December is here!

Hello All,

Move over just a little bit Dr. Fauci! I have two new 2020 crushes – Steve Kornacki and Dr. Elvis Francois! Steve is MSNBC’s election guru and political correspondent. I don’t know who you watched during all of this election excitement, but Steve was it for me! With his tousled hair, glasses, khakis and tie – with his calculator so he could provide immediate information – and his wonderful smile – he was a delight to watch and learn from. I am not the only one! There are whole websites now devoted to his khakis and him! It was wonderful to find a bright spot during some very stressful days! And Dr. Elvis is the “Singing Surgeon”. He went viral back in March with a video of him singing “Imagine” while on break at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. He is known for singing to his patients. What a wonderful bedside manner! I am excited to note that all three of my crushes (yes, Bob knows!) were included in the November 30th People’s Sexiest Man Alive issue!

And there is another reason to celebrate in 2020 – Sarah Fuller. Sarah is the Vanderbilt senior who made college football history as the first woman to play in a Power 5 regular season football game! Sarah is the goalkeeper for Vanderbilt’s women soccer team. Sarah was asked to play because the football team’s kicking unit could not practice because of Covid. She opened the second half of the football game with a successful squib kick. (For my non-football loving readers, a squib kick is a short, low line drive kickoff that usually bounces on the ground before it can be picked up by the receiving team – it was actually first used in college football. It is usually hard to grab so it gives the kicking team members more time to get downfield.)  And on her helmet – a sticker that said “Play Like A Girl”! Congratulations to Sarah! Some more glass on the ground!

December has arrived! My single most favorite month of the year! It is the month of joy, peace, and love. I love the quote from Hamilton Wright Mobie, American essayist and editor, about this time of year – “Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in the conspiracy of love.”

No matter what religious holiday you observe (Hanukkah that starts December 18th, Christmas on December 25th, or Kwanzaa that starts December 26th) or whether you observe spiritual moments, the basis of all are joy, peace and love. And in this crazy year of 2020, we need these three things more than ever.

As we near the end of 2020 (thank goodness!) and start a new beginning in 2021, we should take to heart the words of Vironika Tugaleva, author and poet – “Love, happiness and peace – these are not final destinations. They are in every moment, every breath, everything.”  We need  to look for these every day!

Hopefully we will also find ways to heal our nation, to listen to each other, to facilitate changes that are good for us as people and Americans. It will take all of us pulling together to do this. It will be so worthwhile.

I will end with the wise words of Eileen Elias Freeman, author of Touched by Angels:

“Let us love the world to peace.”

Phyl