If I could explain what 2020 was in a few words….I think the three words above would be it. This year was nothing like I expected it to be at all and honestly I don’t think anything close to what I was mentally prepared for. But never the less..it was still a year I will always be grateful for due to the lessons I’ve learned. Normally, I recap the year with my “Goals for the next year” with a little bit of reflection in between. This year, I want to do it a little different. 2020 was the year of great Changes and I never want to forget any of them! Nothing about this year was ordinary!
In January, I went on my first trip to Paris! Yup, a womans dream! It was a work trip AKA almost 2 weeks full of trending & hanging out with two of my most favorite people ever who are more like family than coworkers. Going to Paris was weird for me….it was like one of those things I always secretly wanted to do but never really talked about about, so when it happened I was a bit in shock.
We spend days looking at upcoming fashion statements, smelling amazingggg perfume (discord Chanel “Beige” & fell in love), eating way to many baguettes & drinking way too much wine. Mixed in with a few tours of the city & I can say it was one of my most favorite trips yet.
February was the month I knew was always come but have dreaded for the last 5 + years. On February 27th, my Dad’s birthday, my grandpa went to go be with Jesus. My papi was my best friend, biggest cheerleader & truly the person I looked up to anyone else in this entire world wrapped in one. I spent Christmas 2019 with him because something in my told me it would be our last. I made sure Ry met him then, just to be safe, and spent Christmas Eve in his nursing home room just him & I. We talked for a while & even though I had no idea what he was saying, I know he knew what I was saying. My papi lived a better life than most & at that moment I was so at peace with the fact that his time on this earth was coming to an end….until it actually happened. I remember when my mom called me (bawling) & told me to come immediately to Ohio. I went to work, locked myself in my office, called my boss & lost it. She told me to google a flight & just buy the next ticket out of town. I did that- drove home, packed literally 2 sweaters & a makeup bag, dropped my dog off to Rys house & was gone. I spent the next 4 days with my family- crying laughing & everything in between.
After 4 days, I flew back to Texas. Ry had planned a getaway weekend for us & I knew if anything my papi would want me to go, so I went. Ry & I then flew to NY to see my favorite Lauren Hill perform. It was my most favorite weekend ever (at the time), and I kept feeling and seeing little glimpses of my papi the entire time. I knew he was with us. He died 4 days after we got back. That night, I will never forget. I was on the way to Rys bc something told him to randomly make all my favs for dinner. I was pulling out of my neighborhood bc I had stopped at home to get my ring my papi got me when I was about 7, for some reason I felt like I needed it that night. Literally 20 minutes later my mom called me. I didn’t cry, didn’t scream- nothing. It was like every bone inside of me knew. So- I went to Ry’s & we celebrated my papi’s life that night with all of our favorite food & lots of champagne- the only way we knew how. At that moment, I knew he would always be with me.
Covid lowdown started for use in March. We flew to my grandpas funeral the first week, then as soon as we got back Houston went under lockdown. I decided to stay with Ryan, so we quarantined together. WHEW…..that was interesting too say the least. I mean…we were good at that point..but looking back….Nowhere near good enough to decide to be around each other 24/7 for months…LOL. ( I guess Jesus knew what he was doing…because look at us know haha!).
April was about the same & consisted of being quarantined and playing lots of board games. At this point Ry & I had Monoply, Scrabble & Phase 10 on a nightly rotation. We watched about every new Netflix Series that was, watched every movie (old & new), and got really tired of each other. At this point, we decided it would be fun to have “Nightly Happy Hours”…..every night! That got old easy too..so again back to game night it was. Oh..and crawfish night. That was our thing too! I remember one night Ryan told me he had a surprise & in the backyard he had planned a little picnic for us, including 10 pds of crawfish, shrimp, crab legs & beer!
We were supposed to go on a 10 day trip to Budapest in April & when we realized that that wasn’t happening. A few tears later…we decide to plan another trip in October for our anniversary. I say the word “Anniversary” very loosely….truth is we we barely together then! LOLLLLLL.
With my birthday being May 1st and Ry’s being May 10th – I think we both had high expectations for this month. I woke up on my birthday to a cake, balloons & a whole basket full of Moet (My ABSOLUTE fav). Not to mention all of the seafood Ry had bought to make his famous Seafood Pasta. My birthday was pretty amazing- soo many calls from friends & family that I wasn’t expecting. For Ryans birthday- Houston opened up for a few night so I managed to make reservations at a restaurant that we had wanted to go for a while. It was amazing-great food, great service, great anything. This was the month “Birthday Wars” was born…to see who could do the most for the other for their birthday.
Quarantine has a way of either pulling people apart or bringing people together. For us..it did the latter. June was the first time we decided to go ring shopping. I came home from work one day and Ryan had pulled up a custom jeweler website up & told me to print out all of my favorites. He said “Clearly neither of us is going anywhere”…so we started for rings that night. Due to us being already non-traditional, we decided that we would actually design it together.
We didn’t find the ring until later…more towards the end of that month. We had been looking for a few weeks/weekends. When we found it…I cried tears of joy. Mostly because it was so pretty, but even more so because I realized that I was actually going to get to spend the rest of forever with my best friend!
….so that’s the first 1/2 of the year in a nutshell. Lots of ups & downs, lots of tears & lots of happy times. Be sure to check back for Part # 2 pretty soon….it’s still being written as of now!
XOXO,
B
