Boy this year was one for the books. It was full of challenges, trials, frustration, sadness, loneliness, gratefulness, happiness, and really all the feelings.
We started the year just like any other year, basketball, basketball and more basketball. I love this busy time of year. However, we sure do miss Tim. He is typically gone 4-5 nights a week and it is hard on his girls, especially Lilah. We miss him being home for dinner and bedtime tuck-ins. However, we are typically just as busy with the girls practices and attending all of the games. When Spring Break hits, we are thankful for some much needed time together.
This year we took a trip of a lifetime. Tim and I had always dreamed of going to Hawaii and this year we did it. We traveled with our traveling buddies the Moden's. The trip was amazing. Once we arrived, we never wanted to leave. It was magical.
As the days of our week went by, the world started to shut down from COVID-19. At home people were ordered to stay in their homes and many places on the main land were shut down. Planes stopped flying, businesses were closed and schools shut down. We ended up extending our stay for a couple of days because there was really nothing to go home to. However, towards the end of our trip the panic hit Maui. All of the restaurants began to shut down, the pool at our resort shut down, and the day we flew home the beaches were all closed. Flying home I was a nervous wreck. Not understanding the virus, we used wipes on everything in the plane and begged the kids not to touch ANYTHING in the airports. When we landed in Tulsa it was an eerie sight. The unused runway was used as a parking lot for American Airlines. There were so many planes just parked. The airport was a ghost town.
We went home for our two week quarantine. I had not made any preparations before our trip because I just didn't believe the messages of panic before. We returned to stores being out of basic supplies, toilet paper, bread, eggs, etc. Luckily, I had some food in our freezer, and we hit a few drive through places for the two weeks.
After our two week quarantine, we added the Haas family to our friend bubble. We just had to have someone else to fellowship with during this weird time. We shared so many special memories, hiking together on weekends, sharing communion on Good Friday, spending Easter together, and lots of just hanging out.
My work sent everyone to work from home, and it will remain that way at least until March of 2021. Tim taught the remaining part of the spring semester from home. We struggled to work and teach both of our kids from home. I will say this was the hardest part. Everyday being pulled in so many directions and feeling so inadequate to teach my kids what they needed to know. We felt they were falling behind, and we were merely just surviving to get them through the end of the year. However, by the grace of God, we finished the year. We picked up our end of year books, awards, all of the items from March in our cubbies/desks, in the pouring rain as the teachers shoved the items in our trunks as we drove by. It was a weird way to end the year, no hugs or best wishes.
Then the summer hit. We thought surely by July this thing would be over. Well nope! It remained strong. We added another family to our bubble, the Cervantez family. We spent nearly every weekend together with our bubble. However, I longed for my family. But we didn't want to risk infection with my parents, Lisa worked with COVID patients often so she stayed to herself and Jenny was very cautious with her to little boys and their lungs. It was so dang hard and sad.
The best part of the summer was being home with everyone. I would work upstairs everyday, but spend lots of little moments throughout the day with my family. No commute to steal extra time, and we opened the pool in late April, so lots of extra swimming time. I was so grateful for this extra time. I just felt like it was such a gift from God to be able to work for a company that allowed me to work from home. It was a summer of slow moments. If 2020 taught us anything it was how to enjoy relaxing and being content with where you are. How to live in the moment and love the little things.
Many schools did not end up opening at the start of school, they typically went to virtual learning. Our school did open, however. I was so thankful. That week of silence while working was much needed. I was gearing up to head into our year end in October and needed to focus on preparations. Nine days into the school year, several teachers contracted the virus and the school was forced to shut down. It was a punch in the gut. There were so many annoyed people and parents. My bubble helped each other out, and we homeschooled each others kids. Depending on work schedules, we shared the load. The first day I took all nine kids. It was a mess and at the end I was exhausted. The rest of the time we split the kids up. I typically had the three 5th grade girls. Man did we really feel even more thankful for teachers. I am many things, but a homeschool mom, I am not.
The kids went back after two weeks and the school miraculously stayed open through the end of the semester. It wasn't the same as years past. Kids were not allowed to be around other grades. They were put into 4 person "pods" and had to remain with those people throughout the whole day. Parents were not allowed in the building. Parent/teacher conferences were held via zoom. 5th grade and up wore masks all day. It was weird, but we adjusted. This was our new normal.
My work has continued to be from home. I am extremely lucky that I have this option and so grateful for the work my team put in in 2019 to make the transition fairly seamless. Let me back track a minute. So I was brought on to the team during a transition of leadership. The tax director of nearly 30 years retired and the manager moved into that spot. So I was brought in as the new manager and my task for the first year was to completely revamp the processes. My goal was to take a completely paper filled and manual process to paperless and automated using a software. Well, we were successful. My team worked so hard to completely revamp their old processes, learn new software and new processes, and make our new process paperless and automated. Man, I don't know how we would have handled 2020 with the old process. It would have been very hard. But with the new process in place we were able to complete all of our close cycles and other processes with very few bumps. There were so many times we talked about how thankful we were we put in the work the year before. So work has been fairly easy to remain remote and complete our tasks. With all of the changes, my job has decided to offer employees the option to remain remote. Most of my team has chosen this option. I have decided that it would be best for my family to have that option at least through the school year. Working from home has eliminated my kids having super long days at school going to before and after care. I drop them off everyday and the Cervantez family and I carpool after school. Joleen picks them up most days and I am so thankful for this. The girls have been able to come home early, get a snack, do tutoring, finish homework, and do early after school activities. This has been such a game changer in our evenings. I have, however, felt very isolated and lonely at home. I have realized I really am a very extroverted person. I actually started to feel a bit depressed and just not myself in the middle of the school semester. I told Tim I am going to have to find some ways to incorporate people in my life, zoom calls just aren't the same. So in late October I joined a gym and have loved having time with people to start my day. I wake up early, but it is so worth it to feel in community with others. I am hoping later when life opens up again, I can find a lunch time Bible study at church. Little things here and there to help me maintain my sanity, but also be there for my family. It truly is a big blessing of 2020 that I have been able to transition to working from home.
As the holidays approached, we realized we wouldn't be celebrating them as we had in the past. We had a small Thanksgiving with Tim's dad and sister. We celebrated Christmas via zoom with all of our families. The last two weeks of school Tim came down with the virus, so we were forced to spend the last two weeks at home distance learning. Tim was fairly sick for 4-5 days, and still gets worn down fairly easily. Addy also tested positive but really never had any symptoms. Lilah and I tested negative. We spent the last two weeks hobbling along to finish the school year. My work ended up being some what busy as we all tried to finish up projects before our two week break. After 10 days at home Tim went back to work and finished up with 3 basketball games. The kids missed lots of fun at school, but were able to find joys at home. They were so disappointed to miss all the fun, but everyday I reminded them, "We are choosing joy today!". I tried to remind us all that our attitude is run by our mind and how we view the situation. The school televises events like the Christmas Program, so Lilah was able to stand on her stage (the coffee table) and sing along with her class.
We zoomed family and had a very quiet celebration. It never really felt like a Christmas season. I realized how truly extroverted I am. I thrive on people and being surrounded by family and friends. It wasn't the same, but still I am just so very thankful for how lucky we are this year. We had everything we needed. Tim and I were able to keep our jobs and provide for our family.
So there are just a few of the many thoughts that have gone through my brain this year. It was a year for the history books, but we learned so many lessons. We grew together as a family and Tim and I as a couple. For all of the challenges of the year, I still sum it up with the word grateful. I am so grateful for all of the little and big things this year has brought us. So thank you 2020, but ready for a new year!
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