“Ten, nine, eight,…”

Flashback to New Years Eve, 2019. 

“…Seven, six…” 

Like a bomb counting down, ready to release havoc. 

“…Five, four…”

If someone wanted to take a photo that depicted seconds before disaster, then they could have taken their pick of any New Year’s Eve celebration across the world. 

“…Three, two, one! Happy New Year! 2020 is going to be the best year yet!”

The year 2020 was tough for all of us. We started off the year with murder hornets… and it only got worse from there. It was a year so strange, that in 20 years it will probably be its own unit in history class. If someone had told me in 2019 that I would spend 2020 wearing a mask everywhere, doing school from home all the time, and being suspicious of every single person who so much as coughed, I would have laughed and said there is no way. Yet as the ball dropped that fateful night, the destiny was set for a future of stay-at-home orders, sanitizing groceries and drive-by birthday parties. If I had to rate 2020 on a scale of one to 10, I’d give it a solid four, because apparently the year decided to stick to the six feet rule and stayed six away from being even remotely good.

First things first, why on Earth would anyone think it is okay to eat a bat? That’s just nasty. When I think of a nice snack, my first thought is definitely not  “Wow, I’m gonna get myself a nice flying nocturnal animal to eat. Nutritious and delicious!” Now, if the Chinese government is to be believed, some germs and someone’s not-so-smart snacking decision destined us to a life of wearing masks and channeling our inner introverted selves. In all honesty, though, wearing a mask has its benefits. Not only does it protect me and everyone else around me from this highly contagious virus, but it also provides me the ability to make weird faces whenever I want to, judgement free. (And if you try to tell me you haven’t done this too, I know you are lying!)  Now that the weather has turned colder, masks have proved beneficial because now we all have a mandatory face warmer. Not only that, but the time it takes to get ready in the morning has been dramatically reduced since wearing make-up under a mask is pretty much pointless. And if nothing else, these masks we wear will protect our faces from the murder hornets. 

If I had to pick one word to describe 2020, it would obviously be “COVID.”  But, if I got to pick a second word, it would be “Zoom.”  A year ago, the idea of going to school in pajamas, learning geometry while curled up on the couch and avoiding the crowded high school hallways was every kid’s dream.  Now, after months of virtual school, Zoom hangouts with friends and endless online meetings, people miss the crowded classrooms and noisy hallways. Personally, I am really glad to be able to have at least some in-person school because staring at a screen for hours would drive me bonkers. School online also isn’t fun for parents, the only thing my aunt and uncle get from virtual school, with four kids under the age of seven, is a whole lot of headaches.

To top it all off, we concluded the year with an easy breezy election where both candidates were civil and respectful of each other… or at least that is what we wished would have happened. What actually occurred seemed only slightly less childish than two kindergarteners fighting over crayons. In the end, one candidate prevailed, or at least we think so. There is still some debate about which candidate that was. It probably would have been better had the murder hornets made a surprise appearance here so we could worry about something else rather than the future of our country.

Despite all of the difficulties, however, last year wasn’t all bad. For example, you are probably reading this now from the comfort of your own home… I bet you have happily transitioned to a daily wardrobe of “business on the top and party on the bottom”. Plus, this year we were better able to understand the struggles that many go through and hopefully make some changes that will help the world become a better place. Also, Australia was able to quell the spreading fires and is officially fire-free! (Now if only we could be COVID free…). 

So, here’s to 2021: the year where dreams come true, goals get made, blah, blah, blah the usual. I’m pretty sure that 2021 is going to be the year that everyone hopes nothing happens. And I mean literally nothing, because after the crazy disaster year we just went through, a normal boring day sounds perfectly fine to me.