Thoughts on 2021…..

Looking back am I glad to see the back of 2021?  My immediate response is yes and this is mainly due to the effects COVID both how it effected our health and the way we lived our lives; but I must also look back at the successes of 2021 all be it few.  Highlights I can think of now are the British success of my favourite sport BMX Racing and in particular waking up early that July morning to watch Beth win Gold in the Olympics.  Other success personally must be my new job, although the circumstances leading up to this were unfortunate and linked to the dominant subject of 2021, COVID.  A second bout of Furlough put my then new job in doubt and the lack of work meant I felt I needed a new challenge.  This was unusual for me as in my whole working life I have not voluntarily left a job, preferring instead to be loyal to those that have given me that job.  But being put on Furlough and no new working coming in put enough doubt in my mind to look at other opportunities, and fortunately this was able to happen relatively quickly and I now have a job which I enjoy, even just having looked at my to do list to start the year it excites me rather than fills me with dread. And this brings me to the other aspect COVID touched me and us as a family.  Twice did we have the infection within the household and still we are all here and thankfully healthy.  In October the four of us were infected at the same time and forced to isolate the house for 10 days.  Fortunately we all got thorough with minimal affects - Zac had no symptoms, Reuben had one day of Cold and then was happy, I only seemed to loose my sense of smell and Maria did suffer with a few days in bed in the first week but her resolve got her through.  We are also thankful that my mum was not infected even though she had eaten with us the day before - it was still difficult for her as she was unable to spend time in the house while we had to self isolate, but she got through it.  The second time COVID hit the household it only infected Reuben, how this happened we don’t know but after waking up feeling terrible one morning a lateral flow test gave a positive result and as soon as he saw this Reuben un-selfishly isolated himself in his room only coming out (with a mask on) to get his PCR test and to go to the bathroom.  The rest of us took daily lateral flow tests and these always came out negative.  This did mean that Reuben was unable to spend Christmas with the rest of us which did put a dampener on our festivities (although he was quite happy playing with his friends on XBox all the time!).  But by New Year he had consecutive negative lateral flow tests so we could celebrate seeing 2021 away and welcoming 2022.

Our experiences with COVID I think put us in a strong position to set out our own position on this virus which has affected the whole world like nothing else.  FACT both Maria and I are fully vaccinated and yet we still got the virus.  FACT Reuben (age 14) has not been vaccinated and he has had the virus twice BUT with minimal side effects.  FACT when Reuben got the virus the second time the rest of us did not get the virus (must be through Reuben’s unselfish isolation).  FACT and to me this is the biggest relief/observation/miracle(?).  My mum, who is 88 years old and fully vaccinated and boosted and spends most days with us in the house, has not had the virus - and to me that is the best thing to come out of this strange year.