Hope One Year In
E is starting to learn about superheroes, thanks to a few of his friends. It’s all second hand knowledge since he’s never read a book or watched anything with a superhero in it, so the translation is kind of funny. When asked to pick out what superhero he wanted to dress up like, he obviously said Cookie Monster hero, which is how he ended up with a Cookie Monster cape. He’s also been told about “bad guys” so anytime Tom or I say no to something he wants, we’re labeled a “bad guy.” Which at least makes sense, but not all of his uses do. Every morning when I go to work, I tell both kids to “Have a good day!” and E has started replying “Have a bad guy!”
Both E and G love to “help” me work, so I just have to laugh now when I’m in a meeting, and look down on my notes which are covered in scribbles by one or both kids. Life is so weird, and it doesn’t matter at all – no co-worker is ever going to see my presentation notes, there are no handouts for meetings anymore.. so it actually doesn’t matter that ever piece of paper I have is scribbled over. It’s a bit freeing to not care about these things.
My boss and I were meeting recently (over video chat, of course) and he pulled up an email that we were sent a year ago. It was telling all employees to work from home starting immediately, and to be prepared to work from home for up to a month. My boss joked that they misspelled “year.” The only problem, at the time, was that I was already working from home that week due to two little with fevers. So I never had time to pack up my desk or think about what I might want at home. Apparently they’re boxing my stuff up and mailing it to me soon – I’m so curious to figure out what I’ve been living without for a year. My own time capsule.
This week has been full of memories of what life was like last March. I remember a lot of fear. Slathering myself with hand sanitizer every two seconds, trying to stay away from people. We were terrified to fly to Florida for our vacation, even more scared not to go. We were mad at the government for not doing enough, and even more so at the general public who weren’t listening to warnings. I gave my first presentation on Covid-19 towards the end of February and have given countless more since. I’m actually preparing one for the board of directors as we speak.
It’s obviously an understatement to say it’s been a long year. It hasn’t all been bad, though. We’ve spent more time as a family, we’ve managed to do a few things that were both safe and fun, and we have a new family member on the way! There’s also hope that things will get even better soon. Of course I won’t completely exhale until we (and everyone we love) are vaccinated, but it’s coming. The weather is getting warmer, we’ve got a few small things to look forward to, I’m feeling okay… it’s the best I can hope for!