Category Archives: Alexis

Alexis, Anela, Christianity, Formal Portrait, Kanoa, Mom

Anela Chapter 1

February 21, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett

It is the first Sunday of Lent. It is possible you couldn’t get to church today for a wide variety of reasons. To help you out I’m sharing a devotional by Reverend Melissa Drake.

“Knowing our Identity”
Mark 1: 9-13:
By: Rev. Melissa Drake, Southwest Region Superintendent

We are in the first week of Lent—and this Sunday begins our journey of the next 40 days, leading the church up to Easter. The Lenten season is designed to be a mirror for us: it’s a way for us to witness to Jesus’ 40 days in the wilderness, as he prepares to begin his ministry.

For Christians, Lent has historically been the yearly season for us to examine ourselves in that same mirror: to spend time in deep personal reflection and preparation as we get ready to commit ourselves to living into the way of Jesus: the way of his baptism, life, death and Resurrection.

For the church it is our season together of reflecting and preparing for the ministries of sharing the Good News of the Resurrection with the world that so desperately needs to hear and see and touch and feel that they are beloved of God.
Lent, this season always known for its austerity—the season where the days are getting longer, but not necessarily getting better—always begins this same way: with Jesus’ baptism and then immediate temptation out in the wilderness. And this year we hear from Mark, chapter 1, verses 9-13:

About that time, Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and John baptized him in the Jordan River. While he was coming up out of the water, Jesus saw heaven splitting open and the Spirit, like a dove, coming down on him. And there was a voice from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I dearly love; in you I find happiness.”

At once the Spirit forced Jesus out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness for forty days, tempted by Satan. He was among the wild animals, and the angels took care of him.

Lent always begins this very same way, and I think sometimes, we, in the church get obsessed over the temptation and the wilderness part, and not so much over the baptism and the naming and claiming part.

And this year of all years, it is a year for us to remember the naming and claiming part: The way the clouds split open and the sun must have been dazzling; the way the wind must have blown, maybe in that wild spring way that makes us adventurous and crazy and ready to go out in the world again, or maybe it blew in that soft spring way that wraps us in the warmth of better days coming; and then the voice. That voice coming from the heavens that says, “You are mine. You are beloved. In your very being I find happiness.”

As Bishop Laurie shared in her devotion last week, Lent has historically been a season to give something up: and that can be such a powerful discipline. We need this time to examine ourselves, to pay attention to what we need to give up and let go so that we can follow Jesus more nearly and dearly. This is a season of giving things up and letting things go as we practice our faith; but it’s also a season of holding on as well. Throughout his time in the wilderness,
Jesus held on to the identity and relationship with God that was so clearly expressed at his baptism.

Friends, as we recommit ourselves to living in the way of Jesus, we need this time of holding on as well. A holding on to what cannot be changed, but what can so easily be forgotten or overshadowed or lost: that deep KNOWING of identity: that deep knowing of belovedness. That deep knowing of relationship, of who we are and who we belong to. And that deep knowing of being absolutely enough, at our very core, for God to delight in us without having to produce anything or accomplish anything.

What would happen to our church communities if we spent the next 40 days holding on to this identity, within our own spirts, during our own times of temptations that tell us that we aren’t enough. That other people have it more and better. That if only we worked a little harder, we’d be more worthy.

And I wonder, what would it be like in our church communities, if we could do this for each other, even in these longer days that don’t always seem to be getting better? If all of our words and all of our work in the next 40 days were about reminding each other, showing each other that we are beloved of God—to remind each other that there is nothing, neither height, nor depth, nor zoom church, nor sub zero temperatures, there is neither pandemic, nor politics, nor temptations or just plain old fatigue that can separate us from the love of our God. And our care for each other.
Friends, this is the promise we made to each other at our baptisms: this is our work of the church: to be connected together. To watch over one another in love. To remind each other of who and whose we are. So that, out of our union with Christ, in his baptism of death and resurrection, we can take this good news out into the world and say and show: World: you, too, are God’s beloved.

May you be blessed; may you hold on.

And may “The God of all grace, who has called us to eternal glory in Christ, establish you and strengthen you by the power of the Holy Spirit that you may live in grace and peace. Amen.”

Next Sunday I will share a devotional from Rev. Dr. Moody Colorado.

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Around Thanksgiving I went over to meet my new grand niece Anela and photograph her. As I’m sometimes asked to do. Here is the first collection of those images:

These are the first pictures of Anela that I’ve shared. Meaning there is now an Anela category on this website!

There are at least two more collections of Anela pictures to share in the hopper still!

Alexis, Black & White, Formal Portrait, Holidays, Kanoa, Kupono, Still Life

Alexis Prego Dos

February 14, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett 4 Comments

I need to start out by wishing a Happy Valentine’s Day to everybody that celebrates today.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Now, I know that there are a ton of people out there that are violently opposed to Saint Valentine’s Day. They call it a holiday invented by candy companies and the florist industry designed to make a large portion of the population feel lonely. I mean a holiday celebrated by eating candy and having flowers to photograph? Sounds like an amazing holiday to me! But, Valentine didn’t get beat to death with clubs and then have his head cut off, just for candy. He did that for love!

And loneliness? Almost a year into a pandemic, loneliness sounds underrated.

Since Photography 139 is if nothing else, a romantic website, on this day that celebrates love, I thought I would share the text from one of the most famous love letters in history. A love letter that was written by Beethoven and discovered by one of Beethoven’s friends shortly after his death. It was hidden in a secret drawer in his wardrobe. There is still debate to this day, about who the letter was written to. While there are actually 3 unsent letters, I’m going to share just the last one:

Even in bed my ideas yearn towards you, my Immortal Beloved, here and there joyfully, then again sadly, awaiting from Fate, whether it will listen to us. I can only live, either altogether with you or not at all. Yes, I have determined to wander about for so long far away, until I can fly into your arms and call myself quite at home with you, can send my soul enveloped by yours into the realm of spirits — yes, I regret, it must be. You will get over it all the more as you know my faithfulness to you; never another one can own my heart, never — never! O God, why must one go away from what one loves so, and yet my life in W. as it is now is a miserable life. Your love made me the happiest and unhappiest at the same time. At my actual age I should need some continuity, sameness of life — can that exist under our circumstances? Angel, I just hear that the post goes out every day — and must close therefore, so that you get the L. at once. Be calm — love me — today — yesterday.

What longing in tears for you — You — my Life — my All — farewell. Oh, go on loving me — never doubt the faithfullest heart

Of your beloved

L

Ever thine.
Ever mine.
Ever ours

I hope that puts a little love in your heart, thinking about good old Ludwig Van! I know it does mine!

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Back before Anela was born, I went to McFarland Park with Alexis, Kupono, and Kanoa to do some pregnancy pictures of Alexis. Here are some of my favorites from the second collection of the photo shoot:

There are still at least one more collection of photos from this photo shoot. Most likely two!

Alexis, Billy, Black & White, Candid Portrait, Dory, Formal Portrait, J.T., Laura, Nate

Miller Time – 2020 – Vol. 4

January 31, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett

This is the final collection of pictures from when I went to Manhattan to take pictures of the triplets near their second birthday. Chaos! That is the only way to really describe what a photo session with 3 two year-olds with their own agenda. I should have brought a photo assistant, but that certainly isn’t the easiest thing to do in a pandemic. However, in the future, I am going to try to get Alexis to come with me for all family portrait shoots. She has a great eye for the part of portrait photography that I generally fail at. Posing people. I don’t know that she will want to go on 10 hour car rides, but I’ll figure out a way to make it worth her while.

Here are the remainder of the Miller pictures:

A picture that proves sometimes, there are no rules in photography.

Hopefully we have another great photo session when they get ready to turn 3!

9 Emotions Project, Alexis, Animals, Art, Baier, Black & White, Blogging, Carla, Cousin Amy, Derrick, Drone, Elainie, Elizabeth, Faust, Flowers, Football, Formal Portrait, History, Iowa State, Jay, Jen, Jesse, Joe Duff, Johnathan, Jorge, Logan, Macro, Michelle, Mom, Nature, Photoshop, Politics, Road Trip, Sara, Scottie D., Self-Portrait, Shannon, Taylan, Teresa, Vest, Willy

Post #4,000

January 19, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

August 9, 2006. That was the date where I first took keyboard in hand and began typing out the blog that I entitled “An Artist’s Notebook”. I entitled that first post “First Journal Entry”. The categories for that first post were “Blogging”, “Contests”, “Jay”, and “Sara”.

This is the first paragraph I posted:

So here is the first journal entry. I felt like having as pretentious sounding name as possible for my journal. I have a few goals about this journal. My main goal is just to actually write in it. My second goal is to be as truthful as possible towards my true thoughts and feelings. I have another journal on another website, but it is really just a collection of sarcastic statements and cheap jabs at open faced sandwiches. This journal is meant to be about what my achievements and failures are in the world of art. What projects I am working on and what I have accomplished and what I have failed to accomplish. What I am photographing and what I am thinking about entering in photo contests. What I am thinking about. It might not always make sense. It might just be things I need to write down because they strike me as poignant or inspirational. This is in a small way an online “idea box”.

Then it goes on to talk about how I attended the Iowa State Fair Photography Salon Reception with Sara to see what two pictures had been accepted for display that year. Then I would go on to talk about how Jay had talked me into entering the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest.

The last line of the entry was simply:

I don’t want to mail it in.

While I was actually referencing the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest, it is my hope that I also didn’t choose to “mail it in” as it pertains to “An Artist’s Notebook”.

It has been 5,276 days since that first post. 5,276 days to reach this day and the 4,000th post in this blog, or “online journal” like I sometimes call it when I don’t like calling it a blog. It is hard to believe I have made it this far, for this long.

It hasn’t been necessarily smooth sailing the whole time. My website has been through a couple different servers. I have been through a couple different hosts for the blog part of the website. I have been through 4 (I think) different image hosting options in those 5,275 days. That jumping around for image hosting solutions did cause the problem that images from my posts from the first few years of this website’s existence have had to be “restored” slowly over time. So far I have semi-successfully restored all the entries though June of 2010. Which means, I still have a full year’s worth of entries left to restore. Somewhere in 2011, was when I fully made the move to my current SmugMug image hosting solution. I have unfortunately lost a few images, probably forever, mostly old phone pictures, but those old posts are as complete as they will ever be.

When I hit these milestones, I like to publish a lot of fairly meaningless stats. This one will be no different. So, here are the “An Artist’s Notebook” categories that I have used the most often:

Top 10 An Artist’s Notebook Categories

#1. Black & White – 698 Entries

#2. Flowers – 693 Entries

#3. Animals – 620 Entries

#4. Jesse – 495 Entries

#5. Portrait – 472 Entries

#6. Shannon – 421 Entries

#7. Carla – 391 Entries

#8. WPC – Submissions – 381 Entries

#9. Teresa – 364 Entries

#10. Mom – 363 Entries

Top Ten An Artist’s Notebook People Categories

#1. Jesse – 495 Entries

#2. Shannon – 421 Entries

#3. Carla – 391 Entries

#4. Teresa – 364 Entries

#5. Mom – 363 Entries

#6. Jay – 320 Entries

#7. Derrick – 295 Entries

#8. Willy – 268 Entries

#9. Vest – 258 Entries

#10. Jen – 254 Entries

Top Ten Non-People An Artist’s Notebook Categories

#1. Black & White – 698 Entries

#2. Flowers – 693 Entries

#3. Animals – 620 Entries

#4. Portrait – 472 Entries

#5. WPC – Submissions – 381 Entries

#6. Nature – 349 Entries

#7. Macro – 332 Entries

#8. Photoshop – 327 Entries

#9. Road Trip – 326 Entries

#10. Art – 314 Entries

People often ask what is the best way to improve their Photography 139 Category Score. The easiest way is to submit pictures to THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. But posing for and assisting me with photo project or photo adventures is also a very good way.

What people have a shot at cracking the Top Ten by the time we hit Post #5,000? Kim, Sara, Logan, and Micky all have a shot. But 1,000 posts is a long ways away. So anybody has a shot!

But what are the Ten Most Popular Photo Galleries in Photography 139 history? Unfortunately, I can’t answer that question. I can only process stats up to 365 days ago. However, I can tell you the Ten Most Popular Photo Galleries of the last 365 Days are.

Click on the image to peruse that gallery.

Top Ten Most Popular Photography 139 Galleries (by view) of the Last 365 Days

WEEK 209 - ARCHITECTURE - CHRISTOPHER D. BENNETT

#1. WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – YEAR 7 – 57697 Views

#2. Christopher D. Bennett – 41080 Views

#3. 9 Emotions Project – 36972 Views

#4. Taylan Howard – 2020 – 34075 Views

#5. Daisies – 26800 Views

#6. Drone – 24659 Views

#7. Weekly Photo Challenge – HOF – 24603 Views

#8. Family Happenings – 18,231 Views

#9. Alexis Pregnancy Photo Shoot – 2020 – 17057 Views

#10. Black Lives Matter – Boone – 2020 – 16160 Views

The Ten Most Popular Photography 139 Images of the Last 365 Days (by Views)

#1. 7254 Views

#2. 3153 Views

#3. 2460 Views (Photo by Logan Kahler)

#4. 2228 Views

#5. 2127 Views

#6. 2111 Views

#7. 1971 Views

#8. 1916 Views

#9. 1891 Views

#10. 1830 Views

Now the secret to the popularity of some of these images is that they are cover photos for albums, but shhhh… don’t tell anybody!

Another category of meaningless statistics, I’d like to share is what have been the most popular posts since the inception of “An Artist’s Notebook”. Although it might not be the most accurate way to judge such things, the only statistic I can use to judge this is “Comments” left on each post. That doesn’t mean emails or text messages or comments I received in person. These are comments that were left in the Comments section of each post.

Most Popular An Artist’s Notebook Entries (by Comments)

#1. The People’s Choice Round Two – 24 Comments

#2. Weekly Photo Challenge – Week 9 – Food – 22 Comments

#2. Weekly Photo Challenge – Week 43 – Sunrise/Sunset – 22 Comments

#4. Town Sign Project: Hamilton County – 21 Comments

#4. Town Sign Project: Dallas County – 21 Comments

#6. Postcard Recreation Project: Some Churches – 20 Comments

#6. Rodan139: Swede Valley Lutheran Church – 20 Comments

#8. Will History Blame Me… – 19 Comments

#9. Yo, Ya Just Get in that, You Get in that Head Space, Ya Know – 15 Comments

#9. You Can Call it a Comeback – 15 Comments

#9. Wild Goose Chase – 15 Comments

#9. Sorry Not Sorry – 15 Comments

One thing to note is that each “An Artist’s Notebook” entry has its Comments section close 30 days after being posted. Some of those still have a chance to grow, but most have been locked into place forever.

The last statistic I want to share before closing out Post #4,000 is kind of a loyalty score. To even be considered for this list, you first have to have a Photography 139 Email Subscription. The following is a statistic based on “loyalty” for lack of a better term to that service.

Top Five Most Loyal Photography 139 Subscribers

1. Michelle Haupt – 99%
2. Joe Duff – 97%
3. Shannon Bardole-Foley – 94%
4. Sara Lockner – 90%
5. Corey Faust – 89%

Thanks to everybody that has supported this adventure for 14 years, 5 months, and now 10 days!

Alexis, Black & White, Fisheye, Formal Portrait

Alexis Prego Uno

January 17, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett

A couple months back I met Alexis at McFarland Park to take some pictures of her shortly before she gave birth to Anela. While 2020 was a cesspool of terrible, I did add two great-nieces to my family. In Anela and Dahlia. Here is the first collection of Alexis pregnancy pictures:

As always, with my luck with portraits, the lighting was brutal, but yet I feel still like we did some good work. There is more of pregnant Alexis on the way. Kupono and Kanoa will even show up eventually.

Alexis, Candid Portrait, Elainie, Kupono, Nature, Road Trip, Vacation, WPC - Reminder

Loess Hills

January 8, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett 14 Comments

Back during the week of Labor Day, I took a week of vacation. I believe it was the only full week of vacation I took in 2020. One of the things I did while on vacation was take a road trip out to the Loess Hills. My ultimate destination was Preparation Canyon State Park. I think I may have entered from the wrong side, because I didn’t really find all that much there, but a few miles from the State Park, I found a beautiful Loess Hills observation deck. Here are some pictures:

If you don’t know about the Loess Hills, here is some information from the Wikipedia:

The dominant features of this landscape are “peak and saddle” topography, “razor ridges” (narrow ridges, often less than 10 feet (3 m) wide, which fall off at near ninety-degree angles on either side for 60 feet (18 m) or more), and “cat-step” terraces (caused by the constant slumping and vertical shearing of the loess soil). The soil has a characteristic yellow hue and is generally broken down into several units based on the period of deposition (Loveland, Pisgah, Peoria). Loess is known locally as “sugar clay” because it can be extremely hard when dry, but when wet, loses all cohesion. The Loess Hills of Iowa are remarkable for the depth of the drift layer, often more than 90 feet (27 m) deep. The only comparable deposits of loess to such an extent are located in Shaanxi, China.

It is a uniquely beautiful part of Iowa.

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This is your reminder that this week’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is FAMILY:

FAMILY

FAMILY! The first theme of the 8th (full) year of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE.

What defines a FAMILY photo? First, you need to define what makes a FAMILY? Is it a group of people that share the same Deoxyribonucleic Acid? Or does the definition stretch a little bit farther than what can be placed in a test tube? Is a FAMILY a group of people that have a common set of beliefs? A common set of values? A common set of goals? A common set of experiences? Or perhaps the one thing that binds a group and makes them a FAMILY is LOVE? I’m sure there are more than a few that have come from a dysfunctional FAMILY would argue that love does not define a FAMILY. And others that would argue that just because you share that double helix with somebody, doesn’t make them FAMILY at all.

Personally, I like to think that FAMILY is more than what is in the blood in your body, but is more defined by the people (sentient beings) that you would spill blood for. Yours or others.

There is a scene in one of my favorite movies (Top 100 for sure) GARDEN STATE where the main character (Andrew Largeman) is discussing the idea of home with his romantic interest (Sam). They have the following interaction:

Andrew Largeman: You know that point in your life when you realize the house you grew up in isn’t really your home anymore? All of a sudden even though you have some place where you put your shit, that idea of home is gone.

Sam: I still feel at home in my house.

Andrew Largeman: You’ll see one day when you move out it just sort of happens one day and it’s gone. You feel like you can never get it back. It’s like you feel homesick for a place that doesn’t even exist. Maybe it’s like this rite of passage, you know. You won’t ever have this feeling again until you create a new idea of home for yourself, you know, for your kids, for the family you start, it’s like a cycle or something. I don’t know, but I miss the idea of it, you know. Maybe that’s all family really is. A group of people that miss the same imaginary place.

Happy photo harvesting!

Alexis, Andy, Becky, Candid Portrait, Carla, Cathie, Dawn, Elainie, Elizabeth, Jesse, Kio, Kupono, Micky, Monica, Shannon, Tamara, WPC - Submissions

WPC – WEEK 277 – TRANSPORTATION

January 4, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett

This is the final week of the Hall of Fame THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE themes. TRANSPORTATION is a good way to end it, I suppose. 66! That is the number of weeks in a row we have hit double digit submissions! WooHoo!

But you didn’t come here to listen to me talk all tommyrot about participation rates. You came to see the submissions:

Kio Dettman

Becky Parmelee

Christopher D. Bennett

Tamara Peterson

Carla Stensland

Dawn Krause

Micky Augustin

Elizabeth Nordeen

Cathie Raley

Monica Henning

Andy Sharp

Shannon Bardole-Foley

Jesse Howard

If you want to take a look back at all the images submitted for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – HALL OF FAME, click on the link below:

Weekly Photo Challenge – HOF

But enough dwelling on the past. Time to look to the future. We are all interested in the future, for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives. And remember my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future! This week’s theme:

FAMILY

FAMILY! The first theme of the 8th (full) year of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE.

Personally, I like to think that FAMILY is more than what is in the blood in your body, but is more defined by the people (sentient beings) that you would spill blood for. Yours or others.

Andrew Largeman: You know that point in your life when you realize the house you grew up in isn’t really your home anymore? All of a sudden even though you have some place where you put your shit, that idea of home is gone.

Sam: I still feel at home in my house.

Andrew Largeman: You’ll see one day when you move out it just sort of happens one day and it’s gone. You feel like you can never get it back. It’s like you feel homesick for a place that doesn’t even exist. Maybe it’s like this rite of passage, you know. You won’t ever have this feeling again until you create a new idea of home for yourself, you know, for your kids, for the family you start, it’s like a cycle or something. I don’t know, but I miss the idea of it, you know. Maybe that’s all family really is. A group of people that miss the same imaginary place.

Sam: [cuddles up to Andrew] Maybe.

Meditate on what FAMILY means to you and take an image that shows exactly that.

Then send me you submission(s) by 11 AM next Monday. Remember, while I might consider you FAMILY, the picture has to be taken between 12:01 PM today and 11 AM next Monday. This isn’t a curate your photos project. This is a get your butt off the couch (unless you are taking your picture from the couch) and take pictures challenge.

You can send your images to either bennett@photography139.com OR you may text them to my Pixel 5.

That is all I got, so if the good Lord’s willin’ and the creek don’t rise, we will all be sharing our idea of FAMILY in this not quite imaginary, but not quite real place next Monday.

Alexis, Black & White, Calendar, Formal Portrait, Johnathan, Kanoa, Lensbaby, Nature, Photoshop

Kanoa at 1!

December 20, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

The January image of the 2021 Photography 139 Calendar was taken in lower Ledges. It was taken on January 4, 2020. It was taken shortly after a recent snow fall. One sad part about the printed version of this picture in the calendar is that the picnic table gets cut off where the pages are bound.

Here are some of the details of the picture:

DETAILS

CAMERA: SONY ILCA-77M2
LENS: DT 18-135mm f3.5-5.6 SAM
FOCAL LENGTH: 20mm (30mm in 35mm)
APERTURE: f/6.3
EXPOSURE: 1/250
ISO: 100
LATITUDE: 41.99793
LONGITUDE: -93.88033

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Back in August at Kanoa’s Birthday Party he also “posed” for some more formal portraits. Here are some of my favorites:

You’d be surprised to know how much Photoshop was used on this picture to remove Johnathan.

If you want to peruse the rest of the Kanoa pictures, click on the link below:

Kanoa – 1 Year Old

Not getting to see Kanoa very much is just one of the many things that suck about this mismanaged pandemic. But hopefully I’ll get to see him more in 2021.

Alexis, Birthdays, Brandon, Elainie, Flowers, Frank, Johnathan, Logan, Macro, Mom, Russ, Teresa, WPC - Reminder

On the Rocks

December 4, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

I need to start the day by wishing a couple people a happy birthday. I need to start with my nephew Brandon. Happy birthday Brandon!

I hope your birthday is as amazing as you want it to be!

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It is also Frank’s birthday. Frank was instrumental in getting this website up and going. Its first home was the webserver living in his basement. He helped get it set up originally and hosted it for free and helped with the domain registration. I don’t think I’ve seen Frank since the pandemic started, and that really sucks. Happy birthday Frank!

I hope your birthday was as amazing as you want it to be!

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I started my freezing flowers in blocks of ice with your standard daisy. But I thought I would try some flowers with more color. So next I tried Brown-eyed Susans and Zinnias.

I wasn’t done playing with this idea still. So there are more ice block flower pictures yet to be curated.

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This is your reminder that this week’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is FOOD:

FOOD

A FOOD photo is any image of FOOD or people eating FOOD or ingredients to make FOOD or people preparing FOOD or people cleaning up after eating FOOD.

Happy photo harvesting!

Alexis, Anders, Andree, Andy, Baier, Becca, Bethany, Bill, Billy, Brandon, Carla, Colleen, Derrick, Elainie, Flat Earth Joe, Holidays, J.T., Jason, Jay, Jen, Jesse, Johnathan, Jonah, Jorge, Kio, Logan, Michelle, Micky, Mom, Nader, Naima, Nate, Nora, Scottie D., Shannon, Teresa, Vest, Willy

Blessings 2020

November 26, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

Let’s face it. 2020 has been a terrible year. I could spend hours and hours polishing this turd, but a turd is still a turd.

I basically only see 2 other people on a regular basis right now. Willy and I haven’t held a Friday Night Supper Club since March 13. We went to Jimmy’s for their Friday the 13th sale. I can count on one hand the amount of times I’ve seen any of my nieces and nephews this year. I’ve been able to hold a couple of Union Street Theater Nights in the reconfigured Union Street Theater, but it isn’t really the same. The masks and the sound of the air purifiers makes conversation a little difficult and food is definitely a missing element. Since March, the only stores I have been inside are the Boone Wal-Mart and Boone Hardware. I go to Hy-Vee every other week. I’ve seen Bethany twice. Nate and Laura once. Becca, not at all. I haven’t seen the Lockners at all. I’ve seen the Gorshes thrice. I run into Willy around town now and again. Jay stops by here and there to work on his homework. I see Jesse now and again. I haven’t met Kalista’s baby. Baier, Russell, Andree? Distant memories. Since I left the Computer Mine with the belief that I would be working from home for a few weeks, the only co-workers of note that I’ve seen in person are Vest, Lowell, Kim, and Elizabeth. I haven’t met Jorge’s twins. My church has had maybe a dozen worship services and those are suspended again. The Mission Trip is cancelled. There will be no Mission Trip next year. Youth Group has been put on hold indefinitely. For the first time since September 18, 2004, they played football games at Jack Trice Stadium and I wasn’t in attendance. The Cyclones Women’s Basketball Season just tipped off. I wasn’t there. I will most likely, not be able to attend any Cyclones Men’s games this year.

All of that being said, 2020 has still been an embarrassment of blessings for me. In a time where the pandemic was horribly mismanaged by an inept and corrupt federal government, causing employment rates to go through the roof and food insecurity and evictions to sweep across the country like a second plague, I have not had to worry about my job. As these pandemic pounds can attest, I haven’t once had to worry about my next meal. I was in a solid enough financial position that when the $1200 dollar stimulus check hit my bank account I wasn’t sure what to do with it. We were supposed to put it where it would do the most good, so I donated some of it to Joe Biden’s campaign.

While the only people I see on a regular basis are Mom and Teresa. I am still blessed with a pretty incredible family:

While I see them rarely, I still have a pretty incredible set of friends:

While we don’t get to worship an awesome God together right now, I still have a pretty incredible church family:

While I continue to work at home, I still talk to and try to stay in contact with my amazing work family:

And while Naima is becoming off the charts spoiled, I’m blessed to have her in my life as well:

I hope to see so much more of all of you in 2021. In fact, I’ve started to compile a list of things that I look forward to doing when this pandemic subsides. It isn’t a glamorous list. But that is a sign of 2020.