2020 has turned me into a homey

“If they just called it the ‘stay at home challenge’ and posted it on social media, things would be completely back to normal by now.” The Super Mom Life

“Let’s go for a walk at Las Olas.”

“Do we have to?”

A couple of years ago, I would have probably been the one to say the first sentence and my hubby would have replied with the second one. But on Sunday, it was the other way around. I was still in my PJs, enjoying the movie “White Christmas” on Netflix, when the hubby came up with the great idea to go to Las Olas. The pre-2020 me would have jumped with excitement, but 2020 has turned me into a homey, and I just wanted to stay home to finish watching the movie. 

I have friends that like to eat dinner very early, like around 5 pm. I used to make fun of them. I would tell them all the time, “you guys have become a couple of senior citizens.” Every time we went on a cruise together, they wanted the early sitting and we wanted the late sitting. The other day, my friend called me at 8, and she said, “I waited to call you because I know you have dinner around 7.” I started laughing and told her that I had turned into her: “We are now having dinner at 5, like you guys. This is what staying home has done to us. We have joined the senior citizens club.”

Turning into a homey has made staying home during the pandemic more bearable. I can be happy staying home reading a good book, watching a movie, playing Rummikub or doing a puzzle. I can find many ways to entertain myself. However, having a balance is also very necessary because life happens outside my four walls. 

The thing that I miss the most is my community of friends and family that I can’t see as often as I would like, and when I do see them we have to be wearing masks and keeping our distance. I am not a very hugging or touching kind of person, but when 2020 began, I made a list of 20 resolutions. Two of these resolutions were: “I will spend less time on social media and more time face-to-face with those that truly matter,” and “I will hug my loved ones more.” Obviously, 2020 had the last laugh because by the third month of the year, those two resolutions had to be thrown out the window. And never in my life have I felt like hugging someone more than this year.

Therefore, as much as I sometimes just want to stay home, I miss my people. I miss spending face-to-face time with those I love. I miss hugging them. I miss going to my “live” Bible classes. I miss sitting down in a packed movie theater. I miss going to a full church on Christmas morning and holding hands to pray the “Our Father.” I miss giving the sign of peace to others by shaking their hands or kissing those I know, instead of waving from afar. I miss going to a crowded mall where I have to avoid bumping into people not for fear of catching a virus but because there is practically not enough room to walk.

I did allow the hubby to convince me to get out of the house on Sunday, and we went to Las Olas. It was not as crowded as it normally would have been at this time of year, but there were quite a number of people, and most of them, without masks.  Of course, this made me want to run back home, but we stayed. We walked around, wearing not one but two masks, and avoiding people as much as we could. We took a stroll down the River Walk, and ended up sitting at a cafe, outdoors, of course. We enjoyed a glass of wine and some tapas, while watching the boats cruise down the river and the people promenading with their dogs, their kids, or their loved ones.

For a couple of hours, we were able to forget that we are still living a pandemic nightmare. And that is why, for 2021, I am only making one resolution: “I will push myself out the door and stop being the homey I have become.” Life keeps happening and people keep enjoying it, despite COVID-19. I will take precautions, but I will not stop living for fear of catching “the virus.” I will get out of my comfort zone and enjoy the great outdoors, because after all, we do live in a town with the most amazing weather during the winter. So I vow that 2021, will return me to enjoy being “out-of-the-house.“

Copyright © 2020 Christy Romero. All rights reserved.