Life After COVID

 Everything slowed down in 2020, and yet nothing really stopped.

In the last post I mentioned a few things that ended before COVID really hit, but everything go much slower on my birthday, March 13, 2020. My husband and I had made plans to go out to dinner and I had tons of birthday coupons yet to use. Our usual birthday outing was to Texas de Brazil, which was in Tyler. But, as it was a buffet, we didn’t trust it and then the next day it was closed along with many other places.

We were near the end of spring break and everything was suddenly up in the air. The university messaged all faculty and students to tell them to take another week of break while the administration made plans. I heard of this while standing in the living room of a friend. She got a text from a parent of a student who had just gotten the email. We raced home to see what that meant for my husband. He was on standby.

Different schools handled the shutdown in different ways. LeTourneau University decided to have students remain at home or go home for the rest of the semester. There were a few international students that were stuck on campus until they could get cleared to leave the country, but otherwise all were dismissed. That didn’t mean the school year was over. My dear husband had to figure out how to both teach and lead physics labs remotely! There are some subjects that are just as easy to teach, or nearly so, over the internet than others. Lab sciences are impossible.

Somehow we got through the year- just another 6 weeks. We watched as hospitals were overrun, people were dying, and pundits argued over one more thing. For some, life ramped up- essential workers and medical staff. For many, life slowed. It was nice in some ways to have my husband home. His work took less time after an initial learning curve to get the camera to work well and schedule class times. We were at home a lot but tried to get out in nature, as well.

That summer, we still took our trip to Michigan. It was a 10 day trip- 5 days at my in-laws and 5 in a hotel. Several members of my family were still working with the public and my in-laws felt unsafe with us going back and forth between each family. The 5 days with my in-laws were nice and peaceful- we read books and the kids played outside. I did have my usual breakfast with Christie and time with Keoina (oldest friends).

Kids enjoying Frosty Boy ice cream

The second week at the hotel was interesting. There were no ice buckets, limited room cleaning, no dining services, and no pool open. We essentially used it just for sleeping and spent the read of the time with my parents. The trip covered the 4th of July, but all city celebrations had been canceled. We did some small fireworks at my mom’s house. When we returned to the hotel around dusk, the parking lot was packed with locals! Our hotel was on one of the highest hills in Grand Rapids and they had all come to watch the illegal fireworks being shot up by dozens of people in town.

We gained two new members of the family in 2020! My husband’s brother married and his sister married! We experienced the sister’s wedding virtually, and Milli, Ed, and I sang a song in the virtual choir. The wedding was in May in Kentucky and it was very well done! Besides the choir song (prerecorded and pasted together like the Brady Bunch) there was a virtual reception and toast. The local Kentucky family were present and the wedding was lovely.

Tim is sitting next to Milli on the left and Lindsay is under Teddy on the right.

Ed’s brother and his wife married in an outdoor ceremony in the fall, so we only saw pictures. It was in Maryland in the mountains. We would have loved to have been there, but we also did not want to have life completely put on hold. Our new in-laws are loved and we all got together in summer of 2021 to celebrate.

Our fall trip home was completely canceled, as was our Christmas trip. That meant that after almost 9 years in Texas, we spent our first Christmas here.

Our kids were excited to get a tree. We got it from Ellis Pottery and each tree is named there. Ours was Ratchet. We set up Edward’s train set for the second time ever. I was sad to miss family celebrations, especially since all of my family live in the same town and got together. We called, but it wasn’t the same. Still, we 4 were together and did have a nice day. We opened presents on the Eve and sang carols on the day. We spent most of Christmas Day with our friends, The Metzgers, who were our pod during all things COVID. Our family members combined made 10, which was the upper limit allowed to gather at one point. We also did church together and some friends and family joined virtually. I led music and Edward preached.

In the fall of 2020, Ed’s job didn’t exactly go back to normal, but did get close. Students came back to campus and had regular COVID testing, including the day of arrival. There was contact tracing and quarantining and all around caution, but classes did resume. Anyone who was in quarantine could watch virtually and we had zero outbreaks.

I got my first vaccine shot on my birthday that year and my second on Maundy Thursday. Ed got his shot in May after classes let out. Neither of us got sick, a little achiness and some swelling, but that was all. By summer 2021, we had mostly resumed pre-COVID life with some masking at times.

Even though we came through the pandemic completely unscathed, we still pray it never happens again. And our hearts go out to all who lost so much more.