To be fair, 2020 could have been documented much earlier in this year with more details fresh in my head as the year was passing by. But honestly, I am writing this piece to prove that even in one of the toughest and oddest year, there have been blessings - a lot more family time, time of looking inward, getting in touch with friends and growth indeed both individually and for my family.
The year kicked off with my MBA core classes at Baylor, since I had chosen the online program there was no worry about additional driving/commute time but it was certainly challenging to adjust to studying on top of juggling all the other aspects of life including work and dance classes as my side hustle. Once I made it through the first term (Jan - Feb), March was when the whole pandemic impact began in the USA.
Closer to mid-March, I was panicking about COVID-19 with the rest of the world and since we have family back in India we had already been kept abreast about new actions being taken by the Indian Government to control the spread of the virus. In the meantime, we learnt about Europe starting to get impacted and it was around this time the schools were shut and the social distancing rules were set here.
Once the Spring break was over, my husband was working from home, which is the first time ever in his life! School campuses were being shut along with most of the businesses closing doors - my son was overjoyed and I was overwhelmed. We had planned a trip to India at the beginning of April for a family event and were looking forward to a mini reunion with extended family as well. My maternal grandparents had enough kids to form a cricket team and therefore the descendants are today are about 3 dozen...(yea, wow indeed)! We started realizing that the trip may need to be cancelled. Due to my travel plan I had not signed up for Spring Term 2 at Baylor and dance classes were stopped; it allowed flexibility and a hope of survival.
March and April were probably most stressful time of the year with the shock of having to be an elementary teacher, setup some sane routine for 3 of us to function somewhat effectively from home while managing grocery and other home supplies issues as the society was still grasping with the news. Yes, toilet roll supplies were an issue but luckily we were pretty well stocked with the same. Our issues were getting milk delivered/picked up. We would keep a tab on developments in Europe and specially Italy since it was the highlighted warning of what our country will look like in a few months of the pandemic impact.
As far as kiddo's school was concerned, they did an excellent job of adjusting to virtual schooling, my son's kinder teacher was beyond amazing and weekly google slides and reading on tablet became a normal at home. We made sure to go on bike rides, take walks and make the best use of family time specially in the Spring weather and formed a daily health routine. Before, we knew it the last day of Kinder was here and it was time to kick off summer break without any summer camps planned...
In the meantime, I signed up for Summer terms at Baylor and was able to handle multiple classes , reduce my hours at work and maintained my sanity with evening walks/bike rides. I had some late nights and early mornings all worth it. By this time I had completed Strategic Communication, Managerial Accounting, Operations Management, Managing for Higher Performance classes. I was onto working on Marketing Analysis and Corporate Finance classes. Both Professors were good and I really enjoyed the Marketing analysis class, my first time truly enjoying Marketing.
My son in the meantime was adjusting to learning through Zoom - Taekwondo and Abacus were added to his classes. He continued Hindi language class on Zoom. He also picked up an interest in reading to himself we added a lot of new books to his collection. We also had spaced out playdate arrangements for him with his best friend through out Summer which was such a blessing. As a family we met with them a couple of times a month and we grew closer too. This gave us something to look forward to as well outside of work and exercise routines. I still hadn't gone back to the dance studio and I was spending most of my weekend on MBA work.
By mid August, my son was now starting 1st grade and we were so excited for him even if it was virtual learning. By now, the school has added a cloud based schooling site with a bunch of apps to keep the reading and math exercises going. Initially there were some adjustments but within a month my son adapted so well and we were amazed with his independence. Library pickups from school was a quick drive through and so was meeting the teacher too.
By now, we are used to wearing masks everywhere and always have spare ones in the car. We were experts at timing our curbside pickups from H-E-B and planning for Costco deliveries. As the stores adjusted to the new way of life, a lot of improvements came about in the ordering and delivery process. If anything Amazon purchases increased for us. My husband has started a routine badminton meetup, played tennis for the first time. We celebrated his last 30 something birthday as well!
When I was in Fall Term1 of Baylor MBA taking Communicating with Data and Economics, we could feel the family getting burnt out and the board games didn't really make up for it. Being indoors for long term, not able to go out or even explore parks drove us nuts. We decided it would be worth the risk to visit a beach now that Summer break was gone. There was Columbus day break in mid October and were targeting the same. The timing was perfect for me too since I would have a break in Baylor at the same time too. We narrowed down to South Padre Island and were super excited to find a reasonably priced condo.
The getaway was like a dream - we rented a minivan to fit us all, overpacked our suitcases, had boxes of food packed and stopped at a couple of great restaurants which had outdoor seating on our way to and back from the island. I have always wanted to visited South Padre and I think it was perfect given the circumstances. Our condo offered 2 pool areas and 1 of them was never packed. We were at a 2 minute walking distance from the beach and the crowd was minimal there too. Kids loved playing with the beach waves, I enjoyed collecting shells and listening to the sound of the beach felt like so nostalgic. I did ziplining for the first time and we parasailed on a lagoon area. The view of the island from parasailing made us realize how tiny the island was. We had dinner at a cafe by the beach and it was a perfect way to wrap up the trip. On our way back, Corpus Christi had an amazing Thai restaurant where we had lunch and kept us content until we returned to Austin. The following days of laundry and living in the trip memories were so worth it....Of course, we wanted to go back and re-do it!
On Thanksgiving weekend, we got a break from assignments which allowed me time to bake a chocolate cake and a pumpkin cheese roll. Both turned out better than my expectation and we were happy to gather with 2 families and share our space.
Late October to end of November felt like a blur because I rejoined teaching kids dance classes (via Zoom) and was working on Business Statistics class and it was a damn tough topic. I did my best and worked real hard for an A grade. All of this month has been spent in a lot of TV (Queen's Gambit, Emily in Paris, Mirzapur, Criminal Justice to name a few), extra sleep, more cooking, gathering and holiday movies. For the first time, I met with a Career Counselor to look inward at where my true interest lies and why I have a constant lack of fulfillment with my career. In the coming year, I'll be focused on career change, reading more books and working on self-worth.
I'll be soon back to the juggling of all activities in early January but I have also been doing some soul searching. Before that I wanted to pour down my thoughts and have this piece written to realize how much we have done as a family both together and individually.
Son -
b) Taekwondo : Earned Senior white and Yellow belts!
c) Hindi : Continuing student and prepping for a play in Jan!
d) Badminton, Badminton: New sports he is learning the techniques for!
Husband -
c) Tennis : New sport that he is learning; Badminton: Got back to it and now part of a group.
Wow ! what a year ! And as we wrap up we look forward to soon being vaccinated against the deadly COVID-19. May hope shine upon us as we continue to the unknown....
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