Year in Review: 2021 in Photos

One of my goals in 2020 was to take a "photo of the day." I hoped to notice and capture more of the everyday moments--the unremarkable things and small pleasures that make up life. I usually do pretty well at taking pics on vacations, and I keep a private daily journal (with a really low bar--just one sentence a day). It seemed that the photo a day project would be a nice complement to those things. And I loved it! So I started again in 2021. In December, a friend posted his memories from the year on Facebook as a series of 21 photos. So I got the idea to post my own year in review here, thinking I'd choose 21 photos from my 2021 photo of the day album. Well, I knew I'd choose too many photos in my first pass, and I did, but even after trimming them down, I'm still left with 40. I figured 21 was a cute idea, but still arbitrary...and 40 is a nice round number, so here is my 2021 year in review in 40 photos:

Photo 1: Mock Caldecott Award guest illustrator

One of the things I've enjoyed most in the last few years has been participating in our campus library's Mock Caldecott Award group. One of the librarians coordinates the reading list and meeting times, and we read and discuss the most amazing picture books. This pic is a screenshot from our January 2021 meeting, when we were joined by the author/illustrator of one of the books we'd read--it was so cool to hear from him directly and have a chance to ask questions. The group met virtually in fall 2020-spring 2021, but we were able to meet in person again during fall 2021. 

Photo 2: info sheet for Madison house

A defining feature of our year was house hunting. We got the ball rolling in December of 2019, finding a realtor and getting our pre-approval lined up. In January, we saw the Madison house and made an offer. Unfortunately, the inspection turned up quite a few issues, and our negotiations with the sellers didn't address them well enough. We ended up walking away, and as hard as that was, we're both so relived we didn't buy that house.

Photo 3: local news coverage of President Biden

I've rarely, if ever, mentioned politics on this blog, but I started 2021 with such hope and relief as a result of the change in national leadership. Then, like many others, I was deeply troubled by the events of January 6th. But I continue to be grateful for President Biden's demeanor and many of his political priorities. One of the things that made an early impression on me was his acknowledgement of the huge toll the pandemic had taken in loss of life. I'd felt like I, personally, and the nation as a whole hadn't really slowed down to recognize this, and it meant a lot to me that President Biden did.  

Photo 4: Mark's birthday cake

Mark and I have noticed that it's hard to capture the excitement we used to feel as kids for birthdays and such, and that was even harder during 2020/2021 when we couldn't even go anywhere or see anyone! But I could certainly still make his favorite chocolate cake with chocolate icing and birthday candles--so I did. I think he enjoyed it. :-)

Photo 5: remote teaching set-up

For Spring 2021, I continued to teach and work remotely. In our apartment, my desk was in the dining room (to the left of the table in the photo above). I did sit at the desk for most of my admin work time, but when I was teaching live classes on Zoom, this was my set up at the kitchen table. From here, all my students could see in the background was a wall with some artwork and our pantry doors. This meant that Mark could come and go to the kitchen/living room as needed with out making a cameo appearance (though he did still have to pay attention to my class times when he wanted to make lunch on Tuesdays and Thursdays). On Mondays, he cooked us eggs and hashbrowns for dinner before my Monday night class (I met with them from 6 to 7:30ish on Zoom). 

Photo 6: Mark's COVID vaccine reminder

Mark and I were both thrilled to get our COVID vaccines--he was eligible first, because of his teaching at Delta High School in spring 2021. So he went to the Fulton County vaccine clinic for his 1st & 2nd doses. I followed a tip from local friends and got on the waiting list at our BG RiteAid, which called me one Thursday afternoon between Mark's 1st and 2nd doses. Most of my friends became eligible within a couple of weeks after my 1st dose, so we were all fully vaccinated right around the end of the semester. Mark and I also got our boosters as soon as we were able to. We are so thankful to have these vaccines ourselves, and that most of our friends and family have chosen to be vaccinated, too. 

Photo 7: virtual TESOL group photo

One of my professional priorities is ongoing professional development. Among many other PD opportunities last year, I attended the all-virtual TESOL convention in March 2021. I saw lots of great sessions, but one downside of the virtual format is that there's much less participant-to-participant interaction. To fill a bit of that gap, I coordinated a virtual get-together during the conference week with my BGSU colleagues, and that's when we took this "group photo" in Zoom. TESOL 2022 is supposed to be a hybrid event, with in-person sessions in Pittsburg and virtual sessions online. I've had two in-person proposals accepted--that'll be something I need to prepare for soon! 

Photo 8: journaling on the apartment balcony

One positive outcome of the pandemic is that it nudged me to finally spend more time using our small outdoor space at the apartment! We upgraded our furniture in Spring 2020, and that made it so much more comfortable to sit out there--for leisure and work. The east-facing balcony got nice morning sun, which I must have enjoyed here on a warm spring day. On the table is my copy of The Next Right Thing Journal, a one-year guided journal I completed in 2021. 

Photo 9: Mark at work in the apartment drum room

Most of Mark's work with the BGSU drumline takes place in the summer and fall, but during the spring, he usually gives a few clinics and coordinates auditions for the fall. Here, he's hosting a clinic on Zoom from our apartment, with BGSU marching drums. As you can see, it was a tight fit, but he made the set up work. (It's just a bit more complicated than what I did, right? ;-). 

Photo 10: joke of the day

In our old neighborhood, one of the neighbors started putting out this "joke of the day" board pretty early on in the pandemic. We were impressed that he just kept going! This joke isn't necessarily my favorite, but I usually left my phone at home when we went for a walk. I must have brought it with me this day specifically to take a picture. 

Photo 11: sold sign at the Prospect house

One weekend in April, our house hunt got pretty intense--we saw 4 houses in 2 days and were prepared to write 3 offers. In the end, we only wrote 2 because the seller on Prospect St. accepted our offer almost right away, so we didn't have time to make that 3rd offer we'd planned. Seeing this "sold" sign after so many ups and downs of 5 months of house hunting really made our day! 

Photo 12: the empty living room at Stadium View

Once we closed on the house, we moved pretty quickly. It was a big job to get the old apartment packed and all cleaned up, and a bit emotional to say goodbye and close the door at Stadium View for the last time. Although we were really ready to move out by the time we did, it was a good place to live--and the place we lived for the longest--by far--9 years!

Photo 13: working on the front porch at the house

After moving to the house, I continued to prioritize time outside when the weather was nice. I often set up to work on the front porch for long stretches. It's definitely noisier than the apartment balcony, since our street gets a lot of traffic, and also less private, but I do love it out there. It also helped me to meet quite a few neighbors, especially the (dog) walkers! 

Photo 14: Mark with nephew Kaden

Not long after we moved in, the Cooks came to visit, along with Katie and Kaden! Here, Mark is trying to get Kaden to play some drums. He's a bit young, but it was still awfully cute to watch the two of them together. 

Photo 15: BG Farmers' Market

Although the Farmers' Market happened in 2020, I didn't go, trying to keep my outings to a minimum. But between the vaccines, a summer drop in COVID cases, and living just 3 blocks away, I really enjoyed weekly visits to the Farmers' Market during the 2021 season.  

Photo 16: Olivia's HS graduation

Our friend Olivia graduated from high school in May, and attending her graduation was our first large outing since before the pandemic. We were glad to be able to go to both graduation day and her graduation party. Since then, she's completed her first semester of college! 

Photo 17: Mark & me at Niagara Falls

Our post-vaccine summer was in full swing, and we were ready to travel! We decided to make our first trip something familiar and manageable, so we went to Cuyahoga Valley National Park and Niagara Falls. It was so great to travel together again! (Though also still weird...Ontario, CA was locked down, so we couldn't go to the Canadian side, and it was surreal to look across the river to see the streets totally deserted). 

Photo 18: tea at the Swan House with Mom & Dad G

Our second summer visit from family: my parents came in June. They took a big road trip and spent the week of my birthday with us. After this tea, we checked out the children's book museum on the University of Findlay campus.

Photo 19: moved out of the T/ESOL Program Director office

After 4 years of service as the Program Director, I stepped down and resumed full-time teaching in Fall 2021. The transition was a bit gradual over the summer, so I could help our new program director coordinate placement testing. I gave myself a July 1 deadline to move out of the 2nd floor office and hand over my keys. Here's how it looked on the way out--though it was extra strange because I hadn't actually worked in that physical office since March 2020! It was definitely the right time for me to take a break from that role, and I'm so thankful for the colleague who took over--she's doing a great job (under challenging circumstances). 

Photo 20: visiting Grandpa in Springfield, MO

We spent July 4th weekend visiting Mark's family in Springfield. We were especially glad to spend some time with Grandpa, who we hadn't seen for a while. We took this selfie in his apartment. Since then, all the family who used to live in Springfield have gradually moved to the Oklahoma City area! We haven't visited them there yet.

Photo 21: hiking in  Jemez, NM with family

Later in July, I went to ABQ to visit my family, but especially to meet our other new nephew, Daniel. We had lots of adventures, including this day of hiking together. 

Photo 22: watching the Tokyo Olympics

Another example of pandemic disruption--the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo happened in summer 2021, and even then, not without controversy and difficulty. Still, we enjoyed watching from home. 

Photo 23: tea and treats at a friend's house

Another highlight of summer was reconnecting with friends in person. This delightful spread represents many other one-on-one gatherings that took place throughout the summer. I'm really thankful for the community I have here (and those friends I keep in touch with long-distance!).

Photo 24: me with nephew Daniel

Toward the end of July, Julie and Ben made a trip to Michigan to see his family there. As they've done before, they made time to meet up with us, too. They wanted to see the house, and Mark needed to meet Daniel! 

Photo 25: tomato from my own plant

One of my sweet friends gifted me a tomato plant for a housewarming gift. Having never kept any plants alive for long, I tried to keep low expectations. But that plant thrived on the southeast corner of our patio, and I had delicious tomatoes from August through October--what a gift! 

Photo 26: hosting the drumline after band camp

Mark wanted to take advantage of our new space to host the drumline for a gathering to celebrate the end of band camp--this was our first big group at the house (well, also the only big group so far!). It was so fun to have them here, and to see how much they really enjoy each other's company. They were also duly impressed by Mark's studio space upstairs (and had fun playing both drum sets :-). 

Photo 27: first day of fall classes

The last time I taught in person was before spring break in March 2020. So it was a bit daunting to get back to the physical classroom in August, but also exciting. Here I am in the hallway outside my computer lab for WRIT 1110 on the first day of the semester. BGSU required masks for all shared indoor spaces all semester--a requirement I fully supported, but it is certainly harder to teach this way! And I bet I wouldn't recognize some of my students if I saw them out and about without masks (I told them to please say hello and introduce themselves!). 

Photo 28: green chile roasting in Detroit, MI

We've been really happy to find Hatch chile roastings in August and September for the last several years, within an hour or two drive. This year, my friend Chad and I ventured to the Detroit area on what turned out to be a very rainy day. The weather and subsequent flooding caused us some major delays, but we enjoyed each other's company and did make it home in the end with green chile in hand. 

Photo 29: common meal at Sheila's house

After over a year of meeting virtually, my common meal dinner group finally resumed pot-luck dinners in the fall 2021. We met for the first time at City Park, which was a nice way to ease back in to seeing each other in person. A bit later on, Sheila hosted me, Ana, and Andrew with the delicious feast pictured here. (I think Dalia and Lucero also joined us a bit later that night :-). 

Photo 30: walking the Slippery Elm Trail with UWP

This fall, the University Writing Program staff thought of several fun ways to help us stay connected outside of the office. I was able to join in for a few Saturday morning walks along the Slippery Elm Trail (which is just a short 10-minute walk from our house). 

Photo 31: lunch break at the office

I had a fantastic teaching schedule this fall--all 4 classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, starting at 9:30, finishing at 3:45. There's a 45-minute break between the 1st and 2nd class, so that's when I ate my lunch--often this exact meal (peanut butter and a banana rolled up in a tortilla, with carrots on the side). Somedays I worked through lunch, but I tried to take a break most of the time. Here, I'm watching a short TED talk. I worked from home most Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

Photo 32: yardwork--digging up bushes

We knew that homeownership would require yardwork, and we weren't sure how we'd feel about it. Mark takes care of mowing the lawn, which is a quick job because our yard is (thankfully!) pretty small. I've been in charge of the flowerbeds--keeping the weeds under control. Actually, I don't mind it--the key seems to be short bursts of regular upkeep. Together, we took on a couple of bigger projects, including digging up the bushes on the south side of the house. Here's me with the largest stump we dug out. This was a big job! 

Photo 33: visiting Angela in Lexington

I got to see my dear friend Angela twice this year! She got stranded in BG for a few days in July and stayed with us (we would have missed each other if her trip hadn't been extended). I also managed a visit to her place in Lexington in the fall--we had a great time exploring the area. 

Photo 34: Mark with the drumline at a football game

Football at BGSU was pretty much back to business as usual this season. Faculty got free season tickets, so I was able to go to a few games (well...I don't think I ever stayed for a whole game...but I always made sure to catch something the band was doing: pregame, halftime, and/or the 4th quarter drumline feature). Here, Mark is warming up with the drumline before they took the field for the feature. They learned several different features this season, each one written by a student. He's done such great work with the drumline, and it's clear how much they like and respect him. 

Photo 35: Anastasia at the Stranahan Theater

Broadway is back! We bought season tickets to the theater in Toledo, and Anastasia was our first show. We also saw An Officer and A Gentleman, and in just a week or so, we'll see Come from Away. The final show of the season will be Hamilton. And we're still waiting on The Lion King to be rescheduled from a previous season.

Photo 36: my home office

After over a year of working from home in the apartment's dining/living rooms, having a separate home office has been a noticeable upgrade! As I mentioned, I spent a lot of time working outside, but once the weather turned and I got a proper office chair, I came to really enjoy working in this space. The best thing is that it gets beautiful light all day long from the south- and west-facing windows. And I can watch people playing with their dogs in the old school yard next door. :-) I'm delighted that we finally have a place for this gorgeous rug (which was a wedding gift that we haven't used since ABQ). Eventually, we'll have a sleeper sofa where the extra dining chairs are. 

Photo 37: Thanksgiving roasted chicken

It would have been nice to go back to visit Mark's Michigan family at Thanksgiving after skipping last year. But he had to work at an early Black Friday game, so we repeated our Thanksgiving for two at home. Delicious! And I really enjoyed a long weekend break from work before the end-of-semester crunch.

Photo 38: after the last final exam meeting

And, as always, those weeks between Thanksgiving and the end of semester just flew by in a blur of grading, classes, and emails. Here I am on the last day in my WRIT 1110 classroom--on Friday of Finals Week. It was a quick turnaround to get grades done before leaving town for Christmas. 

Photo 39: celebrating Christmas in ABQ

And here we are at Mom and Dad's with Julie, Ben, and Daniel. More details about that trip are in the previous post, so I won't repeat myself here. :-)

Photo 40: live Magic Kingdom fireworks on New Year's Eve

And that brings us to last night, New Year's Eve! Mark heard that Disney would be live-streaming their Magic Kingdom fireworks show at 11:50pm, so that's how we brought in the new year (so much more interesting to us than the Times Square show). Before that, we had a double-feature night on Disney+. We watched Encanto with dinner, and later re-watched Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. 

So, 2021 was quite a year. These photos definitely represent highlights--we all know there was plenty of hard stuff mixed in, too. But I want to cherish the good memories, and hopefully carry forward some of the important lessons I've learned about myself and about life in general. Whatever 2022 brings, I hope I can face it with grace, together with all of the family and friends who mean so much to me. May we be kind to ourselves and others. May we take joy in things big and small. May we find both rest and purpose from day to day. Thanks for reading--happy new year!