You know what kind of year this was! The year we were all put into time out for our continuing pattern of bad behavior. It had the potential to be a devastating year in many ways. Some trauma came to fruition while other categories in my personal life achieved growth and found prosperity during a pandemic.
Ironically there were indications late in 2019 that a China trip I had planned for April of this year would not happen. Not due to Covid but due to my chosen dates not being filled with anyone traveling except me. The trip was officially canceled in early January by the tour company I had signed up with saving me thousands of dollars that would be needed elsewhere in the coming months.
My mother's health continued to decline from Alzheimer's and dementia. Her home care wasn't up to adequacy resulting in her having to go to a nursing home in late January. January also began our search for a winter getaway home which we found. Then came a relaxing trip to New Orleans in February just as Mardi Gras was starting. We then took a Western Caribbean cruise from New Orleans. So we were in environments that were to become Covid spreaders due to the closeness of contact during Mardi Gras parades and on cruise ships.
March brought the full blown impact of Covid as it spread throughout the United States. This put an end to normal routines such as going to restaurants, movies, or spending time with relatives and friends. Masks became a new required fashion accessory that would save your life. People we knew started getting ill from Covid and some died.
One thing Covid brought to my life was financial discipline. I no longer was spending money on discretionary items. The Veterans administration finally resolved a claim for benefits that I had filed on my mother's behalf some two years before. The lump sum payment of retroactive benefits she was owed came right on time as her nursing home stay ended. This got her out of a dangerous Covid environment and allowed her to return home where she passed away a month later. The retroactive VA benefits paid for her 24 hour professional homecare her last month of life. God worked it out that way.
We closed on our winter getaway home in July. My spouse retired in late December. Under the grace of God we have both avoided the deadly effects of Covid, so far. The promise of a vaccine is on the horizon. We never go without food. We have more than one place to live. We can pay our bills on our fixed retirement incomes. Our health is good.
I grew spiritually during this year. I am at the point where my writing skills are now being utilized in the church. My other writing and research projects are going well. I am doing what I want to do. Covid helped to keep me away from people and situations that were not good for me personally. Covid refocused my mind on what I should be focused on. Covid helped me manage my financial resources better.
I still have my human faults. But I am a better person than I was on December 30, 2019. The ways of the world have always failed me. I no longer seek the glory of this world.
2021. It may get better, it could be worse. All I can say is so far with one day left, I have survived a world wide pandemic. In the United States, some 300,000 people did not.
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