Covid 2020 a Year like No Other

By Dawn O'Bar

This story of 2020 is told in two parts.
The reader will find shared experiences with the author during Part one.
It details the early months prior to the shutdown in the United States and contains personal accounts, including journal entries of the author’s writings, through the end of 2020. There is humor interspersed with the serious. Confusion and divisiveness are evident throughout this turbulent time. There are similarities and differences drawn from the Spanish flu pandemic in 1918-1919.

Part two allows the reader to hear others’ perspectives. Complete strangers were willing to expose their own vulnerability and stories. The author interviews Rotarians from around the world, business owners, doctors, nurses, teachers, students, and virus survivors. Their stories were timely and that’s what made it raw for those sharing. The reports from others are in their own writing, italicized, and unedited by this author. These are real people reporting on how the pandemic affected them.
In addition, there are questions at the end of the chapters to allow the reader to reflect and record their own feelings and experiences. It is a chance for us to write a history for future generations.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dawn O'Bar
• Release date: Dec 15, 2021
• ISBN: 9798985208603

Dawn O'Bar

Dawn’s professional career spans 25 years as a non-profit leader in local and international organizations. She spent three years teaching as an adjunct professor at a private college. Prior to the pandemic, Dawn was a trainer of secondary and post-secondary educators, and consults with a mission-driven, academic publishing company.She co-authored and delivered family/child weight management and sleep well classes at a major medical clinic. In addition, she was chosen as a National Trainer of health and fitness programs with the YMCA of the USA. She volunteers for several organizations including Nature Track, Rotary, Women’s Fund, and a local church.Her interests include gardening, hiking, biking, spending time with her grandsons, and traveling. She lives with her husband in Southern California.

Book preview

COVID 2020 - A Year Like No Other

A roller coaster ride of losses, challenges, and opportunities

Dawn O’Bar

Copyright 2021 Dawn O’Bar

2nd Edition 2022

ISBN: 979-8-9852086-2-7

Front cover photo: DepositPhotos.com

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Dedication

To my husband Kevin, thank you for letting me share my thoughts about all that was happening during our quarantine time together.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Part One

Before Covid

Quarantine Begins

Spring/Transitions

Settling In/Ups & Downs

Summertime

Road Trip

Traveling/Goodbye Dad

Presidential Election/Gratitude

Year Ends/Virus Doesn’t

Part Two

Business Owners

Restaurants

Hair Salons

Therapists

Around the World

Belize

France

Guyana

India

Italy

Palestine

South Africa

Turkey

Religious Community

Schools

Medical Community

Survivors

Conclusion

Additional Discussion Questions

Acknowledgements

About the Author

Introduction

My father died in October 2020, during COVID. Nothing about the year was normal. Loss was everywhere and my life (and I venture to guess, everyone else’s) was in turmoil. As I watched and waited for him to go, it took ten agonizing days. Masks were required everywhere, and it was difficult to see the emotions on the faces of my siblings and stepmom.

After Dad died, I began contemplating what I still wanted to do with my one precious life. The fact that I got to be there when he died seemed improbable when I heard about others suffering similar losses. Many people were not so lucky and lost loved ones without ever getting to say goodbye. It was not long after I returned home, I got quiet and listened to the small voice inside saying, You can write a book. In the back of my mind, I knew that I had always wanted to write a book but I never thought I had anything to write about. Then it was like a light bulb illuminated my way. I could write about what I was experiencing during this most unusual time in my life and the lives of others. I had been keeping a journal to help me process what was happening and it could be the basis for my story.

Another reason for writing this memoir occurred when I went in search of historical accounts from the time of the Spanish flu pandemic over 100 years earlier. I hoped that I could gain some perspective on what was happening by reading other peoples’ stories of their lives during that time. Maybe I could make some sense of what I was going through by reading their accounts during another pandemic. On the electronic bookshelves, there was little to none available. It occurred to me that maybe in the future someone would be interested in hearing what it was like when….

The Great Influenza which began almost 100 years ago was the closest thing to what many experienced in 2020. Yet there are few accounts in the literature from writers during that time. Nearly all people that lived through that pandemic have died. Even a newborn during that time would now be 102 years old. The memories of those who lived during that time are now passed down to relatives and are shared second and third hand. I had difficulty finding much in print to read about.

People write about war. They write about the Holocaust. They write about the horrors that people inflict on people. Apparently, they forget the horrors that nature inflicts on people, the horrors that make humans least significant. And yet the pandemic resonated. (*By John M. Barry, author of The Great Influenza, the Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History).

If you have lived through 2020, your experiences may differ from those herein. This year touched everyone in a multitude of ways. There was a common thread - the virus. Despite this commonality, we all handled what was happening in vastly different ways. My neighbors have three families living under one roof with three small children. When they began to quarantine and work from home, they had to convert their garage to an office. I also know families that were home with small children who needed attention and the adults still had to try to work. There were thousands of others that lost their jobs and had no income. I want you to know that everyone can be part of the year as you experienced it. Throughout the book I have posed some reflection questions for you to ponder.

You will find hereafter, personal accounts and responses from strangers, friends, families, and communities. I will add relevant data from a personal perspective. My journal entries have been incorporated where appropriate. Part One of the book is my personal experience with inspirational stories framing and ending each chapter. There are some trivial observations mixed with some somber. Both gloom and some humor typify how I experienced the year. I do not make fun of the virus or the seriousness of how it affected so many lives. The humor is about how we, as human beings, were behaving during such strange times.

When a tragedy occurs many societies/peoples band together and try to find a way to create a better world. I was a volunteer worker immediately following Hurricane Katrina in 2005. People flew to New Orleans from all over the country to help in the relief efforts. This is especially true when it comes to environmental disasters like the floods and fires we recently experienced in California. There was an outpouring of community ready to help in any way. Unfortunately, 2020 was different. The fear of the unknown, insecurities about food, shelter, and health led to divisiveness in our nation. Instead of coming together these fears drove our country apart. It was often an us and them mentality as we will explore in more detail throughout the book. It was a year like no other.

In an attempt to share what happened from the perspective of others, I spent hours interviewing business owners, people from other countries, teachers, students, medical personnel, and even some virus survivors. Many did not know me but were willing to expose their own vulnerability and experiences. The interviews were timely and that’s what made it raw for those sharing. Some had not talked about their experiences to anyone else.

Finally, in order to personalize the book, I have added questions and space for the you to journal your own reflections. Let us record what happened for our future generations.

Where were you in 2020? How did you experience this roller coaster of losses, challenges, and opportunities?

Part One

The next eight chapters detail some of my experiences, chronologically. I was recording and reflecting in my own journal, and I’ve incorporated those throughout. I have added questions as prompts at the end of some of the chapters. This is an invitation for you to record some of your own thoughts and stories. Use the space to write anything that is a trigger for you and your own memories. We will be writing a history of what happened.

Before COVID

Some events change the course of history in minutes, indelibly, imprinting these moments in our memories. Sometimes an event comes along, unlike any other, that lasts many months and shapes the future of our lives. Some might argue that 1918 was a year similar to this one. However, I think 2020 is a year like no other. Welcome to the NEW YEAR.

This year started off like many others. It was a presidential election year in the United States and there was much anticipation about who would become our 46th president. An event in late January shocked the sports world. Kobe Bryant, a professional basketball player, and his daughter and friends were killed in a helicopter crash near Calabasas, California, USA. This was devastating news to fans in the Los Angeles area and around the country. In addition, there were rumblings of a pneumonia-like virus affecting people in Wuhan, China. It became known as COVID-19. It was a family of coronavirus similar to SARS. The number nineteen signified the year it was identified, late in 2019. That is how the year 2020 started.

After a month-long trip to New Zealand in November and December, my husband, Kevin, and I were happy to be home once again. Kevin was especially glad since he had contracted something while in the last few days of our trip. He pinpoints when he suspects he got COVID; he believes he would have contracted it on our tour bus trip on the way to Milford Sound. There were several buses stopped at Mirror Lakes. There were literally hundreds of people from China elbowing their way on this narrow walking path with cameras in hand, trying to get a better shot of the lakes.

Our arrival back in the states at the end of December coincided with increasing symptoms of coughing and lethargy, mostly for him. Kevin did finally go to Urgent Care, and since he had no fever, was given a dose of antibiotics (which did not help his symptoms). He continued to experience symptoms (similar to COVID-19) for several weeks. The tests for bronchitis and pneumonia were negative. He is asthmatic and suffers from high cholesterol and heart disease. He was never tested for COVID because that wasn’t even on doctors’ radar here in Southern California at that time.

I also started experiencing some similar symptoms after our return. I remember on Christmas Eve feeling well enough to go out to dinner but not well enough to cook. My plans to fly to Nashville (in early January) to visit our daughter and grandsons, and then on to Florida to visit my elderly father who had dementia were not to be cancelled. Kevin declined to go and instead pondered if he should check into the hospital. I want to add that he has never had much of a sense of smell so that wasn’t one of the symptoms that could be considered.

During my trip east, I had good days and bad days. I felt energetic enough on some days to play indoor soccer with the 5- and 7-year-old grandsons. Then I couldn’t sleep because I was coughing at night. I doused myself with over-the-counter cough syrups and lozenges. I felt good enough to bake a football cake for the youngest grandson, Brighton’s five-year birthday celebration. I stayed about a week in Nashville and flew on to Florida to be with Dad and give my stepmother, Jackie some respite. I remember one day forcing myself to play golf with Dad so Jackie could have a few hours to herself. I feared that he might die, and I wouldn’t ever get to play golf with him again. After our nine-hole round, I felt so exhausted I wanted to just lay down.

It was a relief to finally fly home after those two weeks away. I just wanted to crash in my own bed. By then, Kevin was starting to feel a bit more normal. It had been over a month for his illness.

My symptoms persisted off and on for about three weeks. I have a fantastic sense of smell and never lost that. I started improving and was needed at work. My wonderful life as a consultant and trainer for an academic publishing company took me across the United States. I met administrators and educational staff from hundreds of high schools and colleges. It was a fun career shift after many years of working full time. My last California work trips were to El Centro, Oxnard, and finally a conference with 300 people in Long Beach, in late February.

After the work trips, I began planning a spring break vacation to Nashville, Tennessee and again to Florida. My dad’s dementia was getting worse, and I felt another trip was needed. By that time, my husband (a news junkie) was following the stories out of China and New York. There were predictions that we were in for a terrible viral outbreak in