My Personal 2020 Recap

January: I started the year off at an RMA networking event at the Pyramid Club. I could have sworn I would be doing fabulous Banker stuff all year 🤔 ....2020 had other plans. The World Health Organization announced on January 9th that a deadly coronavirus had emerged in Wuhan, China.  Then, on January 26th, Kobe Bryant, his daughter, three members of the Altobelli family, Sarah Chester, Payton Chester & the pilot all lost their lives in a ass helicopter crash. It was devastating news and the entire country mourned. 

February:  For Valentine's Day I got some beautiful roses from Vaughn. I love flowers so much and red roses are my favorite! 

My grandma wasn't doing well in February and we spent a lot of time at the hospital. 

On Feb. 24th Harvey Weinstein was convicted rap and sexual abuse which started the #MeToo movement.  I paid little attention to this, because on Feb. 24th, my grandma passed away. 

March:  I was so heart broken when my grandma passed. I know she is in a better place, but it still hurts. I can still hear her voice and the way she said my name. Before she does, she basically assigned my Aunt Sophie and myself to handle her arrangements. So i helped with planning. Met with funeral home and wrote the Eulogy. It was a difficult time. But as with most funerals it bring family together, and it was the first time I had seen my sister in brother since 2016. 

On another note, my brother and my mom were able to hash some old issues that had left their relationship rocky for years.

 

On March 9th, the Dow Jones had its worst single-day point drop ever as numerous countries went into lockdown. The Covid-19 pandemic had triggered a global recession. In the U.S. people began to flock to stores buying everything off the shelves in preparation for a quarantine. It was my first time ever seeing seeing the grocery stores so empty.  

April: Face masks were normal at this point, and I had to accept the fact that I would not be returning to the office anytime soon.  I honestly thought we would only be out of work for two weeks. Turns out it was the last month that I would see Evelyn and John. (...And I'm still working from home 👎🤦‍♀️).  We started processing PPP loans at work. We worked overtime on weekends and evenings trying to get loans approved for as many small businesses as possible. 

The government was issuing $1,200 stimulus checks to families & $500 for each dependent under 17.  The $1,200 was not enough for my family.  Two of my three dependents were over 17 and the extra money I was earning for processing PPP loans would be received after the project was complete. My son & his girlfriend  decided to bake & deliver home made cupcakes to earn some extra money in April. Meanwhile, my daughter had a flight to Hawaii booked before the pandemic hit. She left in early April and had to quarantine there for two weeks. Her return flight was rescheduled and she spent almost the whole month of April in Hawaii. (That wasn't bad at all! Wish it was me 😂😂).

Also, in April, I took in a foster child for two weeks. I know, it seems like a crazy thing to do with everything else going on. I just really wanted to help her. I wouldn't really call her a foster child but I did have to go through the courts to have her temporarily placed in my home. Having a place for her for the short amount of time that I took her in prevented her from being sent to upstate Pennsylvania. It also gave her time to work things out with her mom. I met Mom within a week of her being placed with me and she was back home in about two weeks. She is doing good right now, I'm glad that she's okay and I love that she doesn't give up. 

May: Mother's Day went pretty well, but by May I was completely annoyed with the whole COVID-19 situation. Mainly because my son's senior prom was cancelled and we weren't sure if he would have a graduation. Being shut in was also taking a toll on me.

I tried to gather my feelings and deal with the way life changed and the fact that things wouldn't be "normal" again for a long time. I had no choice but to do that. Then, in the middle of the pandemic, cops killed another black man and it was caught on camera.

On May 25th George Floyd was murdered by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin when he knelt on Floyd's neck for over 8 minutes! On May 30th hundreds of people gathered in our city (Philadelphia) to protest the death of George Floyd. Things started peacefully. Tensions escalated as the day went on and the crowds of people marching and chanting turned into crowds of looting and trashing the city. The mayor implemented a citywide curfew. Which made us even more shut in! 

June: Finally good news! In the midst of the Pandemic with peaceful protests and angry riots, these two lovely kids graduated high school! ❤️👨🏽‍🎓👩🏾‍🎓.  The school put together a nice pandemic friendly graduation and something was better than nothing. 

Meanwhile, the city was boarded up and shut down in the aftermath of the riots. Officer Chauvin's dirty laundry was being aired out and people discovered that he actually knew George Floyd before he murdered him. Chauvin and Floyd had worked security together at a night club and bumped heads before. On June 3, Chauvin's charges were upgraded to second-degree murder and the three other officers involved were arrested and charged with felony aiding and abetting second-degree murder. The riots settled down, but protests continued throughout the country as the police officer who shot Briana Taylor was fired, but not arrested. The other officers involved were not fired. This sparked more anger and outrage amongst the black community and our supporters. Meanwhile, COVID-19 cases were rising.

Towards the end of June I took a day trip to Belmar Beach with my oldest daughter. It was a much needed break. I love the ocean.

July: Half the year had passed and 2020 was proving to be the craziest year I've ever had. 23 people were killed in one day in Philadelphia. Fire works could be heard for months after the riots, but on the 4th of July our family really lit the sky up! We had fun that night. 

Everything happened after that. Everything from my youngest daughter running away, to me getting dumped, to my second daughters getting her first apartment. It was a crazy month. The best part was our road trip. In the middle of July we took a road trip across PA exploring its natural wonders. 

My youngest daughter missed our road trip because I had her committed days before. When I came back she was just being released and my on-again, off-again boyfriend introduced me to the owner of Miracle Meadows. They use horses, nature and art as a form of therapy. I took her there twice. It think it helped. She liked art therapy the most. 

August: Most of August was spent worrying about my daughter and trying to keep her from running away again. It was weird having to tiptoe around her feelings and check on her over and over. 

I asked my middle daughter to braid my hair because honestly the stress of everything was making my hair fall out. The braids looked nice though.

I kept busy in August which kept my mind off of the pandemic. I took my youngest to my cousins gender reveal. We had a picnic lunch with her sister, (and their father 🙄). The kids and I stayed in Willow Grove and stopped at Urban Air before leaving. Then I took three of them to Atlantic City. I visited Vaughn in Allentown. My daughter had her first job interview (thank God 🙏🏼). I went back to the office for a couple of days. My sister came into town unexpectedly and we hung out. Lastly, I attended my cousins baby shower.  It was a lot, but it was so necessary as I had come off of my Lexapro in July and was looking for ways to cope with my stress and anxiety and not fall into another depression. I didn't forget what was going on in the world, but I couldn't focus on that.

September: The month came in like life was normal and things were calm at home. 

On September 18th Ruth Bader Ginsburg died. It was sad news, but I will always remember her as one of the most important Supreme Court Justices and an advocate for women's rights and gender equality as a whole. September came & went. There were more protests and riots over Brianna Taylor and other incidents involving police misconduct. Around this time I time, I was wondering what was up with our second stimulus check. I think most Americans were struggling and waiting for relief. Near the end of the month Trump & Biden had their first presidential debate, and Trump told the world that, "Bad things happen in Philadelphia." 🤣 Philadelphians went crazy over this. There were so many tweets, and memes, and people even made shirts. 

October: My birthday month! 🎉. I was so broke. I spent so much money between July & August I did not know how I was going to enjoy my Las Vegas trip. The flight was already paid for and the hotel was already booked, so I couldn't cancel. Plus my dad, sister, sister in-law and brother were all meeting me there. So I went and I had a blast! I didn't pay for anything. It was super fun and I felt refreshed when I  cam home, but I was also just so over this Pandemic. 

The rest of October seemed to go by fast, but I still couldn't believe we had no stimulus check. The city issued an ordinance for no indoor dining. Philadelphia police officers shot and killed an unarmed black man names Walter Wallace Jr. in October and this lead to intense protests and riots throughout the city. 

Image from PhillyVoice.com

Once again our neighborhoods were boarded up in the aftermath. 

November: We voted Trump out of office. 

We went to another baby shower in November and we had a nice Thanksgiving.

December: President Trump was having votes recounted because he felt like there was some cheating going on in key states. 

The US Government had the nerve to give us $600 stimulus checks. $600! I mean, something is better than nothing, but it was still like a slap in the face.  

Christmas with my family was nice, but overall I was just waiting for 2020 to end and praying for all good things in 2020!