2020 – a Strange year in review

Debra Stewart James ♦ January 1, 2021 ♦ Leave a comment

2020 commenced with massive excitement as we set off for a two-week holiday on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast, at a beautiful place called Banana Beach. We had excellent weather for most of the visit and spent hours in the sea and sun. Little did we know how much that R&R would be needed. We commenced our last semester as a Pathway missionary couple (or so we thought) while on holiday and started our online studies too.

Things were extremely busy with promises of the best year ever for my small business on the work front. New clients had come on board, and I needed to employ a second assistant to cope with the increased volumes. The twins started their last year of primary school, and it was shaping up to be a busy and eventful year.

Early in February, we drove down to Durban again to attend the Open House of the new Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, due to be dedicated two weeks later. The quality of the workmanship and the magnificence of both the structure and furnishings were incredible. We eagerly made plans to return after the dedication to experience it all again.

Mid-February, Allan and I got to spend three days at Sun City, courtesy of a generous sister and brother-in-law. It was amazing. Believe it or not, it was my first proper visit. Previous visits had been for a Mango Groove concert in the ’80s and a Josh Groban concert a few years ago. I loved it all. The monkey troops amused me, and having a few days break before the tax year’s busiest time was a blessing.

In the ensuing few weeks, we realized that the Coronavirus dubbed Covid-19 was inevitably going to reach South African shores. We did an inventory of our food storage. We prepared ourselves to self-isolate as much as possible, given that my sister-in-law, who lives with us, has two auto-immune diseases and falls into the compromised population segment. On 18 March, the twins’ school closed as a precaution against the virus. On 22 March, we held our first home sacrament meeting, and our local missionaries joined us that day. They were repatriated back to their home countries during the following week in a massive evacuation exercise co-ordinated by the Church Missionary Department. 23 March, South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa, announced a 21-day lockdown for the entire country to begin on 26 March at midnight. As I write this blog, we are about to complete our 280^th day in lockdown.

During this lockdown period, we have experienced highs and lows.

Moments of struggle:

Helping the thirteen-year-old twins adjust to not seeing their friends and facing their fears over the possibilities of the virus.
Helping the twins adjust to learning online and only “seeing” their friends and teachers on Teams or WhatsApp
Dealing with frustrated clients as we could not attend to their tax and other queries generally due to changes forced on us by the lockdown.
Reduced income as clients lost income and some even their entire livelihoods due to lockdown.
Feelings of isolation
The loss of another grandbaby, this time through an ectopic pregnancy (how our hearts ache at each loss).
The relocation of a child to a location over 1000kms away 😦
No sport, neither to watch nor participate in.
Feelings of frustration as we sometimes got annoyed with each other due to 24/7 close confines.
Learning to wear masks and sanitize constantly.
Not being able to visit friends
Not being able to comfort friends who lost loved ones or attend their funerals
Increased pressure to assist some clients gain access to government relief assistance, which resulted in much more administrative work.
Learning how to facilitate Pathway Gatherings via Zoom. Data issues, etiquette issues, changing the way I teach to the new medium. This was a monumental learning curve for both Allan and me.
Losing two trees in the garden in massive thunder and wind storms, thankfully with minimal damages to property.
Finding out family members were infected and affected by the virus. Worrying about their health and the exposure we potentially brought into our home.

Moments of enjoyment:

The quietness of the neighborhood with no car sounds from the nearby main road for a month.
Seeing whole families out for a daily walk as the exercise window of two hours was allowed after level 5 lockdown was eased to level 4.
No early morning rushing to get the children to school on time.
Having long discussions on a topic that elicited a question during our Sunday discussions on the week’s “Come Follow Me” readings.
Celebrating the 200th anniversary of the First Vision and participating in my first “Hallelujah Shout”
Recognizing how many of our life experiences had prepared us for living off what we have stored.
Not having to adjust too much to online working from home, as we have been doing this for over five years.
Our first takeaway food ordered in after relaxation of lockdown regulations, delicious ribs from The Diner.
Laughing as we raked leaves in the mornings for exercise, and then raked more from the exact same places later in the day, only to realize at supper time that the ground didn’t look like we had done any raking. Oh, the joys of a GIGANTIC oak tree in the garden in autumn.
Spending much more time out in the garden, in the sun, and planting seedlings.
Completing our Pathway mission, having served extra time. Allan served an additional five months. I finish mine today, nine months extra. I love Pathway Connect. What a blessing it has been in our lives. What a privilege it has been to serve. I have met people I most likely would never have met any other way. They have influenced my life and given me a better understanding of my fellow South Africans. I have learned to love people better, purely because they, too, are children of our Heavenly Father.
The engagement of one child, and the announcement of a new pregnancy for another.
Promotion from primary school to high school for the twins.

Moment of growth:

Teaching clients how to work online and embrace cloud computing.
Discovering that the twins were growing in leaps and bounds despite their schooling challenges. Even when they went back to school, they handled masks, sanitization, temperature taking, and social distancing like pros.
Figuring out how to use Zoom – a significant achievement. We used it for Pathway Gatherings, family chats, and client meetings. (I wish I had some shares in that company before lockdown happened).
Sundays became the best day of the week. Our family discussion progressed from barely 45 minutes the first week to sometimes over an hour and a half. These discussions became some of my favorite memories of the year. It has been a blessing to stop when a question is asked and take the time to adequately address it, not having to worry about a class lesson time or the rest of the class.
My family history collections have been sorted into files per surname and, in some cases, per person. Scanning of photos and sorting of memorabilia has happened. Praise be. I have carted some of these souvenirs around for over twenty years – the lockdown periods have enabled me to be pro-active and make some real progress. Having time to implement many of the processes and skills I have learned in my BYU Idaho studies has been a bonus.
Launching my genealogy business has finally become a reality. (cue HUGE HUGE SMILE).

So, here we are…….. New Year’s Eve, and I just feel that I cannot be ungrateful for this challenging year. As always, I look forward to a new year, new beginnings, and continued growth, but somehow I think that in twenty years, we may still look back at this year as a watershed year, one that changed the world as we knew it, hopefully for a much better future.