Barraged with daily headlines full of fear and tragedy, it’s time to refocus and center ourselves with the good that has happened and the resulting long term effects. Here are a few things Medina residents and local sponsors have shared with LocalTies. ENJOY!
Matt, Britt and Autumn Joy Plec
We were fortunate to find our dream home in Medina this year, feeling grateful for being a part of this wonderful community for years to come!
Jennifer Bell
Having two toddlers at home, we spent most of the spring, summer and fall enjoying our local parks and playgrounds. Grateful to our community for creating these spaces for us to explore.
Akruti Narayana
Kelsey & Andy Wiechman
Our family has been fortunate to have had many wonderful memories in 2020. Here have been our favorites:
- Over Easter weekend in April (early into the Governor’s Stay at Home Order) we coordinated a socially-distant, contactless, egg hunt for the neighborhood kids to keep spirits up. We hid eggs around the park and awarded the winners with gift cards from local businesses. It was fun to watch everyone’s excitement while participating.
- Over the summer, we got to explore new local parks and founds some hidden gems we are sure to return to next summer.
- We had more opportunities to spend quality time at our family cabin than we’ve had in the past few summers.
- We found new and creative ways to connect with friends and family through virtual hangouts and game nights. Zoom, Messenger Kids, MarcoPolo, HouseParty, WeChat, and Tiktok now have a special place in our hearts.
Despite the stressful experience it has been, we’ve tried to stay hopeful and reflect upon the bright moments when they come.
Bryan Keeler, Lakeside Wine + Spirits
This is what we see.
Lakeside’s contribution to this would be watching the community come together to help others as best we all can. Of course everyone’s head is spinning around like a yoyo with so much extra to do and possible money issues, but we all still have to look out for one another. The liquor store will be fine because of increased sales, but we know our role is to help, create calm, and listen. Whether it’s picking up a lost wallet in the parking lot, turning away a sale to someone already intoxicated, listening to crazy covid stories, talking about staying home worries, mask wearing debates, intervening during a political yelling match, or just smiling and saying how are you today, we have seen people step up and try to help in different ways. We encourage our staff to help and hopefully the store overall helps anyway we are able.
This might be a jumble of words as my head is full of things, but that’s our positive in this time.
Diana King
A positive light in the crazy year of 2020, is moving into the Hamel/Medina area. We are so fortunate to have joined and now belong to this great community. Our family is blessed and happy.
Samy Karun
My name is “Samyuktha Karun” (Samy for short). Today I’m going to be talking about “good things about Covid-19”. I know Covid-19 is bad because it is killing a lot of innocent people. But is it fully bad? No, it is not. So let’s talk about positive things about Covid-19.
First, we all get to stay at home with our families instead of rushing somewhere, like commuting to work or going on a business trip. We can all stay at home and be together. Second, we get things delivered instead of driving to buy them. We can get toys, clothes, food, etc all using “home delivery.” You can just sit at home for a while until it comes. Finally, you don’t have to leave your pet alone at home while going on a long vacation. If you have any pets and you go on a vacation, ‘poor pet.’ 🙁 Because of Covid-19, most airplanes are not flying, so you don’t have to leave your pet anywhere.
🙂
Samy Karun
4th grade
Greenwood Elementary
Lynda Wachholtz, Cornerstone Assisted Living & Memory Care
A resident’s family called and asked if they could drop off a hot mocha from Caribou for him and have it delivered promptly. I joked that, yes, they could do that but there were no guarantees it would get to him if I was delivering it! We all had a laugh until they arrived with 2 mochas in hand – 1 for him and 1 for me – then my laughter turned literally to tears over the simple kindness they shared with me. The pandemic has been hard on all – and certainly very difficult for the dear seniors and their families that entrust us to care for their loved ones. This delivery reminded me why we do what we do each and every day – to make a difference in the life of another. This family certainly did that for me in that moment – a moment I will cherish.
Niya Maganti
Indoor hopscotch and unicorn artwork, anything to keep us engaged during the lockdown!!!
Kathy & Chris Larson
Our family found many positives in the form of exploring our local parks (Gale Woods Farm, Lake Rebecca, the Dakota bike trail), Road trips to Bayfield WI and even through the Dakotas to Glacier National Park in Montana. A return to less hurried simpler times out in nature was an unexpected gift!
Joel Morehouse
The closure of restaurants, bars and other businesses has forced us to save money and spend more time exploring the outdoors. We spent a record amount of time in our local nature preserve – it was the perfect location to get engaged.
Chris Pederson
I feel humbled by the many positive lights 2020 has shined on my life like spending more time outdoors with my family and friends camping, swimming at my parents and going to the park. I am extremely grateful for the 2 months of bonus time I was able to spend away from my day job and full time with my young children, Lexi and Phoenix thanks to help from my family and especially my brother, Jon. I am also happy to have had the stars align in a way to have built a loving relationship with an old acquaintance who has now become just like family. Lastly, one of the brightest lights of all has been a special person who has been in our childrens’ lives since they were born but due to the pandemic is shining closer and brighter than ever; a beautiful, selfless sun helping grow the most precious pieces of our lives.
Anne Morehouse
With limited in-person meetings and events cancelled, I found myself with time to cross off my bucket list one thing I’ve always wanted to do. I’ve fostered many dogs, but in August I picked up a pregnant rescue dog who had just arrived at Secondhand Hounds in Minnetonka from a reservation in South Dakota. For the next five weeks we watched Roxie grow until on Friday, September 25 she delivered 11 healthy puppies. I learned a lot about puppy development as we carefully charted their growth, adjusting their living space accordingly. These little beings each came into their own, every one of them with their own unique personality and together they were beyond adorable. When the puppies were eight weeks old it was time to say goodbye as they joined their forever families, including mama Roxie who was adopted by one of my long time best friends. A pandemic and a crazy election was the perfect time to be reminded of the wonders of birth and the beauty of love.
