A Year of COVID

It's hard to believe we have just had the 1 year anniversary of COVID lockdown in the US and Texas. One year since life as we knew it changed, and not for the better. One year since the Spring Break that seemed to never end. Last year, on the Friday before Spring Break I packed up my "office" and put my laptop, printer, and other supplies in my trunk, anticipating that we might not return to school right away. I never would have guessed that we would not return at all for the rest of the school year! This year, on the Friday before Spring Break, I went to the doctor and tested positive for COVID, thanks to one of my students for sharing it with me.

This has definitely been an unusual year, a year to remember. Here's how I spent the year:

March - Mom, Dad, and Ben had planned to come to Texas for Spring Break before the COVID-craziness hit. They arrived right as the state went into lockdown. Thankfully Home Depot and Lowes were considered essential businesses, so we were able to get the supplies we needed to do all the home updates we had planned. They ended up spending an extra week with me, since Dad was able to work remotely (and I was doing the same). We had a great visit in spite of COVID.

April, May, June, July - The fourth quarter of the 2019-2020 school year was spent entirely online. I taught my classes via Zoom, accepted papers via email, and planned COVID-friendly virtual versions of Cambridge events. Graduation was postponed until the end of July, and my summer was spent working from home. I spent most of my days enjoying my porch, which I turned into my home office, until it grew too warm to sit out there. I attended church online, embraced my new mandatory fashion accessory (the mask), did an all-day graduation delivery to all 27 seniors, completed quite a few home-improvement projects, put together a lot of puzzles, and fell in love with my backyard hammock.

August, September, October - We were all excited to be able to return to school in person in August! Yes, we had to wear masks, but at least we were no longer teaching by Zoom. We were also able to return to church in-person, including choir and praise team. I celebrated the one year anniversary of buying my house, followed the next day by the one year anniversary of the tornado that hit Cambridge. I signed a contract to publish my dissertation, attended a MLB playoff game at the new Ranger's stadium, and joined my small group for a Wizard of Oz-themed Halloween (I was Dorothy).

November, December - Mom, Dad, and Ben came back to Texas for Thanksgiving, my first time to host! We had a great two-week visit. They gave me an early Christmas present, a new grill, and I learned the joy of grilling burgers (I'm still learning other meats). We explored some of the Christmas sites around town, including Grapevine and the Stockyards, decorated my house, and even put up my Christmas village for the first time. December saw my first COVID scare, my first "devil's swab", and my first negative test. I was still required to quarantine for 10 days, though, which meant I missed midterms and drove to Georgia on my final day of isolation. We spent Christmas in Charleston, going to the beach on Christmas day when it was literally freezing and with a major windchill, and I put my feet in the water. The next day the entire family returned to the beach for a slightly less frigid photoshoot - so fun!

January, February - January brought the end of the college football season, with Alabama winning another National Championship - Roll Tide! I had a COVID birthday, but thankfully things were beginning to ease around town, so my small group was able to go to dinner at Outback that night. In February we had the first significant snowfall in many years, including a week of below-freezing temperatures that brought lots of freezing pipes, power outages, and problems around the state. Thankfully I did not have pipes freeze or lose power, but I did lock myself out of the house in the snow. It was quite an experience standing outside holding the flashlight for the locksmith for an hour and a half before he finally got me into the house. Once the snow and ice melted enough for safe driving, I went to Lowes and purchased a new deadbolt with a keypad, so hopefully that will never happen again.  

March brought warmer temps, the return of springtime, new glasses and hopefully fewer headaches, my first COVID vaccine, and unfortunately, a positive COVID test, cough, fever, terrible sore throat, and other symptoms. Spring Break is definitely NOT what I had planned, but I'm surviving the COVID, improving healthwise, and using the time as wisely as possible.

Here's hoping that the next 12 months are much more exciting, and more normal, than the past 12 months. Here's hoping for more travel, less masks, more family, less social distancing, more normal events, and less COVID!