My first journal entries speak of looking forward to the roaring ’20’s and my excitement at the thought of the resurrection of speak easy style bars and 1920’s fashion.
January and February are always my doctor appointment months so I took care of all of that business. I also watched a fair amount of cleaning vlogs so spent a lot of time cleaning. It was totally worth the effort because the house looked great.
By March I was ready to start spring cleaning, and I started in the kitchen area like I always do. I was working on cleaning the cabinet tops when word started to spread about the pandemic.
I remember running to the Dollar General for something and a man in line in front of me made a big deal about grabbing the last bottles of hand sanitizer. I had no idea what he was doing. It didn’t take long for me to find out and to be glad my daughters are Bath & Body Works shoppers and had huge stashes of hand sanitizers.
Before I knew it I was hoarding canned goods and toilet paper and half filled with fear and confusion like everyone else.
Flatten the curve, they said. We followed orders and stayed inside, half afraid to breathe the outdoor air. We hunkered down. Well, most people did. Everyone in my family are ‘essential’ so I was home holding down the fort and disinfecting everything when they came home. Shoes were left on the porch. Strip down to your undies as soon as you come in and take a shower. It was nuts. That’s how we lived. We worried and wondered and sprayed Lysol if we could find it.
By April I needed a distraction so decided to start Christmas shopping for my grandchildren while items from China (toys) were still available because certainly we would halt imports from them. Well, that never happened.
In May I started thinking about 2021 and ordered a planner and started buying planner stickers for the good days that were to come. I had to focus on something else besides what was happening.
In June I started my spring cleaning which I had initially started in March and which was rudely interrupted by the pandemic. I did not have the same enthusiasm I’d had in March.
By August I was buying stuffed animals for myself as a comfort and coping tool. They helped.
We started remodeling the bathroom and painted the kitchen in August and September. The added chaos to my life was such a treat but the final results were awesome and the highlight of my year.
In September we planned an engagement party for our daughter and future son-in-law, following social distancing guidelines. It was held in our back yard in early October with plenty of open space and bottles of hand sanitizer at every table. We kept the guest list small.
By mid October I was all set for Christmas since I had started so early. I was anxiously looking forward to 2021 and a new beginning.
November and December were spent with my daughters waiting for symptoms since they work in the medical field and several co workers had tested positive for COVID. By Christmas one had tested positive and the other had 3 negative results. It finally got us. Thank goodness everyone is fine now.
For months I was focusing on January 1st. I needed that new beginning.
So here we are.
I am truly hoping ‘normal’ returns and we can start truly living our lives again. I am also hoping my planner and journal are filled with happy and fun things to look back on when we reach January 2022.