2020 – a year like no other
Where does one begin to describe the last 12 months? 12 months ago words like “furlough”, “covid”, “bubbles” and “shielding” either didn’t exist at all or meant something completely different. However, other words’ connotations have also changed: “Luna”, “Hever” and “Zoom” to name but a few. Christmas is a time of hope and rarely have so many people needed hope. In that spirit, this summary of our year will try and look at the positives while acknowledging the difficulties and challenges that we, and so many others, have faced.
The year started like so many others, watching the fireworks on tv the morning after knowing that nowadays being awake at midnight only happens when a child decides they wanted you awake at that time. As we made a number of resolutions, most of which didn’t see the end of the month, Mark said he wanted to work more from home. Sometimes Mark has been accused of taking things a bit too far! Mark also started a blog and roped in a couple of willing volunteers for film reviews and culinary critique.
Emily also decided to bring her work home with her more often and in early March brought the virus back for a visit. Being ill is no fun, being ill with young kids is less fun, being ill with young kids and not able to have any support because of quarantine sucks. Still, we were a lot luckier than many people and after a couple of weeks had recovered to find that while we were not looking the world had gone into lockdown.
Even with all the luxuries we have like tvs, a garden and a veritable library of books, there is a limit to how much time one can spend in close confines without an element of cabin fever kicking in. As people went to greater and greater lengths to entertain themselves, our little princess turned 4 and revealed, what we already knew, that she was also secretly a superhero and occasional witch.
It is amazing how many things we take for granted: seeing friends and family, going on trips, being able to pop to the shops and buy toilet roll. As summer rolled around it looked like we would be able to do these things again. Our first family experience of a drive-in cinema didn’t go that well, the car battery died, but seeing family again was even more special as Amy and Joseph’s cousin, Louis, was born in June. One other family addition was our kitten, Luna. A bit like a baby, it is hard to describe how something so small can make such a difference to our world but she has. She warmed most to Mark, probably due to the two of them spending many hours locked in the study together, but warmed even more to Mark’s computer, particularly when he was trying to work or video conference.
You should be wary what promises you make. When Joseph started at school we promised that each year we would take him to the castle for which his class was named. It was therefore slightly upsetting when this year he was placed in Tintagel, which is, quite literally, the other end of the country. Still, having being inspired by Carry On Camping, the car was packed and we were off. Hundreds of books are written about stopping and reconnecting with the simple things yet nothing could have brought this into more stark relief than a few days with just us and a tent (okay and a kettle but Em without her morning tea is still not worth contemplating). We could feel a whole letter with our experiences (and Mark did indeed write about it on his aforementioned blog) but we would summarise by saying it was probably our best holiday ever.
September rolled around and the unthinkable happened, Amy went to school. We could barely believe how she could be old enough but at least the sadness of waving her goodbye was tinged with relief that she had been placed in Hever class, a journey of just 20 minutes down the road! The start of the term also saw Joseph turn 7 and restrictions lifted just long enough for us to be able to take him to Harry Potter world (it also allowed grandma to bake another spectacular cake). Daddy’s plan to start endearing his children to boarding school is clearly working!
So what does 2021 hold? We hope it continues to hold amazing family adventures, time together and appreciation for the many blessings we have.
We wish everyone a blessed Christmas and a happy and healthy 2021.