COVID-19 in so many ways has been a series of hurdles. You successfully jump one, and then the next one appears. Yet, when I look back at the year's photos, I can say we've jumped a lot of hurdles and have some good times to show for it.
It has been almost one year since COVID-19 began to be a real challenge for all of us. I thought it would last a few months, and then we'd be back to normal, but now I realize we'll never truly be back to normal as we knew it--the pandemic has somewhat changed the way we live forever. Yet, I hope we can regain some of the life we used to know--a life that gives us more liberty to socialize freely as we did in the past
A walk through the year's photo timeline includes the following highpoints:
- cooking and baking - lots of new recipes and improved skill
- gardening
- imagninative celebrations - far more intimate
- outdoor adventures and sightseeing
- picnics and outdoor entertaining
- road trips to see a couple of loved ones (not as good as a pre-pandemic roadtrip, but a chance to say hello to a few people we love and really wanted to see)
- writing, drawing, research
- learning all about pandemics, science
- election ups and downs
- greater online connections
- some crafting
- more time with loved ones in intimate ways--no big crowds
The last two celebrations we had before the pandemic struck were my dad's 90th birthday celebration and my daughter-in-law-to-be's wedding shower.
The latest hurdle to surmount is a family illness. A family member recently became ill, and this is the first main illness our immediate family has experienced during the past year. We've been lucky, and now as we face the strict COVID-19 measures that go along with an illness, I realize even more how challenging this pandemic has been for those who faced family illness or even death during this time--it's bad enough to have a sick family member, but even worse when you can't visit them as you would in the past. Yet, as we've done so far, we'll continue to do what we can and make the most of this pandemic chapter.
Last year right about this time, I was setting up my home office to teach virtually. With my colleagues, I had a good-as-could-be spring semester of school in 2020, but then decided to retire in July since I didn't think the return-to-school plans were safe enough for me. I also wanted more time to help out some family members. I was also starting my garden plans, and I'll likely begin those plans soon once again.
So what will this next chapter of the journey include--where are we headed at this pass.
Today, I'll sign up for the vaccine hopefully since I fall into the new group that's allowed to sign up. That's hopeful. I'd also like to reinvest in outdoor adventure since that's positive in so many ways, and as I've done in the past many months I'll renew my commitment to family as that has been my main work during the pandemic. I've been helping out in ways that I can.
I expect that I'll return to work in the months ahead which I look forward too. I'm not exactly sure of the specific nature of the job I'll take, but I've been researching that, and there are many interesting opportunities out there.
There's a few wonderful celebrations to look forward to, and hopefully soon we can embrace that planning with the confidence that we can enjoy those events with some of the same joy and freedom we celebrated with in the past. Onward.