Happy Monday everyone. Sorry I haven’t been very consistent in posting this month. It’s been a bit of a roller coaster. There have been some really high Highs and some really low Lows. And a whole heap of self-reflection.

As I mentioned a couple weeks ago, my grandmother passed away earlier this month. That, on top of a few other fairly serious medical issues in the family, made for a difficult year already. Paired with the fact that we passed the one year mark of Covid in the US…everything just has been feeling heavy. Then the shooting happened in Boulder last week, at a grocery store that my parents sometimes go to. The grocery store that I went to as a teenager because it was the closest to my high school. Where many of my parents’ friends and my friends’ parents live in the nearby neighborhoods.

So even though there have been really bright moments of joy in the last week (watching silly panda videos with my youngest nephew, skiing with the older two, lots of laughter around the dinner table with my whole family, more friends and family getting vaccinated) it didn’t feel appropriate or authentic to post about any of it last Friday.

I guess I’m writing today because I want to acknowledge that things get heavy. And even though it isn’t always the right move to put on a happy face in a public forum, there are still good things happening in the midst of the pain and sorrow. Even as Boulder is dealing with individual and collective heartbreak after last week’s events, it has been heartwarming at the same time to see my friends post memories of selling Girl Scout cookies at the King Soopers. To see community members come together in different ways to show their support and love.

Even though things aren’t always good, you can always find good things.