In the interest of staying mentally and physically healthy during this damnpenic, as I like to call it (...shout out to all sisdecklicks...) I would like to provide you with a list of the Top Ten happiest, most encouraging, productive, and just down-right funny things I've collected through these weird and wacky times. Number Ten: Home improvement projects Since the pandemic arrived, PW and I have spent the months working on our log cabin in the woods. It's the perfect pandemic scenario: we have nothing but time to imagine, and then build, a cascading waterfall pond in the back yard, or stain the deck, or trim out the ceiling. It ain't all that fun, Not sexy, but these things do need to be done and the sooner we do it, the sooner we can start drinking at 5. Number Nine: Personal hygiene We have given ourselves the latitude to grown our hair out. For me, that means shoulder-length, tri-colored hair (the remanants of "Golden Honey" hair coloring) mixed with my naturally retreating Mousy Brown and Old Lady Gray. And if the color isn't bad enough, add in the creepy, ultra-fine hair that, as one hairdresser described it, and I quote, "literally crawls cross across my scalp." That is a true story. And I even kept going to him for years afterward. Number Eight: Movies. Movies. Movies. Movies. We watch movies we've seen before. We watch movies we haven't seen before. We watch movies about movies. We film our own movies. If we could watch them in reverse (like we used to do with home movies, laughing at Grandma walking backward till we peed our pants), we would do that too. Number Seven: Adult Beverages We drink. Like, a lot. Number Six: Edification I read a book! With pages, and words and shit. Number Five: Religion We found a beautiful stone church to attend before the dampenic and were getting to know a few folks before the Recent Unpleasantness BUT we we have found great solace in watching the services on-line. It certainly isn't a substitute for hugs and handshakes, but it will have to do for now. And it has given us a new appreciation for face-to-face interaction. Number Four: Family We have visited with relatives we haven't seen in a while. My mother is in an independent living community near by, and we see her several times a week. We have seen my husband's family more this year than ever, and we have a new appreciation for how precious time is. My sister comes to see us, and brings a child or two. This makes me very happy. Number Three: Animals I have always had a special place in my heart for wildlife, but since we have been here full time, we value their presence even more. There is something quite extraordinary about tossing a chipmonk a walnut and watching him stuff it into his chubby cheek and racing off, tail at full staff, back to his burrow. We have seen black bears, deer, turkeys, all manner of birds, groundhogs, just to name a few. The pandemic has given us the gift of slowing down, so that we can take the time to see the beauty that has always been here. Number Two: Writing Not blogging, or developing a story line for a book or play, but LETTER WRITING. You know, like on stationery, with a stamp on the envelope. And Number One: Holding hands Just because we can. The Damn Penic of 2020 is not something I would want to revisit, but I am grateful for the experience, and for my loved ones being spared. If we can find anything positive through this rough time, I think it would be that 2020 gave us the gift of sight: to be able to see what really is important, and what is not.