This time last year I was sitting in the midst of many boxes having made the move between Joburg to PE. It was a decision of faith and it was the right decision for myself and Nicky. We did not know what the year had in store for us but we were in the right place.
The first school term started off well. The school was just up the road. My mother fetched Nicky every day. We started going to a local church. In February I started a new job teaching children; which was the kind of job I really enjoyed, although still not really the pay I needed. It turned out to be a very good experience with good training and lovely students.
Lockdown started on my birthday, 27 March. I had some visitors the day before and a cake. Even Nicky had his birthday in lockdown, but we decided to make it special.
With schools closed and trying to balance work and teaching their children – many parents found this to be very challenging. As a teacher myself I really enjoyed this – perhaps a little too much. I pushed Nicky with a whole lot of phonics lessons I had once taught at a previous school. Some of these lessons I hope he will carry with him – at other times I maybe pushed a bit too hard. Nicky really excelled in Maths however. He definitely outstripped me in this department and is always asking me to give him a sum. The other day he really blew my socks off one morning while I was teaching he quietly completed a Sudoku puzzle.
When Nicky returned to school it was on alternate days. This meant he was still at home inbetween. My mom continued to help on the days he was at school. The rest of the time… 2020 will be remembered I have overdosed Nicky on TV. I truly hope I haven’t permanently damaged his brain.
One cool thing he has been doing on the screen is his City Skylines. After the excitement of building an airport we leveled up to having a rocket blast off. That was really exciting.
The latest one is the addition of natural disasters so now we have fires, tsunamis and tornadoes. The city seems to recover from them very well though.
The other cool thing Nicky has been doing is stringing Elfie up from the rafters and he has also been ziplining down the stairs too.
I decided to stay home and not travel this year but we spent a lovely Christmas with my mom playing Nicky’s pressie which was the Monopoly Sore Losers addition. This game is actually a lot of fun because even if you think you’re losing you can actually win.
It has been super hot these past few days and we also swam on Christmas day.
It’s been a weird Christmas with closed off beaches and mounting infections and deaths. There is a lot of real suffering that has occurred this past year. Even my own sister and her family had Covid, but they have passed through it, thank God. People have lost jobs. People have reinvented themselves. People have stood up to help. And through it all we have to trust there is a bigger plan if we just hold on.
I tried to do little things to help. I wrote roundup posts of what bloggers were writing – their best words and activities. The SA Parenting Blog Awards highlighted the best writing of the year. These words from Lauren will resonate with me:
I think a lot of us, myself included, have forgotten how to let go, to step back and watch events unfold. We struggle to let nature run its course and see what happens. It feels unnatural in today’s world where we find comfort in predictability – I suppose it’s a coping mechanism during times of uncertainty.
I packed hearty meals for a few months to be delivered to those in need. One of the best things I did was volunteer to screen kids at Nicky’s school. This involved checking their checklist of symptoms and taking temperatures. I got to know some moms and some kids as well.
On the job front I lost count of how many jobs I applied for and how many interviews I did. Each failure was a lesson to improve myself. I finally started a better paid job in October and am building it up slowly. The end is not in sight but I’m on the right track now.
The love life has similarly been a story of attempts and failure but I keep trying.
One positive change I made this year was exercise. I got into a routine and I stuck with it. It’s had a knock on positive effect on my body and my mental health.
On the whole I am profoundly grateful for this year because it was a year of learning, growth and building. Everything I have learnt during 2020 is something I can build on for the future.
There will never truly be a return to “normal” after what we have been through but there will be a sense of gratitude for the time we have had together as a family and the lessons in lockdown as we made it work.
Another quote from Jaci who won the awards:
We surrender our financial independence, and gain community.
We surrender our luxurious lifestyles, and gain solidarity with those in need.
We surrender control, and gain a Saviour.
We gain a hope. We gain true life.
In the rush to return back to normal, we get to decide what part of normal we want to return to.
In our emptiness, we get to choose what to put back into our lives.
Leave a Reply