Warning: Sweary words with asterisks appear through this blog. It’s 2020 and it’s been a tough year. I hope you understand.
Well here we are at the end of a year like no other in my lifetime.
It started in Australia with horrific bushfires and the main headline story through the year being our new unwanted friend ….. COVID19, but today I am finishing on an amazing positive note with a story of love, persistence and perservence.
Like any of my 2020 blogs, the point is to record low points and high points in this pandemic year, so I can personally remember what has gone down. It is hard to believe, understand…comprehend what has gone on this year, but I know there has been a lot of swearing and the Oxford dictionary has said the Word of the Year has been……F**k, Really? But I think that could be Fake News or at least a joke! But it could also be true because I’ve thought it and said it many times this year.
We know that pivot, unprecedented, lockdown and Fake News are worthy of Words of the Year – mainly because we are all sick of the repetition of using them or petrified about their implications. Especially Fake News because it is so universally associated with the outgoing (hallelujah) 45th President of the US (bring on January 20th, 2021) and most especially lockdown because that has seriously effed up many a life plan in 2020.
Which brings me to the high point for our family to end 2020 on. On July 31st, 2019, my second daughter and her partner announced their engagement when walking the Mont Blanc Trail in France.
Soph and Jimmy announcing their engagement on 31/7/2019
Walking the Trail is seen as an endurance test (especially when you misread a map and head down a long way and then have to head right back up again) and halfway around, Jimmy chose the most scenic spot to propose. As they have been remarkably excellent at coming home for different occasions, we anticipated that we may be having an Aussie wedding to look forward to in 2020, but the whole Italy elopement thing could definitely have been contemplated.
When 2020 erupted into flames in Australia on January 1st and then we first heard whispers and then shouting from the rooftops about COVID19/Coronavirus/The Rona, little did we truly understand, as we wandered in February (2020) with Soph around the olive trees and grassy fields of the proposed wedding venue in Australia, what was about to happen. There was a sh*tstorm and a clusterf*ck that erupted and kept on erupting all year. It’s been exhausting, yet at times exhilarating and satisfying, but mostly, challenging and disappointing.
The disappointment has been that many, many plans for this union, mooted by my daughter and her partner, have been completely turned upside down, inside out and spat out, never to be contemplated again thanks to COVID and 2020. The new evolving plan was like everything that took place in 2020…it was to be via zoom.
No I hear you say… surely not!
Regular zoom chats to them both in the UK; a zoom dinner for us, while she ate her breakfast; a zoom trivia night with our friends; many, many zoom Telehealth consultations with my patients; a couple of zoom doctor’s appointments for myself and I ended up even co-chairing the CFA #NCOI2020 zoom conference – zoom has certainly been a frequent part of our lives this year!
But how could a zoom wedding truly be a Wedding to Remember (in a good way)?
Well I can assure you that I have now experienced a zoom wedding, preceeded by zoom speeches to and from the family to the bride and groom and a zoom cutting of the cake.
And to my complete surprise and elation, it was the most beautiful, intimate, memorable wedding, full of love, tears, laughter and pure joy.
Yes there’s a nephew who is only five years old up at 11pm enthralled with proceedings
There was physical distancing – about 16,515kms to be exact – but we all still felt the love regardless of which room we were in – and there were many. Many lounge rooms, many kitchens, many bedrooms, and even the Council Chambers of the Islington Town Hall (which was extremely grand). It was like we all willed them over the line because depite the time differences, there were many, many friends and relatives who were zoomed in from around the world and watched as Jimmy and Sophie managed to pull off the Wedding of the Pandemic Year that was 2020.
Friends and relatives from far and wide tuned in to this Wedding of the Year
I think you will agree that as usual, the pictures are worth a thousand words.
You can see the love, the feeling is palpable
You can see the happy / sad emotions, the tears are real.
Physical distancing (across the oceans) prohibited the Father of the Bride walking her down the aisle, having the literal life squeezed out of his hand; there were no kisses and hugs for the mothers’ of the bride and groom and no thrill for my eldest daughter in reciprocating for her sister as the bridesmaid. And yet we were all exhilarated at the joyous celebration that was Sophie and Jimmy’s wedding. We were all heartened for them both to realise that there was so much positivity after months of disappointment, as plan after plan got shredded by the COVID shredder. And I can positively say that this wedding was truly one to remember forever, for all the right reasons, not the wrong ones.
So as I finish with some wedding photo spam, can I say to all who have had their plans shattered this year, learn from Sophie and Jimmy’s experience.
Pivot quickly in these unprecendented times splattered with lockdowns and fake news – say ‘f**k really’ as many times as you like, but don’t think you can’t feel the love and have a ball tying the knot if you haven’t been able to have the usual wedding. In fact I think these two have totes re-set the thinking about weddings and may have created a new trend.
Hens…have two not one – one at lunch time with six girls and another at dinner with another six. (Definitely schedule a recovery day the next day).
Memories – because so many girls from Australia couldn’t make the hens, have a very special friend get them to record a video and also write a message of love and fave photos for you, which she has placed in a book for the bride to review for all time.
Reception – have it five days before the actual ceremony, with thirteen people at the cutest restaurant in London. (Another recovery day required).
The Nook, London – cute as all hell and word has it, beautiful food -arranged a reception with less than 24 hours notice
Wedding dresses – have one for the reception (see above) and then decide to buy another one from the internet…..three days before the wedding because your partner has decided to wear a tux (and boy did he look good). Weirdly, then the dress actually arrives on Friday just two days after it was purchased….. the actual day before the wedding and looks so stunning you would think that it was made to measure with an incredible designer, multiple fittings and viewings over months and months.
My goodness you look stunning Soph
Speeches– have with the family before the wedding ceremony and because it’s via zoom, we can hear every word and absorb the context, meaning and love that the speeches convey and because it’s able to be recorded via zoom, it is there for posterity forever.
So because zoom has allowed us to attend this beautiful wedding at the height of a third wave of the pandemic, ‘Zoom’ is defintely my Word of the Year – I only wish I had bought shares in Zoom all those months ago…..
Both parents to this amazing bride and groom got married in 1978 and both have celebrated their 42nd wedding anniversary this year in 2020. We wish you two the same – a partner for life who makes you feel comfortable, makes you feel supported and makes you laugh. And most importantly loves the beach and the mountains. Win, win I say.
Definition of perserverance: ” It always seems impossible until it is done”
Love to you both xx
And a Happy New Year!
May 2021 bring health, wealth, happiness and did I mention good health? – to all my patients, blog followers, friends, pelvic health physiotherapists and especially my family. Fingers crossed that 2021 is boring, calm and peaceful.