On the ninth day of Christmas

Very cheap bookshelves groaning under the weight of unfinished projects

Some of my Facebook friends report that they read impressive numbers of really serious books and were otherwise insanely productive in 2020. Others are lamenting that they read hardly anything besides annoying news, dominated by unpleasant electioneering and COVID disasters, and accomplished next to nothing.

I am closer to the second category.

I read a bit -- Susan Howatch's Starbridge novels, some fluff, some theology -- but the list (if I kept a list, which I don't, because that would be work, which, as I believe we've established, I'm not doing much of) wouldn't be impressive in either length or seriousness. I got some scholarly writing done, but I won't have anything with a publication year of 2020. And I'm beginning the year by missing a deadline.

But I'm not missing the deadline by much, and I'm really not lamenting about my "lost" 2020, because, all things considered, I had a good year. I got to do some virtual teaching that was really enjoyable and seems to have been well-received. I secured contracts for enough new writing that 2021 and 2022 will more than make up for 2020, and I'm beginning to be more steadily (albeit not spectacularly) productive. I found a new hobby (hillwalking), started reading more poetry, and discovered an appreciation for Scottish art. My esophagus is much better-behaved than it was at the beginning of 2020. I made a retreat, discovered Reginald Somerset Ward, and started learning Scottish Gaelic for some reason.

And we found a lovely new house, where I'll have a study that overlooks Lake Carroll, and how could I not be both content and productive there?

Tha mi toilichte. I'm happy.

For all the difficulties and continuing constraints -- the loss of embodied teaching, the socially distanced worship, the concern for those who are ill or in danger -- there is joy to be found. Joy in hope for the future, and joy even in the small triumphs, the hardily borne setbacks, and the just-getting-on-with-things that I find in the present.

Tha mi toilichte. I'm happy.