This year has been one of the most challenging years that most of us experienced. With the spread of the pandemic, people losing family members, jobs, and the economy sinking low. Most of us would be thinking is there any reason to be thankful this 2020?

Personally, this year has been tough if I will only looking at the negative implications that this year had brought us. But looking at this year and listing them down would help us appreciate everything. Joining on the contest initiated by Hive account@hive-ph is one of the ways for me to ponder and reflect on what this year has done for us.

Got married this 2020

Hive account@ellebravo and I got married last February 29th, 2020. Before massive lockdown happened and social distancing started we can tie the knot and start on our journey towards the married life. Everything is going smoothly for us so far, we are learning more about each other and tend to rely more on compared to the previous year. We are not able to travel and go somewhere on our honeymoon but this lockdown made us more intimate as we are together 24/7. At our wedding we had around 100+ guests attended and it was a blast! As we didn't expect that we would have those numbers given that both of us aren't that social person.

News about me being an expectant dad next year.

August of this year we received the news that I am going to be a dad soon. It was a surreal experience for us as we are praying to have one for the past months. Before my wife conceived, it was always been heartbreaking each time that her monthly period comes in. But now, every teardrop has been replaced with joy with this blessing. Yesterday we visited her OB and we learned that the baby's development is doing well. Now it has a skull, limbs arms, and ears. No issues that we see and praying that everything will be doing well in the next months after. We just passed the 1st trimester marked this day as of writing.

I started writing again after years of being on hiatus and my account is growing faster!

Previously, I just write because I want to write and I am not taking it seriously. I have no goals or plans or maybe I have some? Not sure about that. But as become more active and saw its improvement I told myself that I might want to invest my time again into writing and try to add some funds in the blockchain as well to grow my account. Right now, my account is growing and I am at almost 40% on my goal for the Hive Power that I want to achieve. Very grateful that after coming back I found some interesting niche and somehow I can contribute as that was my field of expertise.

I am now a cat-lover as previously I am not.

Having a pet is not on my list before. I find them a nuisance as they would be asking you to find them to play, feed, and take care of them. Plus the fact that when they litter, you will need to clean it every time. I am also afraid that if I will be bitten by them though they are domesticated, I will have rabies. But now, being a parent of the two lovely ladies, I learned that domesticated cats or pets don't have rabies unless they are exposed to animals that do have one. Since our girls here are secluded to the "wild" and have their anti-rabies shots my fear of them is eased. I am also able to approach some stray cats and dogs now, compared to the previous years. Sometimes when we are doing our walk to the grocery, we bring some dry cat food so that if we notice a stray cat/dog we will be able to feed them. Also, now every time that I am stressed at work I will pet them and play with them and they are relieving my stress.

Indeed, this year has been a challenging experience. But looking on the good side of everything we also learn to value what is important. Build more relationships, learn new skills, and be connected to others.

How about you? What is the most thankful experience that you have this year?