by Erica and Karen

We are so glad to see the back of 2020 as she shambles out the door, masked and friendless, in her baggy sweat pants.

We had high hopes for 2020. We looked forward especially to a couple of major family events, for which large celebrations were planned. But 2020 let us down. She was the worst. And it wasn’t just COVID. This ad cleverly says it all.

Of course, we learned a few things in 2020, some of them valuable.

• That if you don’t wear most of your clothes for many many months, when you finally look at your wardrobe you feel as if you’ve been on a mad shopping spree.

• How to dine outside in freezing temperatures.

• That we need to get better with eye makeup.

• New words and phrases: Messenger RNA. R number. PCH test. Social distancing. WFH. Contact tracing.

• That Zoom is a wonder, but no substitute for being with people.

• The power of social media.

• That going to an office is a privilege we will never again take for granted.

• How many heroes live among us.

• That young people might change the world.

• Who Anthony Fauci is, and that he is a knockout at 80.

We hope 2021 allows us to get back life as we knew it, but we also hope for change, given the structural rifts that were bared in 2020. Some New Year’s resolutions we might advocate:

• Fix our public health system.

• Use working from home as part of our work lives—but only part.

• Recognize the value of older women in a truly diverse society.

Maybe 2020 will achieve something worthwhile despite herself.

Let’s celebrate that thought. Raise a glass to 2021, hope and change.

Happy 2021!