On New Year’s Eve in 2014, my little girl and I found ourselves waiting in the emergency room. I watched her crawl back and forth on the crinkly paper she tore and then wanted to tear it more. We repeated this dance over and over again while I sighed each time as I picked her up and then put her wiggly little body back down. Even as she strained to breathe, she wouldn’t stop moving. But alas, we started a new tradition.

It was the first time I understood that Christmas time at the doctor meant flu, cold, RSV, and you-name-it-disease visits. Her pediatrician’s office is exactly where my daughter caught her first bout of RSV—and, well, we found ourselves at 7 PM New Year’s Eve, just a little past her bedtime, at the emergency room for some breathing treatments.

After a few sleepless nights, we greeted 2015 with a new zeal for life and gratitude despite our only hiccup in health. This is why I’m spending time, early this year in 2023, welcoming the new year with covid. Seems appropriate, right?

Last year we had the flu, and in welcoming 2021, we had nothing. Why? We didn’t see anyone. This cycle of receiving the new year with a new communicable disease is an established tradition that we await with open arms, kleenex, and cough drops. Well, maybe not open arms, but with some hand sanitizer and optimism. Sickness, however, reminds me of what I’m genuinely thankful for and how good we’ve it.

Here’s to the friends who message “are you okays” and “how are you feelings.”

Here’s to Disney plus, board games, books, and a lot of jokes.

Here’s to, yet again, Kleenex, honey cough drops, chamomile tea, and every Mexican mom’s trusted Vaporub container.

Here’s to warm blankets, my favorite water bottle, and chicken noodle soup with oregano and fideo noodles.

Here’s to the community that steps in when they know you’re not feeling the best.

Because even though “Cheers!” in Spanish is “¡Salud!” which translated again means “To good health!”, what I’ve come to find out is we’ll do our best when illnesses strike.

Good health has so many different meanings—good community, friends, an unyielding support system, and access to the little things that keep us living and thriving.

Here’s to the new year—that you and I may find the meaning to good health means simply being thankful for what we’ve got.

This post is part of a blog hop with Exhale—an online community of women pursuing creativity alongside motherhood, led by the writing team behind Coffee + Crumbs. Click here to view the next post in the series "Cheers!".