A Chic Paris Holiday Season – Day 29 – Thoughts from the Old Year, cont.

 December 31, 2020

This post continues my reflections on how my family, friends and I experienced 2020.  Covid was certainly a unifying (and terrifying) experieince for the world, showing us a downside of globalization. 

I feel that I personally was very blessed with so many good things even though this year has felt like a long struggle for us all.  Even though we around the world experienced things in common from this year, we lived the collection of 365 days each in our own way. Looking back over what I personally lived and felt and thought about, I ask myself – what am I particularly grateful for from this extraordinary year 2020?

New Year’s day 2020 saw my husband, two children and I head out to the airport to start our family “year and a half abroad” in Paris, France. Our “family year abroad” is the result of years of careful saving and planning. As you can already tell, nothing about it went as I had expected! Am I even more grateful for what I have received? Absolutely. 

We landed at Charles de Gaulle on Jan 2, right in the midst of France’s transportation strikes. Happily, we had an AirBnb month-long rental close to the children’s school so that they could easily walk to school (and avoid strike-related issues.) Then, part-way through the month, we found a lovely apartment also conveniently close to the school and well within our budget. Thanks to good friends and personal introductions, we speedily had a local bank account (getting a simple bank account in France as a foreigner can be complicated), could register for utility and phone/internet services to our new apartment and could move in by the end of the month.

A chance encounter at a small cooking class in February allowed me to make a new friend and opened the door to get more involved in my volunteer group here in Paris.  The volunteer group became my sanity-saver as France’s nation-wide total CoVid-19 lockdown hit in mid-March. By being involved and reaching out to fellow members to check on how they were doing, I found fellowship, interesting discussion and distraction from worry. 

As for summer 2020 – who could have guessed that my family and I would have the surreal experience of having Paris, Mont St-Michel and Corfu, Greece almost entirely to ourselves due to CoVid-19 travel restrictions? 

In September, CoVid-19 infection rates rose in Europe as we all returned from summer travel. In-person school started for the children. Paris cooled off and the leaves began to turn. At the end of October, another month-long nation-wide lockdown was announced. And now, here we are at the end of this year. Christmas is just past and we turn our focus to a new year full of possibility.

One of the absolute best things from this year is that Fiona Ferris graciously gave me permission to use her books as structure for a daily blog post as I looked for ways to keep myself busy doing something healthier than just worrying. Interacting with my lovely readers added humor and fun to my day. I am so very grateful for each and every one of you who have followed or suscribed to the blog and those of you who have shared comments. I feel incredibly honored and grateful to be part of the fun and supportive community each of you have helped create.

I send you my very warmest wishes for a happy new year full of love, good health and prosperity.