My Year of Dreaming More with Dolly: Revisited
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On Jan. 5th, 2020 I published an article about how 2019 was my year of dreaming more with Dolly Parton. It was a year full of traveling to places like Dollywood and the Grand Ol’ Opry, and culminated in a dream realized when I saw Dolly perform on the Opry stage for her 50th Anniversary. The year charged and inspired me. With immense hope, I was ready to take on 2020 with whatever it threw my way! RECORD SCRATCH.
Before the pandemic started, 2020 wasn’t off to a great start, personally. Things fell apart and I had to make some tough but important decisions. In the grand scheme of things, they were extremely small in comparison. Always the eternal optimist, I tried to see the light of a clear blue morning.
I was that emotional, naïve, and weird kid everyone had in class. The one who took on people’s pain, tried to see the best, and offer help when I can. Even though I like those parts of me, they were allowing me to make excuses for others when I wasn’t someone who made excuses for myself. I desperately wanted everything to be all right that had been all wrong, and I realized that would be up to me. Boundaries are important.
Like Dolly in Two Doors Down, I dried my useless tears and got myself together. Instead of joining the party down the hall, I moved for the 5th time in 6 years on March 1st, 2020. I don’t know how many other people are in the exclusive club of moving almost every year, but 1/10, do not recommend. A few weeks before the move, I got bronchitis so bad I was prescribed an inhaler and knocked out until moving day. Going into a looming pandemic alone with lungs at less than full capacity couldn’t be a great omen. I got some rest, hired movers for the first time in my adult life, and dipped into that Dolly reserve HARD.
2020 was moving along, and I realized I better get to livin.’ On Feb. 25th, after a few weeks in pre-Covid confinement, I met up with a childhood friend for a non-Dolly concert and dinner. We’ve been on a billion adventures together, and a good 50% were concerts. We joked about how this may be our last one for a while, but I could tell our usual carefree concert disposition was hindered by the truth around the corner.
The second weekend of March, I went to a small gathering with friends and it really hit me. The…
