Whew!!!! What a century this year has been. My bestie said that 2020 has been the longest shortest year. I remember 2016 being a year that was full of death and chaos but 2020 has taken on that title 100%. I know that at 12:01a on January 1st, 2021, things won’t automatically change for the best but I think everyone is hopeful and ready for a break. Anything can happen overnight but nothing happens overnight.

I think that 2020 genuinely was the push and the break that we all needed. As with any other year, there were wins and losses but this year, we (the world) collectively, were affected all at once. Let’s just break down 2020. Listen to the podcast episode here!

We took a huge hit in January with the tragic death of NBA legend Kobe Bryant, his daughter and 7 others on the helicopter. We barely made it through after trying to process such a great loss. I’m not even a basketball fan and his death took me by surprise and it was a reminder that life is short and to leave a print while you’re here. Life is for the living, live it!

Here comes February, the memorial service for Kobe and his daughter takes place and the United States is dealing with the impeachment of DT.

My favorite month ever March, marched right on in and added to the BS. While I was out of the country in Mexico, to celebrate myself and Toya’s birthday, the United States was going crazy. All we kept hearing about was how empty the stores were. Sanitizer, cleaning supplies and the toilet paper shortage. WHAT?!?!?! Corona Virus (COVID-19) had made it to the US in January but March was when the case numbers started to really increase. The pandemic officially started. The stock market crashed also. Quarantine lockdown began. Madness for sure ensued.

April was pretty much a blur, as we all were still adjusting to outside being closed. No restaurants were open for in house eating, no bars, long lines at stores and social distancing, limited capacity, curfews/early closing times for businesses and having to wear a mask in order to go any where. Americans received a stimulus check of $1,200 to help with the unfortunate effects of COVID-19.

May comes around and we hear that there are Killer Hornets that have made their way to the United States. Collectively the world wanted to fight. We could not take another blow. As 2020 would have it, she/he was not finished. Video footage of  multiple murders of innocent black men surfaced. Armaud Aubrey and George Floyd just to name a couple. Black Lives Matter in overdrive would be the theme for the next 6 or more months. There was unrest, protest, riots and racial tension. 

June comes in and footage from an incident months before surface and it was the slaughter, murder or killing of the beautiful Breonna Taylor. We were fed up. This was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

July, just like April, was a blur. 2020 wouldn’t let up.

August was filled with more protests. A little light shined on our part of the world when Kamala Harris was announced as Vice President Elect by Joe Biden. The first female and first black Vice President elect. Can’t have sunshine without a little rain. Chadwick Boseman passed away. Yep, our Black Panther, T’Challa died from colon cancer. His death, just like Kobe’s, reminded us that life is short and that you never know what battles others are fighting. He was diagnosed in 2016, and during this time, he starred in so many movies. He posted a picture a while back and he had visibly loss a lot of weight. Social media showed no mercy. Most hoped that the weight loss was for a movie role, others talked so badly about it. What showed most about him was his strength during a time when he was dying. No one knew and he gave his best performances.

In September, the world seemed to be opening back up. Not necessarily returning to normal, but outside was operating at about 75% capacity. Things were looking up, well, besides DT causing trouble before the upcoming election in November.

October slid by so fast, there was no time to cause trouble. We welcomed October, then it was Halloween. That’s it. No in between. LOL!

November’s BS started early because of election day. We all sat with bated breath because the election results were too close for comfort. Joe Biden won but DT was not going down without a fight. He screamed election fraud, voter fraud and every thing in between. Weeks later and after several recounts, we could finally breathe better knowing that there would be a new president come Jan 20th. A small beam of light to help us all cope before the second wave of COVID-19 would hit. Eighty year old Dionne Warwick joined twitter and let’s just say that she is giving us all a good bit of light. Alex Trebex, the Jeopardy legend, passed away from pancreatic cancer. 

December, a time for family, friends, joy, giving, hope and preparation for the new year. Daily record breaking new COVID-19 cases decided to be the theme. We were warned that this would happen in the colder months but we had so much hope that things were getting better. A vaccine was also released to help stop the spread of this virus that had killed hundreds of thousands of people. A vaccine that many people are skeptical about due to the short time that it took to create. Christmas was a success for most. Before the year was out, a second stimulus check of $600 started hitting accounts. DT tried to amend it and said that the American people deserved $2,000. That was denied. 

I tried to wrap up 3000 days in a few words so I didn’t touch on everything but we made it through, To those we loss this year, You are not forgotten. Rest peacefully! We are more than conquerors and 2020 gave us the strength we needed to give us what we prayed for in 2019. Thank you 2020! We can take it from here!

Sincerely,

Angie