quit smoking, or get a creative project started.

Take a minute to forgive yourself for not doing more.

Take a minute to forgive yourself for stress eating, binge-watching, ignoring dishes, or letting the bike or the weights sit idle.

Take a minute to breathe.

You made it through an unthinkable year with your humanity intact. Civilization rests on our small kindnesses. Our agility in thought and action. Our altogether holy and mundane commitments to each other.

If you participated at all, you deserve a moment of acknowledgment and gratitude.

God Bless Us All in 2021. ~M.