What a year! I thought it would be good to write a quick recap of our year and some of the things we learned while navigating our first pandemic. When we began the year 2020, we had no idea what was in store. Everyone was looking forward to a new decade and all the things we would do over the next 10 years. No one could have predicted how life as we knew it would come to a screeching halt in a matter of months. January and February were “business as usual”, although talk of COVID-19 was becoming more and more prevalent, but by mid-March everything had changed.
We powered through the initial stay-at-home order, running on adrenaline, and never anticipating how long it would be before life got completely back to normal. It was neat in the beginning just to slow down and make memories at home with our kids. Life was a lot less stressful without much of anything on the calendar! ;) What we didn’t realize in those first few weeks, though, was how stressful it would be once everyone started slowly easing back into society. Suddenly, every decision we made required so much extra thought. I already tend to overthink everything, but never to this degree until 2020: “What does the state order allow me to do? Is it safe to do ____? How will my decision affect others? What will other people think of me if I attend this event? Should I wear a mask there? Should our kids wear their masks? Is it worth the risk of catching covid and having to quarantine for 2 weeks?” How do you balance the need for social interaction and emotional well-being with your own physical safety and the safety of others? These were complicated questions, and everyone seemed to have a different opinion.
For the first several months, it was really hard for me to understand people who took a different perspective on the pandemic than I did. It was easy to make assumptions about them based on what I saw of their actions. Maybe they were assuming things about me too. Some of the quotes I heard frequently were “faith over fear” (i.e. if you have enough faith, you’ll keep living your life as normal) and “if you love me, you’ll wear a mask” (i.e. if you don’t wear a mask, you aren’t loving your neighbor). It’s easy to lump people into categories and stereotypes without actually sitting down and having a conversation about what you believe and why. Those conversations can be really uncomfortable, but I realized it’s important to push past that discomfort when it comes to people you love. I had one of those conversations last year with someone who I am very close to, and I was really glad I did after the fact. It was very helpful to me to see where this person from coming from, and it opened my eyes to a different way of looking at things. If we hadn’t had that conversation, I wonder where our relationship would be now. It definitely seemed like Satan was trying to use the virus to divide us, especially when it comes to those in the church.
By the end of the year, we had sent our kids back to school in person, returned to worship and bible class in the church building, taken a couple of trips out of state, and navigated all the major holiday gatherings. Even so, nothing was completely back to normal. We were still trying to find that delicate balance of living life to the fullest extent possible while still being cautious.
We definitely took so much for granted before the pandemic. Sending our kids to school IN PERSON WITHOUT MASKS ON, eating at restaurants indoors, going inside friends’ houses, and even just seeing other people’s smiles. Nothing can replace face-to-face human interaction without masks. Zoom and WebEx were better than nothing, but definitely not the same. We were made to be with other people.
I thought it was interesting to see how people were so desperate to put 2020 behind us when we got to December 31st. I saw so many social media posts to that effect. I wasn’t exactly sad to see 2020 go either, but realistically I think we all knew deep down that nothing was going to change just because the calendar flipped to January 1st, 2021. The virus didn’t magically disappear just because it was a new year. In fact, January turned out to be one of the worst months overall in terms of hospitalizations and deaths. I think we all just needed something to look forward to, and new years typically remind us of a fresh start. The hope of something better than we left behind. I really liked this reminder that I saw on Facebook…
It’s hard to keep the right perspective sometimes in the midst of all the craziness. I needed the reminder that God gives us true hope for the future no matter what happens here on earth.
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among the people, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, 4 and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”
5 And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.” 6 Then He said to me, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give water to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life, without cost. 7 The one who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son.” (Revelation 21:1-7)
Overall, we still managed to have a good year filled with many wonderful memories. It was a stressful year emotionally with quite a few disappointments and discouragements, but we still had so much to be thankful for.
As I am writing this in July 2021, life has gotten much more normal over the last couple of months. Here in the U.S., everyone age 12 and older has had the opportunity to be vaccinated. Travis and I got the Pfizer vaccine back in April, and our parents and siblings have all been vaccinated too. Hospitalizations and deaths are way down over the last few months, which is wonderful. The state mask mandate ended, our worship services have returned mostly to normal, and we are doing things like eating inside restaurants and inviting people over inside our home again. We are still waiting to hear what the upcoming school year will look like, but I’m hopeful that the girls will be able to go to school without worrying about masks and social distancing anymore. Whatever happens, I know we will get through it. We learned a lot during 2020 about humility, faith, and the value of relationships, and hopefully we will take those lessons with us into the future. I’m praying that the rest of 2021 will bring even more normalcy and an abundance of quality time spent with friends and family. We are definitely blessed.
One reply on “Goodbye, 2020!”
Love, love, love this!! Amen!! 2020 was a challenging year, with lots of ups and downs, but we all gained a greater appreciation, I think, of the little things that we tend to take for granted!!