Days Like This

Birch Lake, northern Minnesota 2021; otherwise known as the week we lived on a houseboat

Days, weeks, months, years like this. 2021 brought a mixed bag that tested us, but ultimately made our lives better. I was scheduled to be on the road with the minis today, yet we find ourselves at home because no one wanted to leave. They opted for schoolwork instead of travel. That means I'm here thinking about the new year and reflecting on this past year. A lot has happened. Our lives are still turned around, there was a greater sense of normalcy, but after thinking about it more over a hot cup of coffee, I think our unconventional pandemic life has somehow become normal for us.

There have been disagreements and straight up arguments and fights. We've made new friends and worked hard to maintain other friendships. There's been schedule headaches, frustrations with our day to day life, exhaustion from doing too much every single day. There's been worries, heavy conversations, and big decisions about jobs, promotions, and when the minis will go back to the classroom. There were scary moments that made us realize how lucky we are. But those are just a few things that have come into our year. The vast majority of our year was amazing.

We traveled, we tried new things, places, and food. We got to go back to our favorite places, spent the summer drinking in pools at our favorite water park, laughed with friends and family, became stronger. At the end of August, we spent a week on a houseboat in northern Minnesota. As with most of our adventures, I created a music playlist for our getaway. I included many songs about boating, sailing, day drinking, relaxing. It's honestly a great playlist, if I do say so myself. There's one song on the list that sticks out to me: Van Morrison's Days Like This.

I like to think about the meaning songs hold for me. This song tells me about a perfect day or time. When things are going just perfectly, everything works out. There's clearly been turmoil, but it's all okay. That's how 2021 has been for us. 2020 changed our lives, 2021 brought challenges, but we became comfortable with those challenges. Things were good, not perfect, but every hard decision we had to make turned into something good. At the end of each year I do a year in review for us. This year, this song is our year in review. As we end the year with me trying to get my children to go on an adventure with me, I'm playing our 2021 theme song in my head.

When it's not always raining there'll be days like this
When there's no one complaining there'll be days like this
When everything falls into place like the flick of a switch
Well my mama told me there'll be days like this

When you don't need to worry there'll be days like this
When no one's in a hurry there'll be days like this
When you don't get betrayed by that old Judas kiss
Oh my mama told me there'll be days like this

When you don't need an answer there'll be days like this
When you don't meet a chancer there'll be days like this
When all the parts of the puzzle start to look like they fit it
Then I must remember there'll be days like this

There'll be days like this

When everyone is up front and they're not playing tricks
When you don't have no freeloaders out to get their kicks
When it's nobody's business the way that you want to live
I just have to remember there'll be days like this

When no one steps on my dreams there'll be days like this
When people understand what I mean there'll be days like this
When you ring out the changes of how everything is
Well my mama told me there'll be days like this

Oh my mama told me
There'll be days like this
Oh my mama told me
There'll be days like this
Oh my mama told me
There'll be days like this
Oh my mama told me
There'll be days like this

** check out our Minnesota trip here, here, and here.**