Anna

This pandemic developed in several phases. In the beginning, I was afraid. Afraid to contact my grandchildren, my daughter-in-law, who was pregnant, and my friends.

In June, things got better but my son Sérgio twisted his foot when skating with the kids in Algarve. I was worried of course! Márcia was not feeling well and he could not walk and I was a person over 65…

My daughter Sara, stayed at home and could not go every day to her daily care in Lisbon. She is bipolar and takes lots of medication. My friends were also worried about their families and their jobs. Nevertheless, Sara and I had a wonderful Summer in Tavira and Seia where we have our houses. We swam a lot, had long walks and met some friends.

In September, I needed a break and decided to visit a beautiful island in the Azores, Graciosa. We spent peaceful and wonderful days there. We returned to our routines after that, Pilates classes, online lectures and meetings for me.

My daughter in law is now okay but had to reduce her working hours which means more work for Sérgio. I helped them buy a bigger car but it had some mechanical problems. Our daily help stopped working for us. Also, our friends had similar stories.

What did I learn from this pandemic?

That we must adapt and not expect too much. We can do many things by staying at home, like cooking more. But social distancing is very hard. I felt that I was in a social coma, however, life goes on and we must have hope. But there is a certain nostalgia around Christmas because good memories come to our minds.

I hope 2021 brings us some normality and now that we learned some lessons, I hope people understand that solidarity among countries is key to surpass this virus. We are interconnected and are part of the Universe. We should be wiser…