Wrapping Up 2020

Charles Dickens could not have summarized my experience in 2020 any better, from A Tale of Two Cities: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."

For me, this was a year of many firsts, many of which I hope will soon be lasts. 

• the first time I ever virtually attended church
• my first Zoom meeting (although I did do Google hangouts for classes a couple of years ago)
• my first grocery home delivery (but not my first grocery pickup -- I did that one a couple of years ago)
• building my first seriously-considered emergency pantry, with enough to weather 6 months, if necessary
• the first time all four of us have been at home together, daily, for months on end 
• my first Mother's Day without my son present
• our first July Easter egg hunt
• my first time wearing a mask to go someplace and having the rest of my community staring back at me from behind their own masks
• our first Thanksgiving al fresco, in rain and cold
• our first garage Christmas brunch and dinner
• the first time I completely shopped online for a year's worth of birthday and holiday gifts
• the first year I missed the great clearance sales after all of the holidays

Some of the happenings from this past year were the best of times, such as: 

• spending an abundance of time with both of my daughters during a period in their lives when they might otherwise be occupied, 
• having more daytime conversations with my husband
• establishing a more regular correspondence with my son and daughter-in-law
• getting on track with my exercise routine enough that I stayed with it even through December
• not fussing about my appearance as we weren't going anywhere
• eating all of our food prepared in our own home 
• spending more time outdoors 
• spending more time reading
• more time to study scripture
• reconnecting with a church from my childhood and having two worship services to watch each Sunday and two mid-week group studies to follow
• learning new technologies
• walking in the next neighborhood over from my home, daily, and seeing their holiday decor -- 4th of July, Halloween/autumn, Christmas
• re-learning the art of written correspondence (sending cards and notes to distant friends and family)

And some of the happenings from this past year were the worst of times, such as:

• our vacuum died and we went without a vacuum for 5 months, because I had to evaluate replacements completely online (we did have a stick-vac for hard flooring as a back-up, but it just didn't get the carpet very clean)
• running out of yeast and white flour then having to make-do for several months; but at least we weren't among the many who couldn't find bathroom tissue (bread we can do without, toilet paper not so much)
• about the same time as I ran out of yeast, discovering bugs in my cornmeal, necessitating throwing away about 5 pounds of grains
• not seeing my church family, good friends, and extended family in-person at all for 10 months -- this has been especially hard for me
• having to put an interview to volunteer in a local art museum on hold, indefinitely, while the pandemic rages
• illness in the spring which left me exhausted and brain-fogged
• not taking a vacation or a day-outing in a year, although in summer I did go down to the beach occasionally for an hour at a time
• our only car's battery died in March, we ended up buying a year's subscription to AAA
• later, same only car got a flat tire and the jack wasn't working, at least we had AAA at this point
• we had a minor gas leak in our house -- of course, this was late at night; these things always happen late at night
• these last three things could have happened during a non-pandemic year, but they were made worse by not wanting to have repair people in our house/property

All of the above were merely trials and inconveniences. Sadly, we also lost a family member this past year, a cousin of my husband. My heart has broken for her husband and two daughters. The lesson for me in their loss is that no matter how difficult our own circumstances are, there is always someone else who has suffered more profoundly.

This sounds like such a downer on which to end this post. However, I know that this family member would tell us all to live our lives like we've never lived before. There's that famous quote (often inscribed on knick-knacks and placards for the home) from professor and author William W. Purkey: "You've gotta dance like there's nobody watching, love like you'll never be hurt, sing like there's nobody listening, and live like it's heaven on earth." I'll take Purkey's sentiments to heart as I take on 2021, living my life as it's never been lived before.

How about you? Did you have many firsts in this past year? And how many of them do you hope will also be lasts? Do you have good takeaways as well as bad from 2020?