I had the best of intentions to post regular updates throughout quarantine, but…wait, I don’t think I need to actually explain that I lost motivation for anything beyond basic survival and was using all of my energy to fend people off at the grocery store, raise an infant, and simply try to stay positive. Alas! I thought it would be useful to look back at 2020 and note some highlights.
I keep a one-line journal where I write down one thing of note that happens each day. Last night I looked though the entire 2020 and it was, unsurprisingly, fairly depressing and repetitive. I went on so. many. walks. “Rainy walk,” “Arb walk,” “Perfect day for a walk,” “celebratory walk!” I probably walked so much because it didn’t interfere with physical therapy, which was also common in 2020…“PT for neck and back,” “Wrist feeling better after PT,” “good news about thumb,” “finally seeing PT for groin injury.” Oof. The only thing that routinely got exclamation marks were milestones Kerri reached. “Rolling over!” “First solids!” “Kerri’s first black eye!” (oops). It was even hard to be excited about anything related to work. One notable day said “Work is slow…got a publication at JA.” I mean…publications in my field are rare and should be unabashedly celebrated! There were, however, some fun things of note.
Quarantine 2020
Renewed Hobby: Sewing. This was borne more out of necessity to finish the cross stitch stocking I made for my daughter than pure quarantine boredom but that certainly helped. It took a few practice runs to remember what my Grandma Judi taught me back in the day, but I am loving it. (PQ’s new hobby is brewing beer, so you know which one of us is ready to have people over again!)
New Show. The Bachelorette became my new “live sport” and a way to connect with friends each week. Not super proud of this, but I am fully embracing it. I even listened to three recap podcasts (in order of fave to least: The Popcast, Game of Roses, Here to Make Friends).
Weekend Tradition. My favorite weekend tradition was meeting a friend at the arboretum for a 4 mile loop. I walked 315 miles in 2020, mostly in 1 mile increments around our neighborhood block, so I was grateful for the new scenery on the long weekend walks.
Sanity check. My friend and I started working out virtually together in April and it truly kept me sane. I looked forward to 4:00 PM every Monday through Friday, when we would call each other and workout. We are still on a group text with friends where we text daily workouts and challenges. Thank the Lord for fit friends and my home gym.
Favorite Movie: Eurovision. This movie is not high brow, but was a fantastic Will Ferrell movie and the songs were great.
Odd job: Hair cutting. I started doing this pretty early on because PQ was teaching in April and couldn’t grow out the quarantine locks. I think I give a decent haircut, but it doesn’t grow out quite as nicely as a salon cut. Although nervous to cut my own hair, I finally caved in December (after 14 months without a haircut!), and it was much easier than I thought.
Various things I stopped doing…
- Watching as much TV. This one might run counter to the rest of the country, but the majority of TV I watch is live sports, which were effectively canceled for the year. Even when college football started up in the fall, the three teams I watch every week (WSU, UW, and Iowa) played a collective 16 games (compared to the typical 13 each). I did watch the Bachelorette, GBBO, and started Schitt’s Creek.
- Reading as much. Well, I wrote this down because it felt like I didn’t read as much…until I counted and I read over 50 books this year, which by most measures is not bad. Upon further reflection, I just didn’t consistently read good books. Aside from a couple of gems, 2020 was a literary dud, and I look forward to better book choices this year.
- Caring about clutter. More specifically, I became ruthless with clutter. Spic n Spang September saw me tossing things (465 things to be exact) I had been storing for years. Also, kids create a lot of clutter even though they don’t actually need much…we’ve now split Kerri’s toys into two and hidden half. She has no idea, and when we swap later she’ll think she has new toys!