When Covid-19 closed down the world, I was a freshly minted widow living alone. Still mourning one death, I watched in fear as this new disease killed thousands daily. The entire planet plunged into grief--for family and friends, our livelihoods and previous lives. Gone.
Nothing to do but survive and be grateful that my husband slipped away before Covid arrived on the scene. But my former father-in-law succumbed in the first few weeks of lockdown.
One of the most frightening aspects of Covid was what we didn't know about it. With all our medical advancements, we were flying blind in the beginning and were woefully unprepared for a pandemic.
"Just in time" manufacturing processes and reliance on foreign suppliers failed us in our time of need.
Since I work for a defense contractor, I was considered an essential worker during Covid. I carried a signed letter from the president of our company in case I was pulled over during a curfew. There was no working from home for me. Although I was terrified of contracting Covid, my masked-up encounters with coworkers and customers saved me from loneliness.
Staff meetings went virtual. Our work Thanksgiving dinner was a boxed chicken nugget meal from Chick-Fil-A. Our holiday event became gift cards in our mailboxes and a virtual Christmas trivia contest (I won). On Sundays I logged on to Zoom-only services from my church.
My daughter's Zoom baby shower in April 2020 was a huge event for family and friends. My grandson Gavin was born that July. Both parents worked from home throughout the pandemic and still do. That's a great thing with a young child. Poor little guy got Covid on his second birthday but he and family.
Covid did bring some helpful changes--grocery delivery, telehealth, online video conferencing and other mobile services--into our lives. I appreciate those things along with the sacrifices of health care workers, first responders, teachers and food service employees who took care of us during the toughest of times.
Covid changed us all and our old lives aren't coming back. Hope I never see another pandemic. I was lucky to survive this one.
— Suztek
Nothing to do but survive and be grateful that my husband slipped away before Covid arrived on the scene. But my former father-in-law succumbed in the first few weeks of lockdown.
One of the most frightening aspects of Covid was what we didn't know about it. With all our medical advancements, we were flying blind in the beginning and were woefully unprepared for a pandemic.
"Just in time" manufacturing processes and reliance on foreign suppliers failed us in our time of need.
Since I work for a defense contractor, I was considered an essential worker during Covid. I carried a signed letter from the president of our company in case I was pulled over during a curfew. There was no working from home for me. Although I was terrified of contracting Covid, my masked-up encounters with coworkers and customers saved me from loneliness.
Staff meetings went virtual. Our work Thanksgiving dinner was a boxed chicken nugget meal from Chick-Fil-A. Our holiday event became gift cards in our mailboxes and a virtual Christmas trivia contest (I won). On Sundays I logged on to Zoom-only services from my church.
My daughter's Zoom baby shower in April 2020 was a huge event for family and friends. My grandson Gavin was born that July. Both parents worked from home throughout the pandemic and still do. That's a great thing with a young child. Poor little guy got Covid on his second birthday but he and family.
Covid did bring some helpful changes--grocery delivery, telehealth, online video conferencing and other mobile services--into our lives. I appreciate those things along with the sacrifices of health care workers, first responders, teachers and food service employees who took care of us during the toughest of times.
Covid changed us all and our old lives aren't coming back. Hope I never see another pandemic. I was lucky to survive this one.
— Suztek
I appreciate the pitch back to those early days and weeks. There was good but - yeah, let's not do that again if we can help it. I'm sorry about your husband's passing and glad with you that it was before.
ReplyDeleteI felt the same thing about several things that have happened since my mom passed on - - glad she wasn't here for that! - - including (but by no means limited to) Covid. It's good to hear someone else thinking that way - - thank you for the (inadvertent?) fellowship.
ReplyDeleteOne of your sentences was cut off, but I presume you meant to add "pulled through," or something of the sort. Sorry that the reeling from the loss of your husband was given another spin by the lockdown! A good summation of probably the journey of many in similar situations. Some good stuff, some bad stuff. (Macoff)
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