2020 my review
January began typically with me starting a new planner, setting goals for the year, and generally trying to be organized. I plugged along at my quilting jobs, volunteered for costuming the upcoming high school theater production of Phantom of the Opera, worked a couple of days each week as a substitute school nurse, and visited a couple of colleges with my youngest son (Belmont and Georgia Tech). Kevin got the flu in the middle of the month, went to the doctor where he passed out and hit his head earning him a trip to the ER and stitches in his scalp. I dropped everything and made the three hour trip to take care of him. I am a firm believer in homemade chicken soup as a remedy for illness. I avoided getting sick thanks to handwashing and Lysol.
February saw me continuing a couple of days per week subbing at different schools in the clinic, enjoying a book club with friends, volunteering for the high school band and also getting to go to SETC, which is a theater competition, in Louisville, KY, as the nurse. There was talk of covid19, but things were still pretty normal.
I was able to attend the Broadway Theater League Gala featuring Kristin Chenoweth with my friend Pam A. It was a good night and the last event for us together for the year sadly.
March ushered in with excitement for the high school production of Phantom. Chandler had a minor lead role and A LOT of energy and resources had gone into getting this ready. But there was murmuring of having to cancel due to the pandemic sweeping through. Fortunately, they were able to have performances for one weekend and it was great. Little did we know it would be the last live event for a long time. We were thinking this would just last until the end of the school year and in the fall things would return to normal. Ha! All of the schools in the district shut down the Mar 17 and pretty suddenly. That left me without my sub nursing job. Also in March Chandler and I were scheduled to go to Germany/Austria/Czech Republic with the band, but that got cancelled as well.
Chandler and his friends after final music performance assessment for band.A
April saw everything on my calendar cancelled, work, quilt group meetings, 5k races, a trip to Paducah for the big quilt show. This is the time of year for a senior in high school to enjoy all of the accolades during awards ceremonies, band banquets, etc. All cancelled. The school did on line presentations, but it just wasn’t the same. Pam A's birthday was celebrated with a drive by party and I "Flamingoed" her yard and made her favorite apple cake. Chandler also totaled "Old Blue" in April. I was with him and nobody got hurt except our 12 year old pilot.
May brought more of the same disappointment. Our middle son, Jackson, was set to graduate Auburn - cancelled. HHS prom - cancelled. Senior picnics, graduation parties, graduation, battle of the bands all cancelled. What a disappointing end to the educational careers for these kids. With Chandler graduating and heading off to college it was time for me to start the transition to Memphis to be with Kevin again. So in early May I went to Memphis to look at a house. The second house we looked at we liked, and put an offer in, which after much negotiation was accepted. Something good, yay!
We were able to do our own cap and gown photo shoot with the friend group.
In June I worked steadily on finishing up the quilting business I had. We closed on the new house June 15 and agreed to let the previous owners rent back from us until their house was built the end of October. The high school did have a graduation ceremony in June. Again, just not the same with only half the class at each session and with distancing, masks, etc. At least there was a ceremony. Chandler was scheduled for orientation at Auburn (Camp War Eagle). Normally the freshmen stay a couple of nights in a dorm for the process. He had to attend on line. But still moving forward with the process of attending college in the fall.
During the lockdown I also picked up new hobbies (as if I need anything else to do), watercolors and bread baking.
During July I finished all quilting jobs and shut down my business of 7 years. I packed it all up and moved everything to the house, including the longarm machine. The boys all helped me get it moved. I booked some PODS for the big move. There is absolutely no social activity happening because of the virus. It is giving me plenty of time for packing. During July Jackson was all finished at Auburn and moved back home. We were also able to purchase a new vehicle for Chandler.
In the month of August I started tying up loose ends. I would have normally had my mammogram in the spring, but with covid restrictions I just waited. So did that on August 3. On August 5 I went back for breast sonogram, August 6 for biopsies. August 7 it was confirmed that I had breast cancer. I was reassured that it was so small they would not have seen it had I not had the 3D mammogram. But I was moving to Memphis in 3 weeks so I didn’t want to start any sort of treatment in Huntsville and then move. The doctor was able to give me a referral to a good friend/classmate of his who recommended a breast surgeon in Memphis who was able to see me two weeks later. In the meantime, we moved Chandler to Auburn on August 14. August 18 I had movers empty our two storage units and move the stuff into the PODs in the driveway and we self loaded everything else. I was busy selling lots of stuff because part of the negotiation for then new house included us purchasing the furniture also. It turns out the previous owners were building a tiny house of about 400 sq. ft. The weekend before August 24 I spent in Memphis with Kevin and we were able to celebrate our 28th anniversary together. On August 24 I met with the breast surgeon and a plan was formulated. I went back to Huntsville and the following weekend, the PODS were all picked up and we rented a UHaul for the rest of it and we moved to Tennessee. Hunter took the family room furniture that I hadn’t sold. At this point, we are still in the apartment Kevin has been living in because of the rent-back agreement with Jackson on an air mattress. And on Aug 31 I met the plastic surgeon.
We helped Jackson get an apartment in Conway, Arkansas and he began his new job out there. During the first 2-1/2 weeks of September I stayed busy by sewing a couple of small quilt tops and walking the dog, a lot. I also joined HotWorx gym and tried to get myself physically as fit as I could before surgery. No alcohol, tons of protein, little sugar, and lots of arm work, yoga, and pilates type exercises. I also prepared some freezer type meals so we wouldn’t have to order out every single meal. Surgery was Sept 17, double mastectomies and immediate reconstruction with tissue expanders. I stayed in the hospital overnight. I am happy to say that recovery went really well and I was back to mostly normal within three weeks. There were 4 small spots that were all contained and did not spread so I do not need any other treatments. This month nChandler did get Covid while at school but bounced back within a week or so.
During October I visited the plastic surgeon almost every week to get the tissue expanders to the right size. I got my car serviced (nice to have a Mini dealer so close, I used to drive 1.5 hours for that) and I re-packed the apartment and arranged for a UHaul, movers and PODS deliveries.
Yay! November and its time for the final move into the house! We could only fit one POD at a time in the driveway. We were able to unload the first one ourselves. The second one had the longarm and big heavy stuff. We hired movers to help unload that and move other stuff around the house on the 8th. We mixed our stuff in with the stuff that was here and had to rearrange some really heavy furniture. The following week we got the third POD unloaded with the help of movers. Not a cheaper way to go but it was nice to break it up into several different days for sure. At this point, Jackson was still sleeping on an air mattress in his apartment. We had and extra bed set, sofa, tv stand. So we rented yet another UHaul and drove it out to him on Nov 17. His buddy was there to help unload it all. I worked diligently to unpack boxes and most everything was unpacked by Thanksgiving. We had our family plus Jackson’s buddy and his girlfriend and we did dinner on Friday (since Jackson worked Thursday). It was a nice weekend.
During December we decorated for Christmas, which I hadn’t really done in a few years because of everything being in storage and traveling. I have applied for my nursing license for the state of Tennessee and am waiting to get that. It should take about 6 weeks even though everything was submitted electronically. I will pursue work when that comes back. I was also able to schedule my (hopefully) last surgery and had that on the 23rd. The covid cases are increasing and I was afraid it would get cancelled, but I had the exchange surgery and came home the same day. I was feeling pretty good and all of the boys were home for Christmas and we ate lots of good food. For New Year’s Even Kevin and I went out to dinner and forgot to watch the ball drop. We have never been big on celebrating it. Chandler went to Huntsville to be with friends.
In summary, there were lots of challenges this year, especially surrounding what should have been fantastic milestones for our family. But all in all we are blessed. For this upcoming year I am full of HOPE that things will normalize and I will be able to get out and meet some people and start searching for a church home.
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