First off, I hope you all were able to enjoy the holidays.

I saw my parents and enjoyed an equal amount of calm visiting time and marathon laughing sessions. My folks have just discovered Ozzy Man Reviews on YouTube, and the three of us spent Christmas afternoon laughing at his commentary on pretty much everything.

My boyfriend saw his family and then we reunited on Dec. 26th. Typically a few days away doesn’t bother me, but by Christmas night – the night before we were both going to head back to Columbus and see each other again – I was starting to miss him. And Marina, even though I know she takes several naps during the day and only gets up to eat and get some water.

Now that the holidays are over, and 2021 is almost here, it’s time for me to get on with today’s post, which includes my grandma and the late Anna Nicole Smith.

Onwards …

My grandma is a terrible influence. Or maybe she’s an awesome one. I’ll let you decide that for yourselves.

She introduced me to MadTV, with the first sketch being Stuart at his birthday party. I don’t think my mom got mad, but I don’t think she was one hundred percent thrilled that her 11-year-old was watching MadTV. Grandma gave me a VHS of that episode (early 2000s all the way) and I used to watch it regularly once I got home from school. Half of the gags went over my head, but there was still an element of fun to the show.

Around the same time I was introduced to MadTV, there was also The Anna Nicole Show. I don’t remember a ton of specific parts of that show, but my overall impression was that Anna Nicole and her assistants/friends were delightfully weird. They seemed to do a lot of partying and Anna Nicole was into all things pink and frilly.

My other lasting Anna Nicole memory came from those TrimSpa commercials, and then her tragic early death in 2007.

Then in 2016, we started talking about her at OldJob. I went on a great Internet search of all things Anna Nicole and wound up falling down the rabbit hole – literally. I stumbled across the Playboy cover and her Guess spread; early interviews when her late son Daniel was pretty young; clips from The Anna Nicole Show; and those terrible interviews the primetime celebrity sleaze shows couldn’t wait to feature the latest interview with her unnerving attorney/handler.

For the record, after the great paternity debacle over her daughter Dannielynn, I’m glad the attorney is not Dannielynn’s father. We all know the attorney would have turned Dannielynn into a cash cow if she were his kid and would have possibly met a fate like Anna Nicole’s.

BuzzFeed had an article about her greatest one-liners from The Anna Nicole Show. Most of them were goofy, but she did have a profound one in there: “Shit happens, and you live.” And if anyone knew a thing or two about shit happening, it would have been Anna Nicole.

I’d be willing to bet most if not all of us have been feeling that way through 2020. The way 2020 turned out in my own life wasn’t surprising, but it has been disappointing. It’s been a constant battle to remain mentally strong and solid, and to keep calm and carry on, to use another famous rallying cry. Shit has indeed happened to all of us, and one of the ways to keep faith and keep going is remember that second part of Anna’s observation about disappointments: “… and you live.”

To be honest with you all, I’m kinda burnt out on talking about how 2020 has been disappointing and weird. It happened, it’s over and come Friday morning it will be a brand new year. If 2020 was a setback, who says 2021 can’t be a nontraditional comeback?

I don’t think we’re out of the woods with the pandemic, but I’m not letting anything stop me from rebuilding and living in 2021. It’s only over once we’re dead and I haven’t gone toes up yet. So I’m ending all 2020 talk and reflections with this: we’re all going to live. Even when it doesn’t feel like it.

Wishing you strength and grit,

Allison