MY GIFT TO YOU—GET YOUR FREE EBOOK—“THE 5-DAY JOURNEY TO CULTURAL AWARENESS”!
There are no words to fully describe 2020. When I ask people, I often hear words like . . . disappointment, unknown, shock, sickness, hardship, death, isolation, lockdown, quarantine, home, chaos, confusion, frustration.
When the clock struck midnight on January 1, 2021, we all had hopes of a new year, a new page, a new season.
Surely, things can’t get worse than 2020.
But, they have started off with a bang!
On January 6, 2021, we watched in horror, on CBSN Live, the sad reality of our broken country—the United States of America.
Does a world of brokenness, disunity, war lie ahead in this new year?
A few days later, on January 8, 2021, a major snow storm, Filomena, swept across Spain—the country where we reside. Four dead in its quake and a nation paralyzed. The country still scrambles to clear roads without snow plows and salt trucks. Thousands trapped overnight in cars. Kids stuck at home doing virtual school for the first weeks of the new year’s semester.
Life is full of the unexpected these days.
This is Getting Really Hard
Living in Spain and having a child studying in another country has also added extra layers of anxiety and fear to the chaotic mess in which we all find ourselves at the start of this new year. We are used to sending our kids to the other side of the world to study. We have been doing this for the past eight years. But, honestly, this is getting really hard.
When the world starting shutting down and closing its borders in March 2020, we had to frantically purchase a last-minute airline ticket for our son, Robert, to return from England. It was crazy, and it seemed that he made it back home to us in Spain in the nick of time.
He studied online from March to May 2020, along with our younger children whose school in Spain was also closed.
There were hopes that Robert’s university and soccer academy would reopen mid-August. It eventually opened, but much later than expected. On October 18, 2020, Robert finally boarded a plane to return to England.
Hope, expectation, anticipation of something good.
Boom!
Boom! Another lockdown began in England. Our son suddenly found himself confined in his dorm doing online studies, with little opportunity for outside activities. Restaurants, bars, and most stores were closed. His soccer program was cancelled. Life was far from normal.
Disappointment once again.
In December, Robert and his teammates were finally given permission to start soccer practice. They had two weeks of training and two practice games before heading home for Christmas break.
Hope, expectation, anticipation of something good.
Getting him home from England to Spain for Christmas was no easy task. Spain required a negative PCR for entry. It had to be taken 72 hours before the flight, and you had to hope that you would receive the online results (hopefully negative!) before boarding the plane.
It certainly wasn’t a 15-minute “rapid test”!
His test was expensive, 130 pounds. A hassle, no appointments, so our son had to do a self-test and “swab” himself, hoping he did it correctly. Anxiety, waiting for the results that arrived online the night before his 6 a.m. flight.
He made it, and guess what? They didn’t even ask for his PCR results upon arrival at the airport in Spain. What?!
That Was the Plan!
We purchased his return ticket to go back to the UK on January 11, 2021. He would be required to have a negative PCR test (another 150 euros) to transit through Amsterdam (just to transit, what?!), then he would have to do a 10-day self-isolation upon arrival in the UK. Online classes would begin on January 18.
That was the plan!
Hope, expectation, anticipation of something good.
Just a few days before his departure, we got the news. The UK was going back into a full lockdown, the same restrictions as March 2020. Schools closed. Everything closed. No in-person classes. No soccer. Nothing.
Disappointment once again.
With sadness, we cancelled Robert’s airline ticket. Thankfully, Air France has free changes and cancellations until March 31, 2021, due to the pandemic.
He began online classes on Monday, January 18. It seems that the lockdown will extend until mid-March.
Disappointment once again.
How Do We Face It?
How do we face all this disappointment and unmet expectations? How do we handle hit after hit after hit? How do we walk down the road of unknown in 2021? It doesn’t seem to be getting any better.
I certainly don’t have the answers, but I’ll tell you what we are doing.
We are trying to be grateful for what we do have, not what we don’t have.
We are trying to be thankful for our blessings and not our disappointments.
We are trying to see beauty in the ashes—the “ugly beautiful.”
We are trying to sing and dance for joy, rather than mope and gripe.
We are trying to see the cup half full, not half empty.
We are trying to look at each other and rejoice that we can be together as a family.
We are counting our blessings that we are all healthy and safe.
We are trying to be hopeful that tomorrow will be better.
I can remember during the March 2020 lockdown . . . one day, I woke up with a song in my heart, “The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow.” I have to still believe those words. I have to still hope and pray.
Still Believe, Still Dream
It snowed for four days. Our walking hills are still covered with beautiful white angel dust.
I think I’ll go back out for another walk in the Spanish Winter Wonderland . . . escape, forget . . . just for a moment. I’ll look around me and believe that life is normal, if only just for a second. Then, I’ll come home, make some hot chocolate, and sit . . .
“ . . . And dream by the fire,
To face unafraid,
The plans that we’ve made,
Walking in a winter wonderland.”
No, I will not fear. I will not lose hope. I will not give up. I will courageously face the unknowns of 2021.
Wanna join me?
—THE CULTURAL STORY-WEAVER
MY GIFT TO YOU—GET YOUR FREE EBOOK—“THE 5-DAY JOURNEY TO CULTURAL AWARENESS”!
LET’S WEAVE CULTURES!
How are you coping with the unknowns, the unexpected of 2021 in your life?
We invite you to tell us your own cultural stories and global adventures . . . as you engage with the world, breaking down barriers, building bridges, and “weaving cultures!” Write about them in the comment box below.
