Goodbye 2020, Hello 2021!

Goodbye 2020, Hello 2021!

We’re writing about all of the things we are are grateful for this past year, including all of the ups and downs of the past year. We’re excited to look forward to the future, while also doing our part to help those in need. Read on for a look back at all that has happened, good and bad….

This time last year, 2020 was looking bright and hopeful. We had a lot of wonderful opportunities, new events to attend, and a lot of exciting projects lining up. When Covid hit, we were completely taken aback when the world stopped and everyone began to socially distance. Like most people, we were surprised, and unprepared for the effects it would have on our work and home life: from our existing project load, as well as our future commitments. But we decided to stay grounded, do our part and heed all of the health and safety guidelines provided to us by our local county and state officials.

While everything suddenly stopped, and working from home became the new norm, we at Gina Lauren Interiors began to see a few bright spots come out of all of this craziness.

For one thing, the level of concern, compassion and offering up of assistance anyway we could to anyone we knew struggling, became a lifeline we desperately needed and started to rely on just to keep us sane, during those first few months of Covid. It helped us maintain a sense of calm and normalcy when the shock of closing down business, working from home, multiple daily Zoom calls, and the struggle to create balance for our families numbed us to our core. The heavy load of maintaining some sort of normalcy for ourselves, our clients and our own families began to sink in heavily.

From a business standpoint, communication with our vendors, clients, employees and staff became more than just about the design projects, or that tile sample we were eyeing for our newest project. When we learned about those around us getting sick, we were genuinely scared for our friends, our colleagues and for ourselves and our families. Because after all, what if one of us got sick? What would we do? Where would we go? One thing we decided on right away to calm the flurry of anxiety creeping in at all of the unknowns, was that we decided to jumped right in where we could to help in anyway we could. We offered to pick up meals, drop off medicine, write and send words of kindness and support to anyone we knew who became sick. And we even helped our clients work out of their homes, by converting their spaces to fully functional home offices so that they could focus on what they do best. All of these things became a bright light during the early days of Covid, when no one really knew or understood the true effects of this illness and how dire it is.

In addition to all of the good we were trying to do on the business side of things, my own family began to lean in together to make the best of everything. As a mother of four kids (my youngest being 3, and my oldest 13 at the beginning of Covid), I was incredibly proud of each of them for how brave and resilient they became. The more things began to get worse for so many around us, the braver they became. Putting on a smile even when they didn’t feel like it, or keeping the communication lines open with friends and loved ones, even trying to make sense of everything just to get a better understanding of it all and their place in this brave new world, they tackled it with full resilience and determination. They learned so much from watching those around us and how it impacted each of them personally. They made cards, helped cook meals, dropped off food packages, and focused on making sure their friends and loved ones were doing okay. I truly couldn’t be prouder of them.

In addition, we as a family, started to crave the moments of togetherness we always strived for, but never seemed to ever have time for pre-Covid. Suddenly we seemed to have all the time in the world to play board games, or cook meals together, to go on long walks, explore new books, and adventuring out to many of our local parks. Even more, we learned a whole lot about how much screen time we were willing to allow our kids, how and when homework and school assignments should be complete, etc. Though I do have to say screen time and social media became a new hot zone for arguments and back and forth negotiations, which we still haven’t perfected. But my husband and I are getting better at it with the realization that technology certainly has a time and place, just not all day long, as my kids would love to do.

Although my kids were not loving the social distancing part of any of this, and they still don’t, (honestly who does) and not being able to see their friends (what middle and high schooler wouldn’t be disappointed), we honestly were making the best out of all of it. Reading, painting, skateboarding, hiking, nature walks, daily workouts and a focus on eating healthy and maintaining good health all around, all seemed to be our newest interests and activities. We even attempted a vegetable garden in our own backyard. And my husband and I even began to date one another again. We discovered some fun, new places to go just the two of us where we could have an awesome takeout dinner, watch the sunset and reminisce about our earlier years. Time seemed to slow down and the constant busy-ness of our day to day lives pre-Covid, seemed to give way to that new slowness. Even more, I truly couldn’t be more grateful for all of it because most of all, I realized how much I absolutely love ALL (even with all of the pent up frustrations, canceled events and engagements, disappointments and social isolation) of my time with my family, and how truly important it is for me to keep making as much time for them as possible. Call me crazy, but I even love the arguing and the bickering that tends to happen while social distancing becomes a little too much in our household. Because to me, it means life. It means that we are living and breathing. And when so much sorrow, sickness and loss are happening all around us, being with my family, (even if it means an argument here or there) is truly priceless. When discussing this with my family, we all agreed that even though we do bicker and argue occasionally and get stressed out by one another, being together, through all of this, is so much better than the alternative or that unanswered question of “what if one of us should get sick?”

And now that we are closing out this year and are ready to look ahead, I am so grateful for all of the time that we got to spend with each other as a family. Because time is truly all that we really have. And how we spend it, and who we spend it with, is really the most important thing out of all of this. It really doesn’t matter that we all have the same number of hours and minutes in the day. Its what we do with those minutes, how we choose to spend it, and whom we spend it with, that is the most priceless gift of all. And with all of the suffering going on in our world, and time becoming most important, spending it with the ones I love, and doing the things that mean the most to me, is the only reason now, for how I live my life today, and how I want to live in the days to come.

Will things ever go back to being “normal” as they say “before” Covid? I honestly don’t know. But I do know that we will all get through this together. And a new normal will come out of all of this, for every one of us.

God bless and please stay healthy and safe.

Happy New Year!

With Love,

Gina