My 2020

Patience: My year started with this unsavory trial. Waiting to hear whether I’d be hired for a part-time job at a public library in addition to my full-time gig as a school librarian.

Panic: I got the job and worked evenings and on Saturdays. It was not the picnic I’d envisioned! But I never missed and filled in when flooding hit our town, closing schools.

Cramming: I’d worked elections to carry on my grandmother and her mother’s volunteer work. For the first time I agreed to work the March Primary as Officer of Election. Yikes!

Excitement: Attending an all-day in-service on Women’s Suffrage was most scintillating! Sharing the learning with my faculty by enlisting ‘actors’ to bring it alive - awesome!

Uncertainty: Submitting for work as an ‘extra’ for films was always iffy, but fun. If hired, would I find a sub for my personal day? Then I found I wasn’t selected, after all.

Unpredictability: School systems were closing here and there due to COVID-19. Then one Friday came an announcement that our county schools were to be out for 2 weeks. The next day I worked my last day at my part-time job, as it was shuttered for weeks, as well. These 2 weeks turned into 7 months, a little at a time. My school library job I conducted remotely through May. The public library where I worked was closed for 6 weeks after which I resigned. In July, I retired early from my teaching career.

Dependability: I tell myself I’m doing all right. I shop for groceries online and get them at ‘pickup lanes’, something I’ve never done. I walk every day. I started visiting my mom in June. I take care not to go to public venues except open air parks. I don’t go into stores or public restrooms, to restaurants, including curbside or drive-throughs. I cook for my family every day now. I get a chance to act in a virtual community theatre performance, portraying a narrator from the 1890s. This affords the opportunity to be filmed outdoors at a historic mansion and see acquaintances in person for the first time in 7 months.

But there’s one more trial I have yet to share, though I dare not dwell on it.

Heartbreak: I received a note that one of my 950 students had written about me via a former colleague in September. This child had been in Kindergarten when last encouraged by and read aloud to by me. The note is pictured, but in case it’s not clear, I will transcribe it here. The now 1st grader had misspelt a word, so I will add the missing letter to the word, ‘favorite’. “Do you want to know something? Mrs. Kelley was one of my favorite teachers! She was super nice. I love her soooooooooo much!!!!!!!!!!” You see, I was so focused on not getting this coronavirus that I had been deliberately pushing down any emotion I felt as a way of protecting myself. But it all came pouring out, rising up, tumbling down, and bubbling over when I read this note; for I love these kids, too!