2020 wasn't all bad

 Not to understate things, but this year has been... interesting. I had a boss who would use that word to describe all things good and bad, even the most horrible events. 

Not that this year has been completely horrible. It’s just been... interesting. 

When I came across some pictures of us in Mexico the other day, I had trouble believing this was actually in 2020. Only 10 months ago, we were in another country with no masks on and no social distancing – we probably didn’t even bring along hand sanitizer. 

Only three weeks later I was phoning the 811 health line to see if I needed to get tested for something called the coronavirus. Despite the fact that I had some covid symptoms, they told me to not worry about it (things were a bit different back then).  

A few days before that, we were at our daughter’s music festival – our last real night out in public. It was the evening when Justin Trudeau’s wife tested positive, the NBA announced it was shutting down, and countries started to close their borders. 

That marked the beginning of some interesting times. 

For our family, it was an opportunity to slow life down. For my daughter it wasn’t bad at all. No more piano exam. No more science fair. No more dance competitions. Instead, we started watching Star Trek (watch long and prosper). 

The next few months consisted of many walks, a little more screen time, and lots more yard work.  

That spring I also became what one might call a birder. During our daily walks I got into the habit of stopping to video all kinds of new species (to me, anyway). It got so bad that my daughter laughed each time I’d pull out my phone to take another low-resolution picture of a tiny bird in a tree. 

We were also able to travel far more within the province than we normally would. Cypress Hills had always been a place we wanted to visit, but hadn’t made the time for it. Now it’s top of our list. There’s nothing like waking up to the sound of deer chewing by your tent or having a rabbit run up to your feet while eating breakfast. It was all so Disney. 

We also made an inaugural trip to Grasslands National Park in southern Saskatchewan, another place we’d been meaning to go. If there’s one reason to go, do it for the Richardson’s ground squirrel. Now I’m used to seeing gophers – and, as a Prairie boy, I did enjoy packing them with pellets – but these are quite different. Especially when you see hundreds of them chirping within the space of a few acres. They reminded me a little of those meerkats in Africa. We even witnessed a coyote try to take on one of them down as the sun set across the gently rolling hills – which would’ve been kind of beautiful if not for the epic battle for survival. (We’ll say the little guy got away.)

A beautiful butte called Castle

Then there was the fishing. What would summer be without dragging my family onto one lake after another, trying our luck over and over again? I even dragged them to a fishing camp six hours north where we caught a whole four measly fish. It was still beautiful, never mind the heat, the biting flies, and the hordes of mosquitoes. I might do it again.

We discovered plenty of trails closer to home, and some unique places to explore. Like Castle Butte, a unique land form jutting out of the earth in southern Saskatchewan. You can climb it for a fantastic view of the Big Muddy Badlands. Sounds intriguing, right?
Who knew there was so much to see, so close to home? 

The year had its dreary moments, there’s no doubt. We couldn’t hide from the barrage of bad news, the isolation and, at times, fear. 

But there were also times when I thought, Hey, this isn’t so horrible. 

At the very least, it will make for good story telling when future generations ask what it was like to live back in 2020, the year of the Great Pandemic. They might just find our stories.... interesting. 

Merry Christmas!