One year. One long, never-ending, never-repeatable year.
One year ago I told the story of our shopping trip to Woodman’s, as a maskless, non-socially-distanced, throng filled the aisles and their shopping carts with paper towels and toilet paper and anything else they thought would help them in a long siege. Our year of Covid-19 had begun.
I sit here now, as one of the fully-vaccinated, physically undamaged, lucky survivors. No one close to me lost their lives, indeed, I have to think hard to come up with anyone in my circle who even tested positive.
We never closed the lab, though we limited our on-site staffing in the early days. We never stopped seeing our children and grandchildren, with drive-bys graduating to driveway and back yard visits, then in-garage celebrations, and eventually, small gatherings in the kitchen.
We voted (by mail.) We mastered many difficult jigsaw puzzles (and gave up on some impossible ones.) We wrote haiku and parody songs and scripted our favorite TV shows. And we binge-watched. Oh, how we binge-watched. Who knew there were so many dramedies coming out of Australia! We cooked.
We avoided one pet while gaining another, the dog who has grown and grown both in his own body and in our hearts. We have joined Boards, volunteered, and served on committees, now knowing enough to mute our microphones on interminable Zoom calls.
And what have we learned? The pleasure of welcoming our friends and neighbors to our socially distanced back yard, instead of trying to converse in a noisy restaurant. That many movies are just as good at home as at a multi-plex. That books can still take us away from our everyday life. That science will win out–but not always right away.
My thoughts go out to all of you who have suffered much much more. The fact that we have turned a corner may be no solace to those of you who have lost a mother or father, lost a job, lost financial security. Still, I pray we are all on our way to a better place and time.
Just Like Starting Over 