When Pig Number One, Mr. Tookie McTooklton (Emmett’s spy name, for all of you out there that are not in the know), started blogging more than 12 years ago, he titled one of his first posts, “In Which Hope Comes to Town.” This post detailed Emmett’s aspirations of freedom. Freedom to be who he chooses to be. Freedom to define himself however he wants. The coincidence that our nation inaugurated its first Black president barely a month and a half after Emmett’s birth made him feel like everything was possible.
Fast forward through twelve years on the national and international stage, years that alternated between face splitting grins and sucker punches to the gut, and, well, we’ve come full circle. Despite the past 4 years, we choose to look ahead with hope. We choose to see that we are inaugurating our country’s first woman Vice President (woo-hoo!), a woman of color. We choose to focus on the positivity Biden and Harris bring to issues of race and gender equality, climate change, COVID, and social justice, to name a few. Like 12 years ago, we see January 20th, 2021 as the day in which hope comes to town.
While we waited (and wait) for hope to enter the building, we’ve been busy.
We celebrated Indigenous People’s day with food from our favorite vegan restaurant, City O City (did we mention the entire family committed to a plant-based diet just before the holiday?) and a family movie night. We celebrated Emmett’s birthday with more City O City, an amazing Golden Year Cake (Emmett turned twelve on 12/12; we Pigs refer to this as the Golden Year), and ice skating at an outdoor rink (twice!). We spent December going to Blossoms of Light at the Botanic Gardens, Zoo Lights at the Zoo, Member’s Only day at the new Space Odyssey at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, and the Mexican Modernism exhibit featuring Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera at the Art Museum.
We celebrated Solstice with stargazing and setting family intentions for the upcoming year. We celebrated Mom’s birthday with a family movie (Hidden Figures) and more great food (only the bestest ramen ever). We got bikes, a sewing machine, Legos, a scooter, night vision goggles, game night games, socks, and nonprofit donations in our names for Giftavus Maximus (what we’ve renamed Christmas). We made our own candles and kombucha; we arted and danced and sang; we said goodbye to 2020 (RIP Isaac, we will never forget you) and we welcomed 2021 with a silly string war and holiday poppers.
And now, we look forward with hope to what comes next. Back to school, seeing old and new friends. New classes. A new home (with a new puppy(ies?) and new chicks). A new clinic location. The ability to take a deep breath and relax. To rest. To enjoy.
Here’s to January 20th, 2021; the day in which hope returns.
Pigs Out.
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