2020

Highlights of 2020

Well, that sucked...

JANUARY: January gets extra pictures, because there ain't much to look at the rest of the year. While Banff is a crowded summer destination, it also has incredible winter scenery and activities. Additional plus: when the high temperature is -12° F, flight prices are similarly low. This marked our first time skiing in the Rockies, and, come to find out, the mountains there are significantly larger than at Swiss Valley. Also, dogs don't seem all that fast until they are pulling you around a tight corner. Feel the rhythm, feel the rhyme!

FEBRUARY: Katie is ending the year approximately one gallbladder lighter. The surgery was without complication, so, on the 2020 grading scale, we are going to consider that a highlight.

MARCH: The year of depressing holidays commenced with a somber St. Patrick's Day. We were supposed to go to Barcelona the day after the European flight ban was announced; at least we didn't go to Spain a few days earlier... Seriously, nothing happened in March. It was either this picture or a grainy image of a hairless squirrel Kyle captured from his new office (f/k/a the bay window).

APRIL: For many weekends this year cooking Saturday dinner was about as exciting as it got. Here Kyle demonstrates the proper method (?) for tossing pizza dough. It is important to move to an area with greater vertical clearance so that you can really put some English on it.

MAY: Canceled trips meant no excuses to avoid yardwork. In May, we tackled a too-long-neglected landscaping bed and laid 75 rolls of sod. The good news: our yard looked better than ever. The lessons learned: 75 rolls of sod is a) too much weight for a small utility trailer and b) too much work for one weekend.

The youngest and most-spoiled member of our family turned 12 (and gained the gray whiskers to prove it).

JUNE: We celebrated our fifth anniversary on a nearly-empty, and quite peaceful, Mackinac Island. It is unclear in whom Katie had greater trust: Kyle the pilot or King the horse. The horse's autopilot was nearly as capable as the plane's, which was good, since we don't know anything about driving a horse. As a gift for our milestone, Kyle's talented father Ed created a lovely painting of our home.

JULY: While there were brief moments of reprieve, this summer was a difficult time for our family.

On July 22, a few short hours after her 95^th birthday, Katie's Grandma Snider left behind the constraints of our earthly world. After nearly two years of Hospice care, she was freed from further COVID-era isolation in the nursing home. And her long life will be remembered as a model of love and merriment.

While Grandma's memory suffered in recent years, Katie is blessed with many fond memories: a quick ride into town from Lake Wawasee to get a slushy, making playdoh, and hours at the player piano. Even through the fog of dementia, Grandma retained her wit and did not hesitate to return Kyle's teasing with a joke of her own.

Though known to many in the Mishawaka community as the wife of Reverend Snider from Albright Church, Grandma's accomplishments more than stood on their own. Having intimately known the challenges of the Great Depression, young Myla was motivated to excel in her education. She obtained her goal of a college degree after working full-time for six years to save for tuition. She then shared her love of learning as a third grade teacher in Bremen and at Walt Disney Elementary School in Mishawaka. Grandma's talent as an educator also served many churches, where she taught bible studies, Sunday school, and other small groups. A lifelong learner, Myla was passionate about her faith and enjoyed sharing God’s message.

July also brought a positive step forward in a scary ordeal, with Kyle's mother Kim being released from a 23 night hospital stay, including 13 days in the ICU and 12 days on a ventilator. While her cardiologist now believes an undiagnosed case of COVID-19 (and resultant viral myocarditis) was likely the precipitating cause, cardiac arrest was the life-threatening reason for admission. The heroic ER team worked on her for several hours just to restore a heartbeat, and the initial prognosis for recovery of any brain function was poor. We were called back to the hospital just a few hours later -- being allowed to enter as a visitor during the pandemic is not a sign of good news -- and prepared ourselves to go in and say goodbye. And then, as Kyle's father and brother entered the ICU room, she surprised everyone by waking up from the coma. Multiple clinicians have expressed their delight with what even they are deeming a miracle.

Being released from the hospital was exciting -- particularly since Mom was unable to have any visitors -- but the long road of recovery is far from over. Another cardiac incident in September caused a temporary setback. Fortunately, her defibrillator vest worked as intended, and they subsequently implanted a permanent defibrillator. Continued fine tuning of medication seems to have stabilized her heart, and she is slowly regaining enough energy to get around the house. Inexplicably, her brain survived the trauma without any evidence of injury. We are now optimistic she will recover to live a full and relatively-normal life. On behalf of the entire Chamberlin family, thank you for the encouraging words, helpful favors, and unending prayers.

AUGUST: Since we are being quite conservative in our COVID precautions, we seized every opportunity for outdoor recreation in a beautiful, clement summer. Here we found a distant end of Holland's beach to ourselves.

SEPTEMBER: The scuttling of our annual Labor Day Extravaganza was perhaps the most disappointing cancellation of them all. Pierce did what he could to liven up the subdued family dinner with his party shirt. Mark your calendars for Sunday, September 5, 2021. We plan to be back bigger and better than ever!

OCTOBER: The Columbus Zoo was another fun day trip. This giraffe, however, was in flagrant violation of the masking protocol.

NOVEMBER: If there was a day we were going to get COVID, this was probably it... That said, the University did a great job hosting a safe (and eerily empty) football season, and we were fortunate to have at least one thing on the weekend calendar a few times this fall. We had better seats than we will ever again score, and the Clemson game was one of our most exciting nights at Notre Dame Stadium.

DECEMBER: It's almost over! Here's to better days ahead.

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