2020: A Year in Review

 2020 was a crazy year. Not just for us, but for the world! Most people were excited to ring in the new year and kick 2020 to the curb, and we are one of those families! But I wanted to take a moment to reflect on all of the craziness and the silver lining to some of it all that we experienced.

January: The year began like any other year. Mom turned 40! Woo-hoo! Just two months after Dad did! They say 40 is over the hill but I don't feel a day over 35! For Dad's 40th (in November) we surprised him with lunch at the Old Mill. For Mom's 40th we went to dinner at Avenue. 

February: Mom got sick and was taken to the ER by Nana early in February. I had a fever of 104 and shooting pain in my stomach. At first they didn't know what was the cause, they thought it could be from two different things and both the Gynecology & Colorectal teams were pointing fingers at one another. Turns out that my Crohn's disease was back at it again. It was so bad they sent me home from the hospital after a week of trying to figure it out with a pic line and iv antibiotics. I needed surgery but wasn't healthy enough to do it yet. I went out on leave from work, February break came and went and I was scheduled for surgery March 13th. Dad was being super Dad taking care of the kids and me while I was in the hospital. He was a bit overwhelmed and the awesome friends and family that we have in our many circles of life stepped up and brought over meals, one less thing for Dad to think about. Meals were sent in from Juliet's school, Woodside, my colleagues at NHS and the school committee along with family! The community was there for us to help us during this crazy time. And we were so grateful! 

Meanwhile this weird virus, COVID-19 or Coronavirus, was starting to hit the news. The virus was from the Wuhan province in China, but we didn't know much about it aside from that it came from bats....

March: I was scheduled for surgery March 13th with a 4-6 week recovery. This wasn't going to work as on March 26th a colleague and I were going to Minneapolis to the National Art Teacher Convention to present a session and then in April we were taking the kids to Disney! So this had to be changed. I got the surgery moved up to March 3rd. Surgery went well, recovery was painful at first but got better as each day passed. The only rule that was tricky was no sitting for 2 weeks post surgery. To get home Baba sent over some cushions he had so I could lay down in the trunk of the Subaru. It was a weird ride home. It was good to be home and see the kids and get a good night sleep finally! One of my roommates blasted FOX NEWS 24 hours, so that made it difficult to sleep. I did learn from this constant news cycle about a cruise ship that was stuck off the coast of California as everyone there had COVID. But they weren't letting them off the ship so we were safe. I was home for 3 days before the state & nation went into lock down on March 13th. 

In terms of recovery, this wasn't what I had in mind, having the kids home for all of it! But it helped me get 'back to normal' faster. The first week the kids were on vacation as it was considered snow days. Then the next two weeks the kids were sent home some assignments, but it was mostly optional. This was only temporary for a few weeks anyway, so whatever they did or didn't do for school didn't really matter. 

But we were in lockdown, what did that mean? Well JP and I were glued to the TV/internet for news. He was the ONLY one that went out to the market to get food and that was the ONLY reason to leave the house. The first time he went to Roche Brother's the shelves were empty! Literally no bread, no milk, no flour, it was like the end of the world. I panicked and signed us up for Crescent ridge so we could at least get milk and eggs! JP went to BJ's and there was food there so he stocked up on enough food to last us 2-3 weeks. We left them in the garage so the virus wouldn't enter the house, or we washed everything before putting it away. At this point, no one was wearing masks or gloves, only those 'crazy people' who were over reacting. 

Gymnastics was cancelled. Basketball was cancelled. Shorashim was cancelled. All activities were cancelled. There was no more running the kids here and there, just us at home.

April: We made it to April and nothing really changed, we were still learning about this virus. School was still optional but we made the kids do it. We weren't playing with the neighbors, but FaceTiming family to say hi and check in. One weekend we did a neighborhood olympics socially distanced. I had started a 'Theme Thursday' with the kids as places like the Aquariums, Zoos and National Parks all put live feeds or VR videos up. Of course we kicked it off with a Harry Potter themed day, then we went to Bryce Canyon and several other National Parks, different Aquariums around the country, learned about sea life and the arctic and had fun days learning about the solar system or Ninjas. The art community rallied and put out so many amazing shows, art challenges and live cams. The world seemed to be rallying together to survive this crazy time we were experiencing.  

We reorganized the guest room to be conducive to working from home for JP. Mom went back to work remotely too. We played lots of board games, walked the dog 4 times a day (at least!), had Fancy Friday's and celebrated Baba's birthday over FaceTime, had virtual Passover with the whole family over Zoom, did some spring yard work, had morning Cosmic Yoga, made lots of big yummy meals - turkey and stuff that we'd normally only do on a holiday, pretended we were in Disney World as our trip was cancelled, and found out the kids would not be going back to school for the remainder of the year.

May: More of the same! We were home, enjoying the lazy mornings, being able to sleep in after staying up late. The weather was warming up, we were able to enjoy being outside more. Juliet learned how to ride a bike without training wheels! We made lots of food from scratch. We were leaning into this new way of life enjoying each other's company and being able to spend time together. 

June: Lockdown restrictions seemed to ease up but you had to wear a mask when you went into stores, maybe, sometimes, some stores... it was flexible. We read books, went to peaceful protests in support of black lives matter because George Floyd was the last straw in racial inequality for so many of us. We went strawberry picking at Tangerini's during our reserved time slot and masks. We fostered baby chicks which turned into us getting a permit for us to raise our own chickens next spring (hopefully). One day in June the adults in the neighborhood decided one day that this would be our COVID bubble and we let the kids finally play with each other. We put up a backyard swing, and set up the rain barrel. The last days of school came and we had a parade for the kids and teachers and a neighborhood block party to celebrate. And for Father's Day we went to the canal to let Dad fish and to bike along the path.

July & August: Once school was out we spent most of the time on the Cape with Nana & Baba. This became our new bubble. Going to the beach, biking, kayaking, boating, trips to The Vineyard in a rain storm, stress about going back to school in September, more time at the beach, visits from Uncle Dave & Alex. At the Cape we were able to keep our distance from people and still enjoy the summer as much as we could. Dave & Alex bought a house in the Catskills, and we had the luxury of visiting them at their new house, hiking, Katerskills falls, seeing bears in the backyard and swimming in the freezing river! We helped Nana and Baba pack up the Needham house several different weekends and inherited a grandfather clock, wing chair and a few other things from their house in Needham. JP was able to get a propane fire pit for our deck where we had many evenings outside enjoying it while watching dinner & a movie by the fire. School committee was craziness all summer long working towards getting things ready for September and students. It was an ongoing headache. We began building a remote school desk for the kids in the kitchen - starting with the electrical and ordering matching cabinets and granite!

September: As the summer wound down I had much anxiety about going in to work, I wanted to be safe and feel safe, I wanted remote learning. Needham had opted for hybrid learning, but at the last minute wasn't ready and had the first two weeks of school be remote. There was on going school committee craziness and we decided to begin school remotely in Millis until after Columbus Day. Masks were a thing now that we HAD to wear in school and in any building or store.  Juliet lost her first tooth, then her second! We had virtual high holidays and Nana came over for services and breakfast! We went to Tangerini's for our anual hayride socially distant & masked and had several impromptu neighborhood cocktail hours! 

October: October was kicked off with Sukkot and our kids made a sukkah this year with the help of the neighborhood kids. They decorated it with paper chains and we had a nice block party dinner in and around it. We went for many hikes and had breakfast and morning cocktails at Tangerini's several times this month. We celebrated Juliet's birthday by going apple picking, getting lost in a hedge maze, tasting cider donuts all at Honey Pot Hill Farm. We also had the family over for a socially distanced back yard party. 28 Dunster Rd sold and was soon nocked down. We continued to cook yummy meals and go hiking up Wachusett Mountain twice! The cabinets came in for the kids desk and JP and I installed them - perfectly! Halloween was on a Saturday and on Friday we had a crazy snowstorm! Saturday we carved pumpkins, bobbed for apples, tried to eat donuts on a string, made caramel apples, and finally that evening on halloween we went trick or treating!

November: We kicked off November with Dad's birthday and had a knights feast for him! We witnessed The Election of the century that still seems to be going on! The kids had many sleepovers together. We went on a bike ride along the Holliston bike path We got the cold frame planted and learned about what really happened on 'the first Thanksgiving.' We took the kids to Plymouth Plantation & the Mayflower to learn more about what really happened and how people lived in the 1600s. We had virtual Thanksgiving, that ended with science experiments, and setting up the holiday decorations.

December: Fondue Friday's, Hanukkah, homemade latkes, homemade sufgoniot, snow storms, remote school days instead of snow days, sledding at hospital hill, sledding at NHS, virtual birthday for Naomi - a friends party and a family party, Christmas Eve outside visit with Grammy, making peanut butter blossoms for Santa, wrapping presents, singing Christmas carols on the front porch with the neighborhood Christmas Eve, building the foosball table Christmas Eve, Christmas Day excitement, playing with all the new toys & eating all the sweet treats, visiting Haines Falls again, ringing in the New Year in NY with Uncle Dave, Alex, Nana & Baba, playing ping pong, darts, air hockey, hiking, playing games and being thankful for what we have. 

Although this year was not a typical year, we made the most out of it, we stayed home, we wore masks, we washed our hands, we kept socially distant and we remained healthy. Life slowed down, we were able to enjoy each other's company, spend more time with the kids and grow closer as a family.

Here's to a healthy 2021!