Year End 2020
2020 is a year to remember. This is my annual report to the world, my version of life in the big year of worldwide pandemic disease, racial disturbances following police shootings, and a presidential election campaign that seemed to last all year. For me it was a year of mostly staying at home.
Life was normal for me during January and February, with my usual activities of volunteering at the library, committee meetings at the senior center, classes with PLATO (old people’s education), church activities, and BEST OF ALL, dates with Pete, my wonderful boyfriend. Pete and I toured the Minhas brewery in Monroe, and we went to movies and restaurants. We took a trip to Oshkosh and Appleton and saw the museums. I entered artwork in the Madison part of the Wisconsin Regional Art Program. Life was filled with activity.
Then I turned the page of my pocket calendar from February to March, and suddenly most of it was gone or changed. The covid-19 pandemic had arrived. It is the disease of the century. Sometimes it has seemed to last a hundred years.
I didn’t know this disease would last the rest of the year. Suddenly instructions appeared from the city, county and state about how to avoid getting it. The politicians didn’t (and still don’t) all agree on how to deal with it. We were told to stay at home, wear masks, wash hands, not touch our faces, use hand sanitizer, and stay at least six feet apart. Essential services stayed open. I see the grocery store as essential along with my ongoing relationship with Pete. Pete and I have continued to see each other, and I have enjoyed meals with my Madison family including Sarah, John, Sherry, Laura and Ian.
Much of life went online and changed in other ways. In Madison churches and schools went virtual. Many stores stayed open. Stores installed glass or plastic or something transparent to separate customers from staff people who might breathe on one another. Restaurants turned to carry-out services. Shared transportation separated people inside buses and airplanes. Many businesses struggled to survive. Some people chose to ignore some or all the cautions. Many people got sick with covid-19. Hospitals were and are stressed. I am glad that the vaccine has arrived and is starting to be distributed.
What did we do? We discovered Zoom. Zoom lets us stay together separately. It enabled me and others to join the online world of church services, meetings, classes, social gatherings and more. This made life different but good. I was and am happy to be on the same screen with people at church and other gatherings. Being together in person is better, so I have been together several times a week with Pete, mostly in our homes playing cards or Scrabble, or watching streaming plays and movies. I have had dinner weekly with John’s family and lunch with Sarah occasionally.
Summer came to Madison with disorder about racial injustice after several killings by police in other cities. In Madison daily and nightly demonstrations centered on State Street and the capitol area. Stores and businesses were damaged and looted. I thought it was frightening. Then artists painted pictures and messages about racial injustice on the boarded-up shop windows. Pete and I went downtown a couple times and looked at them but mostly we stayed away from State Street.
I went to Washington Island a few times although pandemic rules were in effect in Door County as in the rest of the state. I enjoyed Memorial Day weekend, the last week in June and Labor Day weekend at the island campground as I have done in recent summers. I stayed in the woods and enjoyed existing. I love being there even without Pete.
Autumn came with more staying at home. In September, by computer, I attended the annual state gathering of the Wisconsin Regional Art Program. There we heard talks on Zoom from various artists. The best part of being in this was that I won a state award for my picture of apples in colored pencil. This picture and many others in Madison didn’t get many viewings during the spring exhibit of WRAP because the pandemic caused its location to be closed. My winning picture is at the top of this post.
Countless activities and events did not happen in 2020. Most importantly, Pete and I didn’t get sick with covid-19. I didn’t attend a lot of plays, art fairs, day and multiple day trips, restaurants where we could eat on-site, PLATO classes in person, church worship in person, and times with my brothers and out-of-state daughters. I miss seeing Dori, Mary and Libby and spouses but will have more opportunities after the pandemic is under control.
Church and PLATO activities come into my home via Zoom. I don’t mind staying at home, thanks to the few people I share time with and the online meetings with others. Facebook, for all its bad publicity, has been very good for me to stay in touch with my various family members and others who have been part of my life. Life is still good.
