It was the best of years, it was the worst of years. It has been a devastating year for many, I want to first acknowledge that. But looking back, I feel OH SO FORTUNATE that we are healthy, and have the luxury / privilege of working from home, where we were able to stay safe, not contract or spread Covid, and fall in love with our Home in a big and new way. We cleaned cabinets and vacationed in our yard. We got on each other’s nerves and said the same things over and over both on purpose and by accident, and I think fell in love with each other, too, just a little bit more. The lockdown gave me 24/7 access to my bed when I was so nauseous and tired I could barely move. It gave me the time and brain space to contemplate, research, and acknowledge systemic racism in a way that I never have before. I now talk to my best friends via the Marco Polo app EVERY DAMN DAY, about everything from how we arrange our underwear drawers, to our insecurities, to the things that scare us the most. 2020 gave me that. And IT GAVE US JOE.

Some selections: The year started off MOST NORMALLY with a Notebook Workshop in NYC, where I hid my nausea by sniffing clementines and prayed for a Heartbeat. I then spent approximately two months Writing for Maid on Netflix OR in bed. In early March, We workshopped AD 16 at the Zach theater in Austin, and I marveled at the people in the airport wearing masks, dare I admit, scoffed. And just as I emerged from my first trimester cocoon, the lockdown pushed us all inside, sent all writers rooms to Zoom, and confined me to the my home and kitchen, where I proceeded to bake 9,000 things.

We workshopped the Notebook again over Zoom, which was weirdly productive and very restorative. I marveled as my body grew a human, which I at one point, worried it could not ever do. We stayed home, except weekend jaunts to Palm Springs and Dana pointe, for changes of scenery and and so that I might Float. My movie The Secret dropped on Amazon Prime and itunes, finding it’s sort of perfect time and place in the world. We made a nursery, developed pitches, I then pitched and sold a show over Zoom, we hosted a pandemic backyard socially distant baby shower, and still, I baked 900 more things.

And then Joe. Ohhhh, Joe Joe Joe. He arrived, we cried, have since been surviving, loving him and learning about him. Our parents came to help. We voted in an historic election, had our first Halloween, took our first road trip with Kid up to Lake Tahoe, tucked ourselves back into our home for our First family Thanksgiving and Christmas, which I think are officially my new favorite of both. Just the three of us, at Home. Oh, Joe. You are 2020, and so 2020 will always be Good.