I made my annual trip to find the perfect wall calendar for next year. Ours hangs on a handy hook in the pantry, perfect for a quick glance when we grab the coffee in the morning. I’m sure the younger generation is happy to use their smartphone calendar. But I love picking out a new calendar, what’s it going to be this year: song birds, puppies, kittens, gardens, beaches, or Maxine. I really love them all, this year I decided on a 2021 National Park calendar. Monty and I were pleased to see that the only one of the twelve parks we haven’t visited was Denali, in Alaska. It will be fun to turn the page each month and enjoy reminiscing about time spent at that particular park.
It is uplifting to have a new calendar, kind of like starting with a clean slate. There are so many possibilities. Maybe this will be the year we finally make a trip to Alaska. I make it a special event to sit down with this years messy calendar and the unblemished new one to mark birthdays for friends and family. I use a highlighter to circle birthdays and I try to write down how old everyone will be in case it is a biggie birthday or anniversary. I enjoy reviewing the current calendar to see what fun stuff we did for the year.
Frankly, the 2020 calendar didn’t live up to my expectations even if it did have twelve cute puppies. Everything was looking pretty good until about March when it all came to a screeching halt. After March there wasn’t a single notation for dinner with friends, no lunch dates with my gal friends, no notations for special events, or festivals. Several doctor appointments were scribbled over with CANCELLED. Frankly 2020 was a bust.
Remember when we first heard the word, pandemic in March? Who knew we’d be cancelling summer festivities for Memorial Day, July 4th and Labor Day. Now here we entering fall and winter and nothing has really changed. There is no newsletter from TMC announcing the guest speakers for their fall season. The 2020 calendar has CANCELLED written across the date for the Fourth Avenue Street Fair and El Tour De Tucson, will there even be Christmas without Tucson’s Winterhaven Festival of Lights? Wait, no Rodeo or Gem and Mineral Show in February either?
Thank goodness Monty and I enjoy each others company since we spend all our time together. Monty’s been good about making the effort to call some of his music buddies and I’ve tried to catch up with friends and keep in touch. Our kids are busy working, so except for quick texts the conversations are usually limited to the weekends. My sister and I talk every day and that is a bright spot we look forward to each afternoon.
At the beginning of the pandemic I thought ZOOM had something to do with Instagram and that put it out of my sphere of computer knowledge. Who knew that just a couple of weeks later I’d be joining my fitness peeps on Zoom three times a week and loving it. Monica, our fearless leader and host should be awarded an Emmy for her efforts. She learned Zoom jargon, got a computer set up, dons a microphone and presto we are exercising together, separately, in our own homes.
Our group of twenty have formed a strong bond and I sure I’m not the only one who plans my week around MWF ZOOM fitness. The hour long workout is great, Monica is funny, energetic and entertaining, she selects great music and it is just plain fun. Even though we participate for the workout, the piece de resistance is the visiting after class. Monica has set up the meetings to allow an hour after class to chat. We look like the Brady Bunch on screen and yes sometimes we all talk at once. We know who is expecting a new grand baby, who’s watching what on Netflicks, whose reading a good book, but most of all we share friendship. Frankly it is the only good thing to come out of the pandemic.
There is a new vaccine on the horizon that looks promising but how long before we all have access to it, is anyone’s guess. I fear the 2021 calendar will be composed of notes to buy birthday cards and that’s it. I’ll still hold MWF mornings for my exercise peeps.
Frankly I’ll be happy to throw away that disappointing 2020 calendar.
Your calendar sounds very familiar…my calendar has birthdays, anniversaries and Dr appointments for 2020….. and that’s about it. Also the cancelled vacation in March and postponed Dr appts notes…..
I have a wall calendar and a calendar book that fits into my purse. (The wall calendar is mostly for Bob so he can do a quick look and know what’s happening with the both of us.)
I have purchased both the wall and book calendar for 2021… And crossing my fingers that we will be putting some fun things on it. (Not only crossing fingers, but ?)
I also really enjoy ‘decorating’ with special colors for bdays, anniversaries, etc. Every category gets its own color. Trips usually get the whole week, or more, highlighted in a bright color…..yeah. a bit over the top, but makes me smile.
Here’s to hoping that our calendars for 2021 are way more colorful and full of events?
I’m hopeful this year will be so much better. Your creativity is beyond my standard yellow highlighter!
You summed it up well! Don and I are trying to keep sane by reading, organizing and cleaning. And i have even resorted to playing Chess with him. And he will play Scrabble with me! So far it hasn’t improved my chess game! But he is competitive in Scrabble!
We try to avoid the media constant repetitive noise. And have read many books. Some that we read years ago that were good enough to read again. I enjoyed refreshing my memory!!
So glad to hear you and Don are staying busy. We are doing the same thing, staying home except for essential trips for groceries. Monty and I both enjoy reading and discovering how easy it is to download books on the I-pad has been a lifesaver. I’m impressed you are playing chess, I’ve always been hesitant to try to understand the game. Good for you!1
Yes, 2020 has been a bust. We are looking forward to a much better 2021; however, I don’t think that much will change until we have wide-spread distribution of a vaccine in late spring or early summer.
I think we can expect to wear masks for the foreseeable future and by the time everyone get the vaccine it will be next winter. Hope I’m wrong.
Thanks to you and Monty, the little red Razor has been letting us get out to new places. Just a week ago we took her over Reddington Pass and had lunch in Benson. Chimney Rock was fun too. Few more months and our first 6 week trek will begin.
We are excited for you. Such fun. If you read my post on Arizona thru the years you will find more places close by to ride.