What a Year!!!!

What a year 2020 has been. 

 Coronavirus has virtually dominated the whole world and the way we live our lives have altered for all.  We haven't been able to do all the things we would normally enjoy do,  due  to the national and local tiered restrictions imposed on us.  We haven't been able to visit friends and family, enjoys holidays and breaks away, do so called normal things like shopping and visits to cafes and restaurants and for some people haven't even been able to work.  To say the very least, this year has been tough for all.

On a personal level, I've been lucky in the fact that I only experienced a very tiny period off on furlough and I am currently still working.  My husband also has been able to work throughout the pandemic, although he has been working from home.

I haven't felt much like shopping so have only been shopping in the supermarkets if I can't get an online delivery.  Anything else I am afraid have come from Amazon.  We were unable to go on holiday to Croatia in May but we were lucky to have two short breaks away  before the pandemic hit to Lingfield Races for our friends 50th Birthday and to my brothers in early March to visit Oxford, and  another break  to Windsor to visit another friend for his birthday in August time 

I have mostly missed seeing my friends and family.  My husband and I have only seen our nearest family on only a few occasions, and I have seen even less of my friends this year which has been hard.

Apart from the pandemic, we have also been dealing with another C word.  My husbands cancer diagnosis and subsequent operation in October.  Cancer at any time is hard but it has felt devastating in the middle of a pandemic.  Luckily Adam was able to visit his doctor, was diagnosed extremely quickly after  various tests and had his operation all within about eight weeks.  Some people in the world haven't  been as fortunate and cancer have gone undiagnosed and in some cases people have lost lives because all concentrated efforts have been placed on Covid and not on cancer detection and diagnosis and in some cases even treatments.  Adam is doing well at present and is being monitored regularly.The NHS has been a godsend and I am so thankful that I live in the UK and can benefit from the healthcare it provides.  They have done so much for Adam and I will be eternally grateful.

A few posts ago, I posted that Adam and I had a new kitten called Disney.  Unfortunately we lost her at the end of November after a very short illness that she was too weak to recover from.  She was just 5 and a half months old.  We are absolutely heartbroken.  She was only in our lives for three months but boy, she has left a huge hole in our hearts.  She was such a character, so playful and loving and full of life right up until the end.  She will always be my little baby and we will always love her and miss her forever.

This year if nothing else has been about cherishing what is most important to me  in life.  It has been about my friends  and keeping in contact with those as often as I can.  It has been about being grateful for my job and the fact that I still have a job, as so  many have lost their jobs this year.  It is cherishing the fact I have a roof over my head and food on the table.  It is about having a little time to start organising my house abit more.  (I used my six weeks of furlough to sort out my back bedroom and turn it into a reading room/office for Adam).  It has been about my family and them being safe and well . It has  been about my fur babies.  But most of all it has been about Adam. for him to be here and for us to be together through these awful times. 

I am hoping that 2021 is a better year.  That the vaccines will be readily available soon and that in a few months we will be able to return to a more normal existence and that we can enjoy the freedoms that I took for granted before Covid 19. I hope that 2021 is a better year for Adam and that he continues to stay healthy and cancer free.  I hope that we will be able to spend much more time together with my family and friends and as my mother in law put it in a Christmas card to make more memories.

I am glad to say good riddance to 2020 and I am sure most of the world will say the same.

Here's to 2021 !!!

Love Lesley x