When school was cancelled March 12, we easily transitioned to online learning. It sucked that my kids couldn't be with their friends, but my kids are smart and good students, so they excelled at online learning. They read more books (because their mom saw library shut downs coming and ran to the library and took out literally almost 100 books). We went for daily walks together. Soccer and softball were cancelled, which was sad, but karate and dance transitioned to Zoom, so my kids still got to do things they loved. We played soccer and softball as a family to keep up our skills. Sunshine taught herself to crochet. We painted pottery. We built new desks. Sunshine's birthday was not the same, but her closest friends came by and stood in the driveway to talk, decorated the porch, and chalked the driveway. Even our neighbor put Happy Birthday signs in their window for her. The day was not how she planned, but it was still special. Monster's birthday was a little tougher because we have a baseball tradition, but baseball was cancelled. Boys are different than girls, so there was no porch decorating or sidewalk chalking. Monster doesn't need any of that, though. He still had a great day and we made it special. My parents were able to come, sit outside with masks, 6 feet away, and enjoy a cookout to celebrate. I almost cut my finger off, which actually makes a funny story for this birthday.
Online school ended and we moved into summer. My kids missed out on so many of the "graduation" things because they were in transition grades, one to high school, one to middle school. People in our community rallied to make the kids in these transition grades feel special. June 3, things slowly started opening back up. Sunshine got to head back into the dance studio and Monster got to head back to the dojo. Our summer nights were slower with no softball, but that doesn't mean we weren't busy. Summer brought almost daily hikes at places we've never been. We "traveled" around the different Metroparks to try out as many different trails as we could. Sunshine took up tennis and added a summer dance class. Monster tested for his next level black belt and started teaching his own classes. Monster took online classes to get a jump start on high school and get some basics out of the way so he had room in his schedule for classes he wanted to take, like Computer Science. Sunshine saw her BFF more this summer than she had since they were about 5 (outside and distanced). We got to try out paddle boarding for the first time, and learned we really like it! We spent more time at my mother-in-law's lake house (just the 4 of us, to not spread germs). We had more campfires and s'mores this summer than ever before. We did fun activities we normally don't have time for, like cupcake wars and research projects (yes, this is fun for my family). We still got to do some of our traditional summer activities like pick strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries.
Fall came along and seemed to go by in the blink of an eye. We had karate and dance as usual, but also got to have a soccer season. Even though it was shortened, it was better than nothing. We still got to hang out with Sunshine's BFF more than normal. Kids started school online, which allowed time for our family walks. After 4 weeks, kids went back to school, one full time, one two days a week. Two days a week gave me and Monster a lot of one on one time. He and I took some beautiful hikes and have deepened our relationship. Sunshine got to actually interact with her friends more since there was in-person school. Once again, her friends showed her how much she means to them. She had to be quarantined over Halloween due to close contact at school (she was fine). Her friends rallied and brought her stuff to pass her time. Since her Halloween plans were destroyed, her BFF came over and we sat, 6 feet away and masked, in our driveway and talked.
The transition into winter has been a little tougher. Kids moved back into online schooling the week before Thanksgiving. Unfortunately for Sunshine, she had only been back in school for 3 days before school shutting down again. However, this transition to online learning was much easier. High school has more instruction time than they have had all year. Middle school teachers are amazing and have done such a great job making online learning the best they can. My kids are actually learning, which is great. Yes, it's different. Yes, it's more difficult than in person, but the teachers have done a great job. Thanksgiving was low key and extremely relaxing. Dec 1, Ohio decided it was time for some snow and we actually had our first (and by the sound of it, only) snow day of the year. My kids went sledding and played out in the snow for hours. Sunshine was able to take part in a street "parade" dance. Monster got to test his first private student in karate. We've baked dozens upon dozens of cookies. We've still taken a multitude of walks. As soon as the ski resort is able to make snow, we've got our days booked to go.
Even though my anxiety has been off the charts and there were days I didn't think I would make it through, I can't deny we've still had a good year. December has been harder than anticipated, but we're getting through. No matter what my mental state, there are truths that demand to be seen. The truth is, 2020 had some seriously sucky moments, but overall, it was a pretty good year.