Well, this was going to be a year of travel for me. Probably no big trips but lots of smaller ones. We cancelled one for June, and I had cancelled a small trip last October and even last May because of family things so that's a lot of lost chances to do things that I love and see people I love but only one of those was Covid related. Plus everything this summer that I had hoped to do.
My father in law died just before Covid took off and before things were starting to be shut down. We ended up canceling the memorial which was going to be held at the senior apartments where he lived. Will we do it there, when this is over? How many people there who were his friends will still remember him or care?
Daily? I miss being able to just casually do errands, visit with neighbors, heck, even drive up to visit my kids casually.
I miss the feeling of freedom. Now, everything feels very constrained.
I enjoy going to the movie theater so that's a loss. No chance to go to the local festivals or to the state fair.
All the things I had hoped to do are just....postponed indefinitely. As far as travel goes: assuming that the world opens up in 2021 and the US is no longer grounded, my assumption is that there will be so much pent up demand for travel that I will feel less inclined to go to places that are likely to be crowded.
My husband still teaches at the university and is the chair of his department so that's going to be pretty rough. Lots of adaptations and changes to be made and people to be mentored in that, hands to be held (figuratively because: COVID). Increased financial uncertainty for the department and university because of COVID but we, personally, should be ok financially. Near enough to the end of career that the retirement fund is looking decent.
On the plus side, we've spent more time together and have managed to not kill one another. In many ways it's been nice. We are especially grateful that we have held onto the house where we raised our kids. The extra space has been good and has allowed us to have a bit of separation when we need it. I am grateful that I do not have a houseful of teenagers right now. I don't think I could manage the cries of It's Not FAIR---but maybe they wouldn't be like that. They were all smart kids and thoughtful so probably it would not have been like a whole family grounded for months situation...
And we've gotten to move ahead on some projects which has been nice. We had a couple of things already in progress when COVID hit and have been fortunate that we were able to finish some off. It's a big old money pit of a house whose many design issues we have not been able to address until now. We're more than half way through our list and through the most expensive things (kitchen, bathroom) and now down to other much needed things like updating other electrical, painting and removal of some bad 70's decor and then finally: finishing floors.
All in all, I recognize that we are extremely fortunate. I had retired prior to the pandemic so I have been able to avoid being in the midst of things in our area as I would have otherwise been. We have a steady and secure income with good health insurance and benefits intact. We live in a fairly low incidence area. We're healthy and financially ok. Our kids are healthy and employed. I know how very, very fortunate we are. But I feel pretty constrained. And mostly, I feel as though I should be doing more to help in this situation, but really, the best way to help right now is to stay home, do my best to support local businesses, make the local donations I'm able to make and wait it out.