Now more than a year without so much as a glance at airline seat sales, let alone the feeling of waking up jetlagged in a foreign country, there are early glimmers of hope for traveling in 2021. It is likely that traveling for me, this year, will be about reuniting with family out east, some western Canadian road trip adventures, and maybe, just maybe, a flight to a Canadian city later this year for some big city fun (eating in restaurants! going to bars!). Something holding me over until safer days ahead, and something that helped me hold it together in 2020, was the simple pleasure of hanging out on my back deck.

In the early pandemic days of 2020, my deck became a bit of an escape…an oasis really. A place for my wife and I to separate from our suddenly home office-focused work weeks.

Whether enjoying the warm April days, or having to bundle up against a wintery blast in early May, the fresh air and mental escape I was seeking was always there, just on the other side of the doors off my kitchen.

Nights on my deck became a welcome escape. When we first bought our house a few years ago, one of the first purchases I made was a few strings of lights to drape along the railings and pergola. I had no idea back then the joy these simple lights would give me. As the sun set on spring, summer and fall nights in 2020, I loved just looking at the lights as they slowly illuminated what was becoming my favourite place in the world.

A glass of bourbon, a delicious craft beer (usually from Saskatchewan, but on a splurge, I ordered up a couple of cases of beer from Nova Scotia to help me with the growing realization that I wasn’t going to be able to set foot back in Atlantic Canada in 2020), a cocktail or glass of wine was usually close by for sipping. With visiting my favourite local bars out of the question for me, my deck became my new favourite bar. The times friends were over for a socially distant drink were some of my favourite memories of 2020. Those conversations over wine that continued well into the night reminded me how the simple things in life can be the best things in life.

Even sitting alone, there was no loss of pleasures to be had over the summer and fall in the fresh air. While the skies weren’t as busy due to the pandemic, I enjoyed plane spotting and wondering what it would be like to be on the flights that crossed the sky above me like this one from Los Angeles to Frankfurt.

While the monotony of the days of 2020 passed, my back deck became the place I enjoyed so many of the other things I love. It was an outdoor vantage point for live music from around the country, the delayed baseball season, and a rejuvenated passion for reading. Simply put, everything was better “out back” in 2020.

As summer progressed into fall, the cooler temperatures didn’t keep me from enjoying the tranquility of my deck. It just made me move the heater a bit closer and bundle up to keep the chill at bay as I got my needed dose of fresh air.

This deck, only 10 steps from my kitchen, provided a mindset that felt like being thousands of kilometres away. I’m thankful for what this space provided me in 2020 and am already enjoying it as the snow melts around me in 2021. Here’s to another year under beautiful Saskatchewan skies and to more travel coming back into my life in 2021.