In less than 24 hours, this memorable year will come to an end. Because it has been so traumatic, many of us have assigned an unprecedented amount of power to the turnover of the calendar. Deep down, we know that tomorrow the pandemic won't disappear, the economy bounce back, and all of things and people we have lost won't be restored, but there's a tiny corner of our minds that hopes that at least one of those things might happen.
What a year! I'm sure someone keeps track of new words or new uses for old words introduced to the language; if so they had to be busy this year. Most have been pandemic related: social distancing, coronavirus, zoom meeting, quarantining, virtual learning, masking up, online classes, herd immunity, to name a few.
And the weather. There was the derecho in the Midwest in August. Winds of over 100 miles an hour raced through the Midwest, particularly devastating the city of Cedar Rapids but also twisting corn bins like corkscrews, flattening cornfields, and uprooting trees throughout the area. Hurricanes and wildfires wreaked havoc elsewhere.
I can imagine a zoom meeting earlier this week with Mother Nature and several of the gods. (A little cross-cultural imagining here.)
Mother Nature: I don't think we want the year to expire without one more flourish. How about a snow storm on Tuesday?
North Wind: Definitely. I can whip something up.
Mercury (side-note: The God of Travelers but by virtue of his name, I'm giving him control over temperature) Everything's so upside down this year, let's have the temperature go up in the night and down during the day so everything will refreeze.
Thor (brandishing his hammer) And some thunder snow! I'll get to work on some lightning flourishes.
Poseidon: And we could make the Mississippi run backwards! Hasn't done that for a couple of hundred years! Some flooding will really put the cherry on top.
Mother Nature raises her hands. Wait! That's overkill. Six to ten inches of snow, some rain, freezing rain, and thunder will be fine. Let's not overdo it.
She gets up. See you next week.
I can't imagine that anyone will be sad to see this year go. There has been so much profound loss. In my own life, the personal losses have not been as a result of Coronavirus but the virus has made dealing with those losses much more difficult. The stories on the media about people lost from the virus and the first responders working around the clock are heartbreaking. We will be a long time recovering from all of the devastation and need each other more than ever.
May we all have learned something and may 2021 be better for all of us because of what we have learned.
What a year! I'm sure someone keeps track of new words or new uses for old words introduced to the language; if so they had to be busy this year. Most have been pandemic related: social distancing, coronavirus, zoom meeting, quarantining, virtual learning, masking up, online classes, herd immunity, to name a few.
And the weather. There was the derecho in the Midwest in August. Winds of over 100 miles an hour raced through the Midwest, particularly devastating the city of Cedar Rapids but also twisting corn bins like corkscrews, flattening cornfields, and uprooting trees throughout the area. Hurricanes and wildfires wreaked havoc elsewhere.
I can imagine a zoom meeting earlier this week with Mother Nature and several of the gods. (A little cross-cultural imagining here.)
Mother Nature: I don't think we want the year to expire without one more flourish. How about a snow storm on Tuesday?
North Wind: Definitely. I can whip something up.
Mercury (side-note: The God of Travelers but by virtue of his name, I'm giving him control over temperature) Everything's so upside down this year, let's have the temperature go up in the night and down during the day so everything will refreeze.
Thor (brandishing his hammer) And some thunder snow! I'll get to work on some lightning flourishes.
Poseidon: And we could make the Mississippi run backwards! Hasn't done that for a couple of hundred years! Some flooding will really put the cherry on top.
Mother Nature raises her hands. Wait! That's overkill. Six to ten inches of snow, some rain, freezing rain, and thunder will be fine. Let's not overdo it.
She gets up. See you next week.
I can't imagine that anyone will be sad to see this year go. There has been so much profound loss. In my own life, the personal losses have not been as a result of Coronavirus but the virus has made dealing with those losses much more difficult. The stories on the media about people lost from the virus and the first responders working around the clock are heartbreaking. We will be a long time recovering from all of the devastation and need each other more than ever.
May we all have learned something and may 2021 be better for all of us because of what we have learned.
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