If you would’ve asked me on December 31st, 2019, I probably would’ve told you that 2020 was going to be my year.
The same thing that I’ve said to myself probably every year since I turned 18. I thought that it would bring me everything I had always wanted, and instead it has been the year that’s taught me to appreciate and be thankful for what few things I have. I lost my mom this year. My best friend came down for what was supposed to be 2-weeks to help support me and my family, and then Covid-19 hit like a freight train, and she was trapped here with me in the United States for 6-months because nobody in her home country of Canada would/could help her get back. We found out that my grandmother has cancer, and now COVID-19 has shut my job down TWICE in the past 8-9 months.
That’s crazy to me.
I have lost so much this year. I think we all have, honestly. We’ve lost almost a year of our lives to a disease that has changed the lives of everyone. A disease that will someday be written about in history books. We will be the generation of people who will be the “COVID-19 Survivors” and the “Corona Survivors” and even that is crazy. You hear about polio, and smallpox, and the black plague, and you never think you’ll live through a time so dark and frightening. Yet here we are.
2020 has come and gone in the blink of an eye. One moment it’s upon you, and it feels like you’re suffocating, and then you look back and it’s already the end of November, and thee year is almost gone. In April I wanted to join Camp NaNoWriMo but, I was still a raw, gaping wound, spilling my depression and sorrow and anxiety everywhere. I was still too raw that the thought of writing alone made me sick, so I dropped out after fourteen days. I’d written maybe 300 words total. I tried again in July, and this time I kept it to myself. I didn’t want to talk about it, not with anyone because, I was worried that I I did, that was putting the expectation on myself that I would finish. Again, I didn’t. That time, I got maybe 5,000 words in. July was just too busy for me, we had my mom’s celebration of life, and my job reopened after closing on March 16th the day after my world stopped.
Then, I decided in September that I would start my NaNoWriMo prep. Normally Preptober doesn’t start until October but, with as hard as my year had already been, I was trying to take it easy on myself. My goal was to write 50,000 words in 30-days, and you know what? Despite everything that happened to me this year, I made it. I set my mind on it, I put my heart into it, and I did it!
Two days ago, I won NaNoWriMo2020 at 51,678 words.
So much has happened, so much more is coming, and I cannot wait to share that with all of you.
But for now, I hope everyone had a decent Thanksgiving. I, myself, made my first ever turkey and it was really good. I missed my mom, I watched Pocahontas (because it’s still one of my favorite Disney movies) and I also watched some Charlie Brown because, that’s just what you do on Thanksgiving.
Until next time, stay safe and stay healthy.
-Sky
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