Fast forward to almost two years from my last entry, and I would never have guessed that COVID-19 would bring the world to its knees. What didn’t happen?

Two heartbreaks in a year, who’d have known?

Ma, I wish for your strength when I open my heart and receive. For a long time, I wondered if I should stop being vulnerable. Stop setting myself up for disappointment, but with such thoughts, I felt I was just stifling what I truly believed in – the good in people.

The months of lockdown; the isolation, misinformation, distancing, silence. The people who stay, and people who go.

I grow strong, even as I want to hide.

I grow stronger, even as I have no answers.

I continue to hope for 2021.