The Strange Summer of 2020
This has been the strangest summer I’ve ever lived through. Many people have told me they feel the same. In March my work shut down. They never shut down 365 day a year, if there’s power we’re open. But this is not your ordinary summer. I filed for unemployment for the first time in my life.
My niece and nephew stayed with my family to get help finishing the school year online while my sister and her husband still worked. It was hard for the kids not to see their parents for so long but there were some great memories. We read every night at bedtime. We worked through all the picture books then we read Matilda by Ronald Dahl, Fortunately the Milk by Neil Gaiman, Amber Brown is Not a Crayon by Paula Danziger, Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman, Ma and Pa Dracula by Ann M. Martin, Meet Kirsten: An American Girl by Janet Beeler Shaw.
This was wonderful to share so many stories with them and to watch them engage and enjoy these books that I liked as a child. I also handled their art and history lessons. We did so much and it was great.
Under all of this was the undercurrent of anxiety and uncertainty. My nephew and my dad were high risk of COVID1-19 due to their breathing problems. Since March I haven’t been in a store or visited anyone outside of my family in an indoor setting. Our summer vacation plans have been canceled and all of our smaller plans. I miss normalcy.
I’m a germaphobe and during the flu season I deal with that anxiety every year. This was a whole new level of panic for me. I spend a lot of time trying to decide how best to protect myself and those I love. It’s be hard. I’ve had more panic attacks than ever before this summer. Still I’m getting through it.
I find myself wondering what the Spanish flu was like for my grandpa Botlik. Both his parents died in the Spanish flu in 1918. He had to go live with his grandparents. I also wonder what it was like to live through the great depression as he did and other relative did. All these people in my life have passed years before and I can’t ask them my questions. It makes me wish I had done so while they were still here. It wasn’t something they volunteered and I never pressed for the answers.
On a positive note, I spent this summer reading so many books. I decided to diversify my reading list and have picked up books by authors who are members of minority groups. I’ve enjoyed their styles and stories. Their books have broadened my world view. Here are some that I’ve read so far this year (there are many more on my to be read pile for the year):
Their Eyes were Watching God by: Zora Neale HurstonThe Fifth Sun: A New History of the Aztecs by: Camilla TownsendWe Should All be Feminist by: Adichie Chimamanda NgoziAn American Sunrise: Poems by: Joy HarjoIf Not Winter Fragments of Sappho by: SapphoPoems, Protest, and A Dream: Selected Writings by: Sor Juana Inez de la CruzFinding My Voice by: Nadiya HussainThe Hopes and Triumphs of the Amir Sisters by: Nadiya HussainGods of Jade and Shadow by: Silvia Moreno-Garcia
I spent my time making art and writing (doing a massive rewrite on my book). I’ve done some art photography on our farm. In some ways this time has been wonderful and it others not. The strangest most surreal summer ever. I hope it’s the last summer of this sort in my lifetime.
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