20/20! The year held so much enchantment. While I was still at school, I wrote an article for the Soubirous College yearbook about life in 2020. It was totally fanciful, though much of what I imagined has long been part of our lives. The rest will only ever exist in my dreams. But there was a dream-like quality in the very name of the year. I was not the only one who was fascinated by the magic of the year. People have talked for decades about what we could expect by then.
The reality has been totally different. Rather than a dream, many of us have experienced a nightmare. For me personally, it has been a year of uncertainty healthwise. Part way through last year, I was diagnosed with a non-hodgkin lymphoma - a cancer of the blood. Chemotherapy continued until February 2020 and was then followed by radiation therapy. I have been fortunate that I seem to have responded well to the treatments, though I am still waiting for final test results.
I have never been particularly vain, having not much physically to be vain about. However, even after my thick auburn hair turned to much thinner white hair, I have to admit I was rather proud of my locks. Losing my hair was a shock, though I consoled myself with the thought that I had a nicely shaped head and it wasn't too upsetting when I looked in the mirror (after a while!). Then, one day I went to see the movie, 'Little Women'. It was a favourite of mine from my first reading of it when I was about 10. I knew the story. I knew what was coming. I knew Jo cut off her long hair to sell to provide money for the family. What I didn't know was that when she cried, I would too. In fact I cried for several hours. When I tried to explain what was wrong, I cried again. I felt so sorry for myself. Another time, I woke up crying from a dream where something in my life had gone wrong and I was punished by having my hair cropped. By then I had finished all my treatment. I should have been rejoicing that my health had recovered but I was crying over hair that would soon grow. And it is growing. One day soon I will swallow my vanity and appear au naturel in public.
But I am only a very small casualty of the year 2020.. This year we are suffering from a global pandemic where, so far, five and a half million people world wide have contracted the Coronavirus, Covid 19. There have been over 400,000 deaths with more to come as it continues to spread. The USA alone has over 100,000 fatalities because it was not taken seriously in the early stages. Here in Australia, deaths have been about 100 (far too many, of course) but our Prime Minister, Premiers and Health experts reacted quickly to the threat and made decisions that changed our lives - and saved our lives!
From being a global village, we are now isolated. International flights and shipping have come almost to a standstill. We don't expect that there will be leisure travel overseas in the next year, at the very least - maybe longer. There are very few domestic flights, if any, as all Australian states have closed their borders. Anyone travelling from one state to another has to self-quarantine for two weeks. In the past couple of weeks, as infections seem to have slowed, some travel has been permitted. Here in Queensland, we can now travel 150 km from home, but only on a day trip - no overnight stays or camping. We are now allowed to have 5 people visit us in our homes. Hotels, cafes, restaurants are allowed no more than 10 customers at a time, so many have elected to stay closed. Many businesses remain closed with employees working from home when possible. Essential workers face the everyday insecurities of possible contact
Our children went back to school today after about 2 months at home. As they had only just started their new year and new class, today was a very anxious time. Kids had to get back into the classroom, getting to know their teachers again and re-establishing friendships that had scarcely been made, especially for those going into a new school or moving from primary to secondary school. They have had access to on-line learning with varying amounts of success. The worry for many of them is how they can catch up. This is particularly so for Year 12 students who have missed vital months of learning as they prepared for University and careers next year. For many tertiary students, their dream of University faded as only distance learning was available, not the total change of education they expected.
There has been unimaginable disruption to our lives this year, and still more to come as this virus maybe around for months or years. I have been reluctant to write about the year as it has been so different from anything we could have imagined when we put those magical numbers together. But it is reality for us this year and important to record some of the events that have made up the first part of 2020.
