2020 Recap

Cami and Mommy celebrating a socially distanced New Year's Eve - 2020

Dear 2020,

    I posted nothing in 2020. I lost some things. Thankfully I didn't lose anything irreplaceable, but I did lose time. I lost races. I lost mojo. I lost money. I lost parties, family time, and social interaction. The word "unprecedented" was worn out by April.

    But I didn't lose my health. I didn't lose my family or my job (in fact, I took on extra jobs). I didn't lose my business, my parents, my husband, my children, or my own life.

    I read the entire Bible - cover to cover. I gained faith even though I set foot inside my church less than ten times all year. I honed my ability to not just find the silver lining but to live there. I thanked my creator for the unique combination of genes that has made me so damn easy-going.

    The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 was something I watched with a growing sense of dread as I listened to my morning NPR briefing spit out the numbers of cases and deaths in China as the outbreak grew. There was so much unknown about how the disease was spread that when it really hit the states, we just shut down. In hindsight, it was more draconian than was necessary but there was no possible way to know that at the time.  We stayed home for two solid weeks in March. I was off work for nearly two weeks followed by another 8 weeks of working only half my normal hours. My God-sent generous boss found a way to pay his staff through the whole ordeal, a thing for which no words or actions can ever fully articulate my gratitude. While neighbors and friends became unemployed, others took advantage of the government relief to find themselves in a better financial position than they had ever experienced before. 

    

    Angel Wings got slow for a month, which I welcomed. Then it boomed, providing additional financial support in a very uncertain time. The weather was blessedly cooperative when my clients called and I saw so many beautiful goodbyes happen completely outdoors.

    The summer was relatively quiet. We played cards with the neighbors outside in the evenings. The kids played in our yards with the neighbor kids. We laid the foundations of friendships that I hope we will continue to build for years to come.

    We changed our vacation plans to include rural cabins instead of crowded beaches. In September, I gained a stay-at-home-dad husband. His dedication to his children trumped his frustration with his job. The scales tipped. In order to protect our family to the fullest extent possible, he gave a huge part of himself. In what I can only possibly classify as the divine intercession of the Holy Spirit, less than 24 hours after my husband quit his job, I was offered per-diem work at a local ER that would replace the income lost by his resignation from his job. There was only one word to explain it: PROVIDENCE. Look it up. Say, "Amen."

    School started. The kids had in-person instruction. There were lots of mitigation strategies and school was not normal by any means, but they went and they learned. Things started to come undone around Halloween. People got complacent. They became arrogant. Halloween parties thrown by grown-ass adults led to the quarantine of hundreds of students when people from the party tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. By Thanksgiving, the kids were in school 100% virtually (ie: at home). Joe became a full-time stay-at-home-dad AND teaching aide. Thanksgiving saw more groups gathering in spite of warnings from public health officials. Early December shows hospitals "on the brink" but no one seems to care. Until it's you or your family member who can't find care, it won't hit home. I hope no one has to experience that. People are over it. Unfortunately, the virus doesn't get "over it". It just spreads. Case numbers are higher in late December here in PA than they have ever been so far. On the bright side, we now know what sorts of mitigation strategies are helpful. We know that fomites aren't a big deal and short duration contacts are less risky. Angel Wings visits average less than 20 minutes of time inside the home - with all parties masked and providing as much distance as possible. I've not caught covid-19 yet. As of my last blood donation in November, I'm still "covid antibody-negative".

    The presidential election and following election drama was a complete shit-show.

    SARS-Co-V vaccines hit the US. I can think of a handful of friends who have received the vaccine. There's optimistic talk of the broad rollout of vaccines but it hasn't happened yet. Logistical issues abound. Promises of millions being vaccinated go unfulfilled. I say this in jest but also with some truth: there need to be more veterinarians in public health.     

☃️❤️The kids got to build a snowman ❤️☃️

❄️❄️❄️WE HAD A WHITE CHRISTMAS!!! ❄️❄️❄️

Overall, 2020 could have been worse. Don't get me wrong, it definitely could have been better too.

Onward.