A whole year has passed since I wrote a blog post on 20/20 Vision on December 30, 2019. We were about to begin a new decade and I wondered what we would find in it. Like many others, we expected life to continue as usual although there would naturally be unknown changes along the way. No one could foresee how life would be turned upside down a quarter of the way through 2020. The enemy was too small to be seen but it spread around the globe and life was disrupted for everyone. We made the best of it and did what we had to do.
The year started out calmly as I wrote, scrapbooked, and crocheted. In January we put a 1000 piece puzzle together and had no idea we would do a half dozen more before spring came in all its glory.
I had a CT scan in February and learned the spot the doctor had been watching on my kidney for several years had grown and was malignant. I was scheduled to have surgery in May but didn't tell anyone. I didn't think it was necessary for people to think about it that long. Besides, we had more exciting news to think about. In February we learned that after waiting nine years a new grandchild was on the way. It was a definite answer to much earnest prayer. "With God nothing is impossible."
Leroy was off work six weeks after COVID-19 broke out in March. Everything was canceled and church was on livestream from March to June. It was better than nothing but we missed the fellowship.
Easter came in April but there was no Good Friday or Easter service in church. Leroy went back to working three days per week and we started circulating a bit more. I finished a book I had been working on for a year and a half and sent it to the reviewers. There's still a lot of work before it can be published and I doubt it will be on the market before the end of 2021. I volunteered at the Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society for thirteen years, helping Carolyn Wenger prepare things for the archives. They closed because of the virus and then Carolyn died of cancer in April. It seemed like a good time for me to quit. It's something I wanted to do for a long time before I started and now I gave it up.
Our children came in May to do some yard work for us. They spread mulch and replaced some overgrown bushes. That day I told them I was scheduled for kidney cancer surgery on May 29.
Leroy was not allowed to enter the hospital so he could only drop me off and go home. It turned out to be a more major surgery than the doctor anticipated. I was in the hospital nine days and in rehab another seven days. No visitors were allowed all that time but I could talk to people on the phone. Our sons looked after Leroy, cooking and doing laundry for him. I finally came home on June 16. The good news was that they got all the cancer and I did not need any chemo or radiation.
Our daughter came from Ohio and was here for a week. I was grateful for her help. It took me several months to make a full recovery and by then the summer was over. The virus slacked off over summer but things were still canceled all year as we went along. In-person church services resumed in June but with some changes in the routine. Restaurants and other businesses that had been closed on the governor's orders were open again but with safety guidelines. Face masks, hand sanitizer, and social distancing was a part of life in 2020.
Like many other things, the annual Berean Meetings in July were canceled. And cancelations continued through August. The summer passed with no Bible school, reunions, trips, or other things that we had always taken for granted as a normal part of life. Our second great-grandchild was born May 14, but due of the circumstances, we did not get to see him until they came in from Ohio in August. Colton Miller was three months old before we saw him in person.
Schools had been closed since March but opened again in September with some modifications. My newest book of children's stories was released this month and on September 24 the long-awaited granddaughter arrived. Abigail Ruth Stauffer is a dream come true was a bright highlight in a dark and disrupted year.
As the weather cooled in October, virus cases began to rise again. But the shutdown in the spring had caused so much damage to the economy the governor knew he cannot do it again. At the end of the month our daughter came for another week to help me with some cleaning. We shivered through the outdoor wedding of a grandson on October 30.
There was plenty of hot air all year with the presidential election taking place in November. President Trump lost the election and made a fool of himself by refusing to concede and trying to overturn the results. I never in my life saw such a poor loser in an election.
Leroy's brother's wife died with the virus after being in the hospital two weeks and I also lost one of my old friends the same week.
We had a most unusual Thanksgiving dinner. We planned to have the traditional turkey meal with one of our sons and his family, but he had a sore throat that morning. Any other year we wouldn't have taken that so seriously but out of caution we decided to exchange portions of the food we had prepared and eat at our own tables. We visited by Zoom on our computers while we ate.
The virus could not stop Christmas from coming in December. I did most of my Christmas shopping online this year and was finished the beginning of the month. My daughters-in-law came to bake cookies, I mailed cards and letters, and wrapped gifts as usual. Our children and grandchildren were here on Christmas day. We wore face masks and kept hand sanitizer handy. The only ones missing were an Ohio grandson, his wife, and two children---our great-grandchildren.
The last week of the month one of Leroy's old buddies also died with the virus. Our "youth group" is leaving this world for a better one at an alarming rate.
Tonight we reach the end of this unforgettable year. Looking back at this year, there was a mixture of joys and sorrows as always but also unexpected things on a scale we never imagined. The virus rages on with no end in sight. We are thankful we have escaped so far. Only God knows how long it will go on. We can look toward the future and the new year of 2021 with the confidence that God is in control and we are safe in Him no matter what happens.
