To review:
We began 2020 with a new puppy. I slept in hour-long bursts and wondered why we had made this stupid decision.
In mid-January, I went to my company’s annual kick-off meeting. It’s probably one of the last times I wore what could reasonably be considered “office clothes.”
At the end of February, the puppy was old enough to go to daycare and I could finally start going back to my office a few days a week. (The joke was on me because this feeling was short-lived.)
On March 11, I went to lunch with my parents to celebrate my dad’s 79th birthday, and that’s the last time I went to a restaurant to sit down indoors and eat. That was also the last day my husband and I went to our respective offices.
At the end of March, I bought a sewing machine and learned how to make face masks, and then learned how to quilt. I started this newsletter and sent one out every day. I paid $50 for unlimited free shipping at Wine.com, which turned out to be a very economical decision.
For Mother’s Day, I sent my mom flowers and some wine via FedEx. By Father’s Day, we felt okay about having my parents come to our house to eat outside, but we had to cancel our summer trip to Europe. I childishly unfollowed all the Paris-related Instagram accounts I’d followed in anticipation of our time there.
I stopped sending the newsletter every day. Many parts of the summer seemed normal enough. We swam in my brother-in-law’s pool and had meals together on decks and patios.
In late July we met a friend on the patio of a local brewery. A few weeks later he let us know he tested positive for the virus, and although the timeline didn’t make us worry about exposure, it put us off meeting people outside our bubble.
In August I bought office furniture!
September was our Pandemic Anniversary and my Pandemic Birthday, which was actually very nice. My company closed a very large round of funding and I allowed myself to enjoy the job security in a shitty time.
In October we looked forward to a long Airbnb weekend that we were forced to cancel because my little dog had a dumbass wart in her mouth. I also could not take her to daycare, so we spent way too much time together. It wasn’t anyone’s best moment. We took her to a different vet and got her on Prozac.
Mood-wise, I was at my worst around Halloween, but things slowly improved, and we had a nice Thanksgiving despite not being able to see anyone.
There was an election, I assume you know what happened, even though some people still aren’t sure. I was a poll worker, which was an unabashedly great experience, and I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say it got me through the last part of the year.
I finished two quilts. I made a lot, a lot, of food. Dinners mostly, but also breakfasts and brunches and lunches and desserts, some of them very time-consuming. We ate all the things. I ordered way too many things from Amazon. Sometimes they were things we needed and sometimes they were things I “needed” to distract myself. We took an informal poll between the two of us and voted the SodaStream machine Best Pandemic Purchase.
My sister-in-law had a baby. My husband got a new job. I signed up for online school. My brother-in-law passed his nursing boards and my other sister-in-law passed her financial analyst test. There was good and bad, like any year, in any life. I did what I could to help, along with many of you.
Today I had a virtual cooking class with some of my colleagues. I got a promotion, which was really nice, and it’s the first time I have been promoted without having to just leave a job since…2009? I feel very lucky.
I might not send another newsletter until 2021. I don’t know! I reserve the right to change my mind. If we don’t talk before then, have a good one.