Our 2020 story

The year that just keeps on giving…and not in a good way!

Hey all! It’s been a hot second since I have posted anything. I had the best plans to actively post on here but a little thing called “Coronavirus” came (maybe you have heard of it?) and everything went downhill from there.

I am sure everyone has their own personal 2020 story and how their world has been turned upside down and I thought I would share my story with you all. I am a stay at home mom to special needs twins with a husband who is a police officer. Because emotions are high for everyone right now, I feel i just need to start off by staying that the point of this post is to just tell what my world has looked like, not to make this a comparison of who has it worse. Everyone is struggling with something right now. Maybe you can relate to what I have been feeling or maybe my story can give you different perspective or maybe you just want to laugh along with me of how ridiculous 2020 has been.

Pre-Covid 2020

Way back in January 2020 (basically a lifetime ago) I was hopeful that 2020 was going to THE year. I was going to Disney world at the end of January with my best friend, was working on a plan to take a road trip to the beaches in Florida with the family, I was going to grow my blog, and the boys were going to start Kindergarten in the Fall which meant I was finally going to have time to figure my own personal life again with them being in school full time.

Thankfully I was still able to start the year by going on my Disney Girls Trip. I remember while my BFF and I were galavanting around the parks we were hearing murmurings about this thing called the “coronavirus” and how it was making its way around China. Jokes were made about beer and we discussed on how we weren’t that worried about the virus since we were told to worry about the bird flu, SARS, H1N1, etc, and those all turned out to be manageable. Turned out jokes on us.

It’s happening…

By the time March came around I realized things were not looking good. Everyone knew that the virus was coming but I am pretty sure we were all in denial of what life would look like once the virus arrived. I remember going to Costco with my mom that first week of March and being greeted with a big sign on their door listing the items that they were sold out of. The panic buying had started and Costco was already out of toilet paper, diapers, rice, paper towels, hand sanitizer and handful of other things. I was just going to Costco to get my standard bulk size of chips, gluten-free chicken nuggets and chocolate….you know, the necessities… not realizing maybe I should be panic buying toilet paper and rice. When my mom and I were walking around Costco we couldn’t stop saying how weird things felt and knew things were only going to get weirder. We were also suddenly concerned about own supply of toilet paper supply and started doing math on how long we thought it was going to last if we couldn’t find toilet paper for awhile. At the time we were also confused on why toilet paper was something that people were stocking up on since it was supposedly a respiratory virus and not a GI virus. Later I learned panic buying toilet paper was a thing that people did around the world when any crisis was about to strike. This is one of the many, many things I have learned in 2020.

My biggest concern when I left Costco that day was realizing that my two boys at home were fighting off a fever the last few days and we were running low on Tylenol. I had to check 3 stores to find Tylenol for them since pain relievers were also a thing people had started panic buying.

The following day I was still blissfully ignorant that anything was really going to change. I had already come to terms that a few items might be randomly sold out and that was something I could manage. I went to go do my regular weekly Target run that day and expected just to see a few bare spots in the aisles. Once I got there I quickly realized that more than just a few items were going to be sold out. I started going down aisles and seeing full aisles empty and started looking around and seeing people just filling their carts full to the brim of whatever they could get their hands on.

I was trying to make myself not panic and just be ok with my normal weekly supply of food I had in my cart when I went to go check out and found that the line to actually check out was all the way to the back of the store. I had never seen anything like it and I worked Black Friday at Target back in the day! I sat there in line for about an hour and nervously made jokes with the customers around me while also eyeing up what other people had in their carts and trying not freak out about what I could possibly be missing. Did I too need all the canned beans? Was I going to be devastated when I didn’t have every flavor of jelly stocked in my pantry? Were my kids suddenly going to want all the pickles? Do I have enough band aids if I were to accidentally slice all my fingers off?

I honestly don’t know what triggered the mass crowd that day at Target. Nothing was officially closing, no major announcement was made that day…I am just guessing everyone was sensing what was coming? I believe it was the following day, Friday the 13th, when we got the announcement about the “Stay At Home” order was going to take place. The last “normal” day we all had was on a Friday the 13th. If that doesn’t sum up 2020, I don’t know what does!

Quarantine Time

Our state of Minnesota used the term “Stay at home order” to make it sound not so bad but let’s just call it what it was, quarantine. In the beginning of quarantine it wasn’t too bad. Everyone had the attitude about being in this together and that we could make it through as long as we helped each other through this all. We had people painting rocks with inspirational messages and placing them around the city, sing along shows on TV that were created to raise people’s spirits, educators rallied to figure out how to still teach children virtually, families organized parades for birthdays and graduations..the list goes on! And we can’t forget about the thing that really brought us all together…Tiger King. The miraculous gem that Netflix dropped at the exact right moment in time!

Over those 3 months of quarantine (or was it 2 months? or maybe it was 16 years…I can’t remember anymore!) I did my best to keep my high energy kids entertained. Many messes were made, lots of time was spent outside, went on 2 million car rides and tried to be as creative as I could to keep them happy. I was also supposed to be having the kids do virtual learning for their Pre-K class but that was a complete bust and they would scream and freak out every time I tried to get them to participate. Awesome. We were also in the process of updating the boys IEP (individual education plan) for the coming year but that was halted in the midst of all this and still remains an uncompleted mess to this day. Along with attempting to become the boys teacher over quarantine, I also became my husband’s hair stylist (I gave some questionable quarantine cuts), and I became a personal shopper for my parents since they are both in the high-risk category.

As time ticked on, we got creative on how we could still try have the boys see their grandparents or how we could still safely see our families with less fear of infecting someone. With my husband being an “essential worker” we were constantly a more risky family to be around. We started having fence visits where the grandparents would come and see us on the other side of the fence to try to get the boys to understand the whole social distancing thing. We also did driveway parties, birthday parades and weekly zoom calls to feel like we were still celebrating and seeing each other. I didn’t love quarantine time but it felt like everyone was managing and doing what they could do to make the best of it. However, the this was the calm before the storm.

All the things then went from bad to worse…

Everyone had a different opinion on how things should be handled when the pandemic broke out and that is to be expected. However, as time crept on you could see difference in opinion getting stronger and more divided. Do we all have to wear masks? Or do we get to choose? Do we keep business open or closed? What do we do about restaurants? Salons? Sporting Events? Are the death rates and positive cases the numbers they say they are or is a conspiracy theory? It seemed overnight that the virus was now a political problem. It’s a virus and it is literally a world wide problem and not just a United States problem so why is it political? Suddenly a large population of people began acting like the whole world wasn’t suffering from this pandemic and this was all created because it is an election year and anything to do with controlling the virus had a hidden political agenda. I get that this election year is probably one of the most important one we have had in a long time and tensions are high but why does EVERYTHING need to be political?

Just when we thought tensions were high enough, on May 25, George Floyd, a black male, is killed by a white police officer in Minneapolis. I live in a suburb of Minneapolis and my husband is a police officer. The month following the death of George Floyd was intense and terrifying. The city of Minneapolis was literally on fire and riots raged on for days. Many stores within a 50 mile radius closed down and boarded up their windows and doors. At night I would hear military helicopters flying overhead and that is not a sound I want to ever hear again. I was terrified of my husband going to work each day not sure of what kind hate or danger he was going to be greeted with. I was worried for my family that we would be discovered to be a law enforcement family and would be targeted for violence and vandalism.

I agree with the Black Lives Matter Movement. I believe George Floyd was murdered. I also know that racism is a live and well and we all need to do better. I understand that BIPOC have been treated poorly and subjected to terrible things for years and many, many things need to change and they have the right to be angry and protest. I can also support police and worry about my husbands safety and my family’s safety. I am sad that I live in a world that I can’t believe in two separate view points with out being hated on. I don’t want to pick a side and I don’t think people should be forced into choosing a side.

So, to recap so far…covid, quarantine, no toilet paper, election year and civil unrest. What hasn’t been mentioned were the crazy wildfires on the West Coast, murder hornets that were coming from Asia, crazy dust storms hit southern US, UFOs were confirmed by the government, there was a land locked hurricane in Iowa (didn’t even know that was thing), and Kanye West is trying to run for President under this own political party, The Birthday Party. I know there is more but this what I can recall at this moment. Oh, and pre-pandemic Kobe Bryant died in helicopter crash and most of Australia burned due to out of control wild fires. Good times…good times.

What’s to come…

Well, we have a little less than 3 months left to 2020. So far, I have already decided to homeschool the boys this school year. I am sad that their first year of school is not looking how I thought it would. However, I know this is the best decision for all of us (full post on Homeschool coming soon!). We also have the election coming up in November and I am trying not to get too paranoid about how everyone is going react regardless of the outcome. So, even though we have less than 3 months left, still a lot more can happen in this already crazy year! I mean, I am supposed to teach my kids…that alone is scary!

Despite it all, I have trying very hard to remain positive and trying to spread any form of happiness on to people when I can. Don’t get me wrong, I have been basically a hot mess most of 2020 with lots of ugly crying and forgetting to brush my teeth more days than I care to admit BUT I am really trying to remain positive. I think the universe is trying to tell us all to slow the heck down, look inward and reflect. As much as all of this has been really scary and depressing, I also have learned a lot. I mean, if this pandemic never would have happened, I wouldn’t have learned the names of the Governors in every other state (this mostly useless information will be retained in my head but I still won’t remember why I walked into the kitchen)!

Now if you read this far, congrats on surviving my ramblings about 2020! Another thing you can add to your list of things you survived in 2020!

How are you all dealing with 2020? What have you done to try and keep your sanity these last 9 months? Let me know in the comments!

AND

May the odds be ever in your favor!

-Danielle