New Year’s Eve has always been a big deal for Bob and me. It’s the start of another trip around the sun and the eve of our wedding anniversary and his birthday.

We welcomed 2020 at a gala event at the Mayan Palace and looked forward to another year of fun and friends in Rocky Point. For New Year’s Eve 2021, the options were few, but we made our reservation early for a special event at Infusion at Laguna Shores Resort.

Most folks say they are glad to have 2020 in their rearview mirror, but some wonderful things happened as we all suffered through the fear and confinement and restrictions. We watched organizations and individuals all over town find ways to help those less fortunate.

Driving by Family of God Church around the lunch hour brought tears to my eyes. People without work and without means were lined up down the block, six feet apart with masks in the heat of the day, to accept a sack lunch. It took many volunteers and generous donations to make that service possible. The church was not open for worship, but they were there for God’s people in need, as were other Peñasco churches.

Restaurants put together meals for poor. Volunteers drove through town looking for red flags on homes which signaled they were in need of food, medicine or money for utilities. Service organizations created soup kitchens and collected donations outside of the grocery stores to help others.

Many thought the city’s Covid-19 restrictions were over the top; but you can’t fault the results. Because they shut down the roads into Peñasco, put up the sanitation stations, enforced the curfew and mask requirements, the infection rate here was way below the norm for cities our size.

It was a tough year, but it gave all of us a chance to examine what is really important in life – family, friends, faith and freedom. So “Salud” to you and those you love in 2021.

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Photo by Anthony DELANOIX on Unsplash

To a healthy and happy, new year, beside the Sea of Cortez.