January. 2020 started with a lot of stress, most of it school generated from the fall. Depression loomed.
In December, a severe case of the flu was going though the 3rd grade class and continued racing though the other 3rd grade class in January. Lukas came down with it first and I got it a day later. It was the worst flu I ever had. I slept for 4 straight days barely getting out of bed. It took me three weeks to fully recover. I missed two whole weeks of work. Unthinkable. I tested positive for influenza B. Later we found that this string of flu cases was started from someone who had traveled to China and came home sick. We didn't think about Covid at the time because it wasn't supposed to be in the States yet. Looking back, I'm convinced we had it.
February. Lydia and Randy also got a mild version of the flu.
March. And it all fell apart. We canceled our Spring Break plans - not because of Covid, just because stress, exhaustion, finances, and a reliable car were not in our favor. We decided to postpone until the summer. Then Covid came. March 19. One minute school was to continue on because it was the safest place for our kids; the next hour school was going to close by next week; then minutes later school was immediately closed; state mandated. Friday, March 20 an emergency meeting was called by our school and by Monday morning we hit the ground running with an online version of school that was flat out amazing in the the time we had to push it out. I was amazed at the quality and seamlessness at how the switch went. However, I don't think anyone was prepared for the stress that came with this.
April. All I can say is that this month was intense. The days sped by at lightning speed. There was no end to the school day. It started from the time I opened my eyes and continued into the night until I could not keep them open any longer. Teaching my classes (6 of them) and helping teach my kids was two full time jobs.
May. Things started to get better. We were all starting to find a way to breathe in this new reality. But we were tired and ready to be done. School closed early. This caused me some extra stress as a teacher, but it was so nice to be done. Memorial Day weekend - our AC unit gave out. It was old and we needed to get a new one. That was very pricy and felt financially taxing as we were trying to save money to buy a new minivan. With the stimulus plan having helped us out, we were ready to start van shopping, but now it would have to be put on hold. And finally, I went in to the clinic to get a Covid antibody test. I was sure I had it and wanted to know. While I was there, I was encouraged to set up a mammogram appointment because I had been putting it off for a year and the nurse practitioner made sure I didn't leave the office without it. The Covid antibody test came back negative. I later found out that the test doesn't measure antibodies after about 2-3 months of having the virus...so I still will never know for sure.
June. The oven broke. The dishwasher broke. We tried to fix them but couldn't and felt we had no choice but to buy new appliances. Then I had my mammogram appointment....
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