The Last Word On 2020

2020 is dead to me! I know I’ve got some serious consensus on this one.

It’s been rough, no doubt, and everyone has some version and some story. We’ve hoped, we’ve mourned, we’ve persevered, we’ve rallied, we’ve hunkered down.

All around us, many have ailed, many have healed, too many have not.

2020 was supposed to be pretty cool. “2020” itself had a built-in promise of clarity and of seeing things in focus. Ringing in a new decade also generally brings a chance of new beginnings and opportunities.

Well, clearly that didn’t go so well. Or, better still, my new favorite phrase: “Well, that wasn’t on my bingo card!”

Maybe we should have known all the way back in January when the Australian bushfires raged unchecked, and injured koalas convalescing in laundry baskets filled our news feeds and made us cry.

Harry and Meghan quit the Royal Family for a new life in the USA, and President Trump was impeached.

Kobe.

All this and it’s only early February. We’d already had enough. But, just like a Sham Wow commercial…Wait, there’s more!!

My mother-in-law died on March 2nd. The funeral was a few days later in Southborough and there were no restrictions on gatherings at this point. There was a mad river of hand sanitizer flowing, though. We then encamped for a few days over at the Four Seasons in Boston, spending time with the family. Only then did there start to be an uneasy feeling of what might be coming and some hesitation around grabbing a ride in the hotel’s Bentley for shopping on still-crowded Newbury Street and at Eataly in the Prudential Center.

 The meme was funny for a brief moment. Little did we all know…

By St. Patrick’s Day, we all lamented and found incredulous the cancelling of Boston’s parade, with the Marathon to quickly follow. Many of us have been working remotely since and many of us haven’t seen much of extended family, much less have given or received an embrace or kiss.

Pivoting to working at home was a challenge for many, especially if one lives in Town with two roommates and 800 square feet of space. To add insult to injury, Zoom quickly became the vehicle to keep productivity and collaboration going, though with increasingly bad hair for all of us. I lived through the 70’s and didn’t think we’d ever see such hairstyles ever again!

   Credit: Facebook                                                                              

If you have school-aged children, you probably also became teacher, lunch lady, and principal all at once, all while trying to figure out how to keep doing your day job.

 Credit: Facebook

This has affected all of us, including the pets. Well, maybe not the cat. Gracie has found many ways to Zoom-bomb and garner a laugh or two, at least weekly.

 Credit: Facebook

Yet, we remain Boston Strong. We’re not out of the woods yet and the verdict on how 2021 will go is still out. My youngest niece is currently COVID positive, and one of my best friends from high school in NJ is currently inpatient, also with COVID-19, at BWH Faulkner. It’s all still pretty scary but I, like so many others, am hopeful and look eagerly toward 2021.

 DFCI, Jimmy Fund Way