From the [Guest] Editor
Adapting to the New Normal By Angie Lokotz
things used to be and workarounds for the new reality of life, work, and holiday celebrations during the pandemic.
Some have adopted rescue dogs, some have had children (and their pets) move back in with them, some have moved in with parents.
I’m part of the team that has helped put together this magazine for many years and though the contributors don’t know me, I feel as though I know them. This has been an unprecedented year and we’ve gotten through it together.
Some of us find ourselves far from family and because travel has been discouraged or restricted we will celebrate in our own small bubbles. We’ll send cards and gifts, but we’ll also use different ways to communicate with our loved ones. Many of us will primarily be video-chatting with grandparents, grandkids, parents and children.
Others have lost family this year. Covid Restrictions have forced us to rethink how we mourn, how we celebrate life and death, how we gather together to commemorate family.
2020 is drawing to a close. The nights are getting longer and colder, but twinkling lights are back on houses, businesses, and trees. You’ll notice a theme running through most of this month’s articles: longing for light, longing for family, nostalgia for the way
Robert Frost stated that “Home is the place where, when you have to go there, / They have to take you in.” It is instinctive to turn to family during times of hardship, and there are those who find that our families have grown as we create secure virus-free bubbles.
I think often of family because we moved away over 20 years ago and aside from rare trips home or random visits by various family members passing through, we communicate only electronically. Much has changed since we left. Children have grown, graduated, moved, married, and some are having babies of their own. Restrictions have obliged us to reconsider who and what is
Credit: Freepik
Neshi is taking a much-needed break right now and has asked me to step in. She will likely fill you in as the weeks pass and she reflects and regroups. Yvette has been part of my family since she was in her teens. We were young together and now we’re elders!
Star Nations Magazine • December 2020 • 4
