“Have you ever experienced a natural disaster or crisis situation?”
It was New Year’s Eve and we were spending it with our daughter in Naperville. She dealt the first round of “conversation” cards.
The Hygge Game is more of a conversation starter than a pursuit of victory. You can’t “win,” but you can enjoy a thoughtful evening.
Each participant is dealt a card with three topics of discussion.
Disaster? My husband and I pause for a few seconds and then realize, yes, we have experienced multiple disasters.
We drove through a wildfire in Florida. We dodged a tornado in Kansas. An upstairs aquarium burst, sending gallons of water down through the kitchen chandelier.
Crisis situation? Yes, many in just the past few years, and they were so much worse than the disasters.
We got through 9/11.
We got through COVID.
We got through a tumultuous presidential election.
And we survived the Jan. 6 insurrection, although a new crisis has emerged in the House of Representatives that many are calling a continuation of that attempted coup.
Disasters are unexpected events that require reaction; crises are situations in which a decision can determine the outcome.
Both can come up suddenly, taking people by surprise. And both never truly go away. They hang in your fight-or-flight pocket, their very memory eliciting stress hormones and near nervous breakdowns. They remind us to be careful, to be alert, to be prepared and to be grateful.
The attempted takeover of our government two years ago this week still makes my heart pound and my palms sweat.
Like millions of Americans, I watched the events unfold on television. It was a horrific ending to what had been a difficult reign. People were hurt, people died, property was destroyed, laws were broken, and it could have been so much worse.
Regardless of your political leanings, what happened that day was wrong. It was criminal. It was a crisis that had the potential to become an even bigger disaster.
I am grateful the terrorists did not win.
It’s good to recognize that gratitude and to remind yourself of it. It is healthy to find something good in the wreckage of a something so bad.
We continued our “game,” chatting on various prompted topics – parenting, cosmetics, the best TV show of all time.
We had the television on as well, so we could watch countries around the world reach their midnight and celebrate the start of their new year. But my mind kept wandering back to that very first topic.
Disaster. Crisis. Survival.
As flawed as this nation may be, I am grateful it exists and that it survived such a close call. I hope it can get through this new crisis.
I am grateful for the courage of good leaders who righted our listing ship. If one good thing came of the political chaos and social divisiveness caused by the last administration, it would have to be that so many once disaffected or distracted citizens are now tuned in, paying close attention and doing their part to protect this nation. For that I am grateful.
I usually spend New Year’s Eve making a list of goals. But this time, on the drive home, a few hours before our midnight, I switched it up.
Of course, I still have wants for my future – to travel, to extend the garden, to see more of my grandchildren and to write with purpose. But there is merit, therapy perhaps, in acknowledging what you already have.
Some say gratitude is the way to inner peace, that it is an antidote to narcissism, that it makes us conscious of the things we take for granted, and that it can minimize the pain of struggle while maximizing the joy of success.
More than all of that, I felt it was my duty to at least recognize all that I have been given, all that I have enjoyed, and all for which I am thankful.
The list is long and varied. I am grateful for my husband, for children, grandchildren, sisters and cousins. I am grateful for dogs and books and gardens and a career that has compelled me to think, question, wonder and share.
And I am grateful for the real-life heroes whose courage and determination to pursue fairness, to protect against tyranny and to fight evil saved our democracy two years ago and continue to inspire us all to be better.
This nation has problems. It has made many mistakes. It is often at the mercy of those in charge. But as long as it exists, hope exists. Hope to make things better, fairer.
On Jan. 6, 2021, we came close to losing that hope.
I am so grateful we didn’t and that this week we remember a crisis that had the potential to become a full-blown disaster.
Donna Vickroy is an award-winning reporter, editor and columnist who worked for the Daily Southtown for 38 years.
