Dear Livia,
I didn’t write a single letter to you or Marshall in 2020. Sorry about that. It was a difficult year, thanks to the Coronavirus, and my daily “Pandemic Days” blog posts ate up most of my writing energy. That wasn’t the only cause, though. Many of my reasons for writing letters to you no longer apply. You’re old enough to remember things for yourself, and you’re old enough that maybe, in some cases, you wouldn’t like me to air your business on a public blog. But, after reading some of the letters in my old albums, you asked me to write more, so here, at least, is one more, just for you.
You are full of ideas, and I cannot stress enough how much those ideas contribute to our family life. A few days ago, you sent an e-mail to the rest of us, because you’d read an article about the deleterious health effects of too much screen time, and you thought we should try taking a month off from TV. Your father and I weren’t prepared to make such a radical change, but we also didn’t want to say no, because you were right that we’ve all had too much screen time lately. So we talked about it and agreed that a couple of screen-free days every week would be good for us.
We had our first screen-free night last night, and even Marshall, who wasn’t initially happy with the arrangement, had to agree afterward that it was good. I played the piano while Marshall listened. Then you and I played Spot-It (a first for me–I’d never played it before). After you went to bed, I stayed off the screens and cleared some paperwork from my desk. Once a person decides that screens are out, a whole world of other activities open up, including all the things they’ve been putting off because screens were easier.
Today you announced a new art contest. This contest will feature all things animal-related, including insects. We’ve had mixed results with art contests in the past. Some have gone very well and produced some beautiful works of art (our snowflake contest and tree contest spring to mind). Others have fizzled and gone nowhere. You haven’t let the failures get you down. You just keep going for the gold, and every time you manage to persuade the rest of us to go with you, we find it together.
Speaking of art, you have a Dragon Store downstairs where you sell dragon art. Previously the space had been rented by the Cuteness Store. I have dragon art all over my office. I’ll scan some of them for the photo album so that they we can admire them in the future, too.
Lately you’ve been writing poems and sending them to me by e-mail. I won’t reproduce those here, but expect to see some of them in the album, too. They are cheerful and fun, and full of ideas, just like you.
Love,
Mom