Covid-19 Pandemic 2020…The Year That Wasn’t

The Covid-19 Pandemic changed our world.

The past year has been challenging for all, but devastating to many. It’s been a tragic year of loss. Many have lost friends and family to this horrible pandemic. And many of us have spent an entire year of our lives isolated and away from those we love.

Hugs have always been important to me. But this past year has shown me just how much joy those hugs really bring into my life. And anyone who knows me knows how important my family is to me. The hardest part of this past year has been missing those hugs and being unable to spend time with all of them. I quickly realized that Zoom could never replace the real thing.

It’s been almost exactly one year since we made our mad dash from our Florida condo back to our Iowa home where we hunkered down to ride out the pandemic. (You can read about that trip right HERE.) Little did we know how long that isolation would last and how depressing it would sometimes be.

We spent every holiday alone. Every one. And birthdays. And our 49th wedding anniversary. But so far we’re still alive. And that’s a real blessing so many haven’t shared.

I took some time to read all of the posts I wrote during the past year. It’s quite obvious I spent lots of time in my kitchen. And I taught myself how to make many dishes I had either forgotten or hadn’t ever attempted before. Here are just a few of my 2020 dishes.

WING DINGERS

WATERGATE COOKIES

ARANCINI

FOUR INGREDIENT CHOCOLATE CHIP BARS

HAMBURGER CHOW MEIN

TAGINE BAKED MOROCCAN CHICKEN

HOMEMADE ONION RINGS

And even EBELSKIVERS!

You’ll find ALL of these recipes (and MANY more) by heading to the SEARCH bar on my blog. Believe me when I say my recipes have been taste tested…and they’re all Meemaw Approved!

Like I said…Peepaw and I spent the past year in almost total isolation. But to alleviate the loneliness we took many rides into the countryside while listening to classical music. Or sometimes we rode in complete silence. 

I love to read. So I ordered every single novel my author friend Larry Baker has written, and I read them all! (You should too!) In fact, his first novel, Flamingo Rising, was even made into a movie! I can’t wait for his NEXT novel, Wyman And The Florida Knights, to be published later this year.

We’re extremely fortunate to have a swimming pool in our back yard. But the liner collapsed (another 2020 setback) and it needed to be replaced.  Apparently everyone in America needed to replace their pool liners too. So Peepaw spent hours and hours online, searching every pool company in the country to find the ONLY liner left to buy. He even installed it himself!

I will say our deck and pool area made the pandemic isolation MUCH easier for me. And I spent more money on flowers and plants than ever last year. (Worth every single penny.)

For years Wine Wednesday has been an evening each week when we would always go “out on the town”.  We continued that tradition the past year, even though I sometimes put on PJs instead of clothes for the evening.  I would often prepare a charcuterie and cheese board like this one. But I will admit I sometimes had to force myself to make it a festive evening. (The wine DID help.)

Every Wednesday evening we “traveled” to the living room where we sat by the fire and listened to great music from the 50s and 60s. (No Uber required!) And we played HUNDREDS of hands of Rummy. Peepaw even built a raised table to sit on top of our coffee table to be the perfect height to play cards. (Notice Peepaw’s excited expression. I think I was winning that night!)  LOL!!!!

I even taught my annual high school “Cooking With Fresh Herbs” class…but we did it on Zoom!  That event made me totally appreciate the incredible effort all teachers are making to teach kids in the classroom and virtually at the same time! Just WOW! 

When winter set in we still went for rides, just to get out of the house. A favorite spot was a well kept secret place we found right in our city! We loved watching the herd of deer living there.

We even went “out on the town” several Saturday nights by buying some food at a drive through and then heading somewhere scenic to park and eat…in the car. Like this night at the deserted local fairgrounds.

Peepaw was the most popular guy in on our street since he shoveled snow for all of the docs and nurses and healthcare workers on our street. He wanted to do what he could to make life easier for those folks who were spending their days and nights trying to keep us all alive. And BOY, did we have SNOW! Piles and piles of it this winter. It never seemed to end.

I can’t begin to tell you how much I missed seeing family and friends…for each and every holiday. In fact, I missed entertaining so much I even set the table for Christmas company…even though nobody could come!

I liked looking at that table every day and pretending the pandemic wasn’t really happening.

And speaking of Christmas. I’m almost ashamed to tell you…I decorated SEVEN trees! One on the front steps. Two on the screened porch. Two in the living room. One in the basement. And one in the bedroom! I LOVED those little white lights during the dark and cold days of Winter.

Now…about our neighbors. We have the best ones in the world!  All year we were blessed with unexpected gifts of everything from puzzles and votive lights, to homemade candles and wine, and even a homemade chocolate pie! In fact, many of our young neighbors offered to drop everything and head to the store for us, no matter what time of day or night it might be. It truly takes a village, and our village is filled with people who care for each other in so many, many ways! I simply never realized how blessed we were until this pandemic brought everything into focus.

So yes, Dear Readers…I’m beginning to crawl out of the pandemic “funk” that has engulfed me for the last year. In fact, this is the first blog post I’ve written since Thanksgiving!) And I’m ever so grateful to all who have reached out and found ways to help me through this unprecedented event.

The pandemic isn’t over. But I hope and pray we are beginning to see a light at the end of that long and lonely tunnel. Here’s hoping I find the spark to bring me back to writing and sharing with all of you once again. 

We’ve been so fortunate to have had our vaccinations, and we’ll still be wearing masks and social distancing for as long as science suggests. But we’re finally beginning to hum our theme song once more…

“On The Road Again…”

Be well…and thank you for your friendship…and your readership. It means so much to me. 

So here’s to our “New Normal”… whatever that may turn out to be.