June 28, 2020. We are two days away from the half year mark of this train wreck of a year. 2019 wasn't really a picnic. We put down our much loved bulldog, Beulah, July 4, 2019 and at the very end of the year, we had to also let our kitty, Bella, cross the rainbow bridge ahead of us. But, we felt like 2020 had to be better.
First, I had a tea party with some dear girlfriends in January. In February, we adopted our new bulldog, Charlotte. We also flew down to California to visit our godchildren and their parents and while we were there fulfilled a lifelong desire of my husband to see the La Brea tar pits. We had a lovely time but the first echos of PANDEMIC were starting to penetrate our consciousness as we got ready to come home.
COVID-19 entered our lives and changed our world almost overnight. Watching the news became so anxiety inducing for my husband, we had to just stop. I would continue to surreptitiously check the news online to try and keep abreast of the number of people that were getting sick and dying in our state and across the globe. Eventually, I had to stop doing that because it was starting to make me anxious too.
Just about the time things were calming down on the disease front, the death of man no one had every heard of, George Floyd, shook the country and the world. To be precise, it was the manner of his death and the color of skin that started a fresh dialog about what it means to be black in America. I could not watch the video of him slowly dying -- suffocating -- while a police officer knelt on his neck. Frankly, everything that lead up to that point ceased to matter once he died at the hands of police officers. What followed were first protests, then riots, the looting and then "occupation" by those protesting of several city blocks up in my old neighborhood in Seattle.
All of this you have heard about ad nauseam in the local and national media and social media. Friends became enemies as people debated and aired their views about the way the pandemic has been handled, the relationship of the police with the black community and the government's responses to both. It has been exhausting. It has been disheartening. It has been discouraging.
And yet, there have been good things and many things for which we are grateful. Sometimes, making a list is the best way to count your blessings:
1. Charlotte -- John and I have both said numerous times how glad we are we broke down and adopted her when we did. We had no intentions of getting another dog but on the day the rescue posted her picture, I was tagging my husband in the post the same time he was sharing it to my Facebook page. She has provided us with plenty of laughter even on the darkest days.
2. Work -- Both of us are "essential" and have worked our jobs the entire time of "Stay Home, Stay Safe" and so while many have worried how they were going to pay their rent, buy food for their family and survive, we did not.
3. Family & Friends -- COVID-19 has not been terribly personal for us. A friend from grade school lost her father. They live in New York which has been very hard hit. A friend from book group contracted a mild case of it and has recovered. Other than that, those nearest and dearest to us have remained relatively untouched. More than 100,000 families have not been so fortunate.
4. We Two Alone -- While some have struggled with loneliness during this time and others have struggled with too much togetherness, we have enjoyed more time together with the person we each love most in this world. Previously, we would spend 12 hours a day away from each other and 9 hours a night asleep with each other and by the time we did household chores, we had about 2 hours in a day where we could talk to each other and just be together if we were lucky. The pandemic has cancelled everything but our time together. We have appreciated that more than we like to tell people.
Four seems like a nice round number to stop with so I will leave it there but there are more things to be grateful for in our lives than there are to worry us. We are well aware that is not the case for so many but in case you think we sleep on a bed of roses, let me assure you there have been thorns as well. What are they? Well, that's a post for another time -- maybe.
