Farewell 2020
Farewell 2020! What a year it was! The weirdest year EVER!
After a long period of silence, I finally manage to bring myself to give an update for 2020. It didn’t feel right for me to write about this awful year. Yes, the pandemic has impacted us, but it is more of an inconvenience than hardship. We aren’t suffering from any financial difficulties, and we have been very healthy. Also, there have already been so many writings about the anxiety, loneliness and depression during the lockdowns, I don’t think there is any need for me to add another piece.
At the same time, 2020 is such a milestone year in our lives. For us, 2020 will be remembered not only as the year of pandemic, but also the year when we started the next chapter of our lives. In early 2020, following our plan, we pulled the plug and retired from our full time corporate jobs. We want to spend more time in nature, in cooking, in exploring the world, in doing things that really excite us.
We had some very exciting plans for 2020. Our first trip after retirement would be to Puglia, the heel of the Italy boot, in April 2020. I’ve read so much about the gorgeous coast lines, the fresh seafood, the stunning olive oil, the wines, and the friendly people. In November 2020, we were to kick off our sun chasing tour in Australia, and to spend the following 4 months in New Zealand, Bali and Thailand. In spring 2021, we would have been in Sicily again. Well, the COVID threw the curveball at us and has knocked all the plans out of the window.
We are grounded at our homes instead. In March 2020, Toronto entered into the first lockdown. The city turned into a ghost town. Empty streets felt strange and eerie.
We spent our time studying daily COVID charts, comparing our curve with other countries, anxiously assessing the stages we were in, wondering when we would reach the peak. We read articles about Spanish flu, about yellow fever, about any past pandemics, trying to assure ourselves that this had happened before, and it will pass eventually. We try to convince ourselves everyday that life will return to normal one day.
One of our plans COVID didn’t destroy was a house renovation project. We obtained the building permit in early January 2020, narrowly missed the permit freeze. The renovation began in early February 2020. Given the COVID situation, the number of people working in the house was limited, which slowed down the progress of the project. It was almost a miracle that the renovation was completed by the end of July 2020, given the entire kitchen came from the hard hit northern Italy.
It was an outdated, cramped and dark house.
Now it is modern, airy and bright.
The renovation project kept us busy for the spring and most of the summer. In our spare time, we indulged ourselves in cooking, grew vegetables in the garden, went for hikes whenever we could, and met friends in the backyard for social distancing drinks or dinners. whenever weather permitted.
A pre-dinner drink on the terrace has also become a daily downtime for us to unwind and spend time together.
It was the first year that we truly enjoyed our gardens. We always had breakfast in the garden, and it was my favorite time of the day. The air seemed much fresher than I remembered, and there seemed to be so many birds in the garden, robins, cardinals, blue jays…Waking up to the birds became a new norm during the lockdown.
We rediscovered the meditative power of gardening and working with flowers. Tending plants in our small city garden calmed us down, and reminded us that nature is so powerful that it didn’t stop because of COVID. Our vegetable pots were thriving and our garden looked the best since we moved in.
I try to make an arrangement every week to feel that we can still create something beautiful to keep our spirits up.
We always look back to list the highlights at the end of each year. The frequent highlights in the past have been our travel experiences, Sicily, Mallorca, Valencia, Peru, Japan,….. well, obviously not this year.
Although the overwhelming strangeness of 2020 has always been with us and on our mind, when we looked at this year’s pictures, there are still plenty of beautiful memories.
It was a difficult year, and an isolated one. But it was also a year that we became closer to our friends, even when we were apart. We have learned that sometimes kindness means to stay at a distance.
So what are our wishes for 2021? First of all, 2021 will definitely be better than 2020! It is a year of hope: we will hug our friends and families again; we will sit in restaurants eating with strangers again; we will go to a concert, movies, play…again; we will visit other countries again; and we will have a Christmas party again. We will be normal again.
