Since the blog is a journal of sorts I feel like the last year deserves at least one post. 2020 turned out to be completely different from what I thought it would be when I celebrated its beginning in Wellington, New Zealand. In January and February I ran my first half-marathon and went on a wonderful weekend ski trip to Tahoe with some friends. Then I began realizing that Covid-19 was quickly escalating and on March 15th my workplace sent us home to work remotely with no return date.

At first we rallied; we held virtual game nights, baked sourdough and had remote water cooler meetings at work. My family limited our trips to the grocery store and disinfected all of our take-out meals. I stitched masks for healthcare workers and made goals to workout and learn how to play the guitar. In May when I realized that I wouldn’t return to work for another couple months I bought a desk chair and tried to decorate my office. In June, desperate to see something farther than 3 miles from my house I reserved my family a half day pass at Colorado Bend State Park. We hiked out to Gorman Falls which is considered a “living” waterfall due to plants growing along the limestone deposit walls. I can’t believe that it took a pandemic for me to discover this gem of a state park only 1.5 hours from my house.

In July, my friends and I needed a break from living with our parents and seeing very little of other people we booked a week long trip to a lake house and started meeting in-person in my backyard. I am so thankful for that week in Canyon Lake where I staved off burnout after a couple grueling weeks at work and just enjoyed time with my friends to play board games and hangout by the pool.

As fall turned into winter covid cases started rising at unimaginable rates and my company has officially announced we would not be returning to the office until at least June 2021. I had to mentally prepare myself for another 7 months of remote, socially distancing monotony. During Thankgiving I took the chance to visit Lost Maples State Park and catch the end of some fall colors. We cooked an elaborate vegetarian dinner and overall just replenished some of my depleted energy after a couple stressful work weeks.

Finally we rounded out the year with a quiet Christmas at home where I read a couple books and baked cookies. Little did we know that in February 13th Winter Storm Uri would hit and devastate Texas. We were fortunate to only lose power for about 36 hours but many of neighbors and fellow Austenite went almost a week without electricity or water in single digit temperature days. Although many people suffered greatly it was incredible to see grassroots efforts to supply food, water and warmth to those who needed it until aid could make it. We definitely learned a lot of hard lesson about disaster preparedness and how political decisions can affect a critical resource like power for millions of Texans.

I am posting this little recap after I have been fully vaccinated. I feel so grateful and privileged to have been able to work remotely for over a year and live in a country that had resources quickly distributed vaccines. Although we are not out of the pandemic yet I have cause to feel a little hopeful as the flower bloom for spring and I can have my friends over for a movie night inside my house.