Here we are. December 1st of 2020.
I find myself still trying to wrap my head around what has happened this year. It all started out on the up and up. We shouted happy new year, toasted with our sparkling grape juice and went to bed highly anticipating a great year ahead.
January passed by in the usual blur. Cold weather. A few snow flakes. Recovering from one too many holiday cookies. February came in quietly. The weather was wet but uneventful. March seemed like it was going to be a mirror of February. And then…it hit!!
BOOM!!! Covid 19 was everywhere!! Suddenly, schools are shutting down, masks are mandatory and you can’t get a decent bite to eat unless you cook it yourself or hope your favorite restaurant offers carry out or delivery!! What we all assumed would last a few weeks, a month tops, stretched its fingers through the spring and right into the summer months.
Before we knew it, summer passed with little to no fun to be had. Fairs and festivals canceled. No deep fried twinkies or elephant ears to be found. Parades and fireworks displays disappeared from event calendars. Backyard barbecues disappeared like smoke. Pool parties were unheard of. Slumber parties put to sleep. Kids everywhere were desperate for any sort of interaction with people other than the ones they lived with.
The only glimmer of hope was school beginning. Where children usually count down the days to schools end, this year they began looking forward getting back to school. Back to friends. Back to some glimmer of normal. But for many, that didn’t happen. Virtual classrooms replaced face to face instruction. Defeat.
But wait!! There’s a dim light. We could almost see it! The holidays!! Surely the holidays would give us some semblance of normal. Trick or treating. Thanksgiving meals. Christmas concerts. Caroling with friends. Cookie exchanges!!!! ALAS!! The powers that be handed down more mandates! Socially distant trick or treating. No thanksgiving gatherings beyond those you live with. I shudder to think how Christmas will be received!
We have 30 days left of what will surely be a year many of us will never forget. A year riddled with every emotion imaginable. I can only hope these last days are docile kittens compared to the snarling lions we have lived through!