Like many these days, my life changed for the worst under the pandemic. But not because of COVID-19.
In early April 2020 my elder mom was hospitalized for over a week because of pneumonia, which later turned out to be unrelated to COVID-19. At first I wasn’t sure I would see her again, but she’s recovering very well.
Besides mom, at home I had been caring for one of her sisters for almost four years. My disabled aunt had a degenerative illness. Taking care of her took more and more of my time and energy. I was already under lockdown for this well before the pandemic. But the lockdown made getting support difficult. Help was around the corner, but to enforce isolation I couldn’t take most of it.
In mid-May, my aunt passed away. Again, not because of COVID-19.
It may seem cliché, but focusing on my creative work kept me on course in these tiring times. I regularly published my newsletter each week. And, although I slowed down posting to my blog, I’m resuming.