I’m trying to be more forward-thinking. The pace of change reflected in the daily news these days, provides a lack of predictability on several levels. It’s like whiplash. I’m typically a planner. I am in a good position to have options and have the benefit of going with the flow. There was no better evidence of needing to do that, than the pandemic experience.

Daria posted about her experiences with some thoughtful questions. I am taking inspiration from her. Here we go:

What do you remember most? I remember the anti-Asian sentiment and feeling targetted for being Chinese. I remember being obsessed about toilet paper, hand sanitizer, Lysol spray, gloves, and masks

I became crafty (hats anyone?) Who knew?

I went on to make enough to cover the heads of my immediate family. My mother got 2. My aunt also got 2. I made them for my siblings and all of their spouses and kids. Yes, I am a bit obsessive.

How did we get here? I was getting ready for a work trip on January 19, my second visit since October. I had heard rumblings of this wave of sickness making its way across the globe. And thinking it would be good if I could get a mask, maybe at the airport. While at the airport I couldn’t find any, but I didn’t worry much.

As I sat in my seat waiting for take-off, I got a text from my son:

“Mom, did I hear right from Dad? Are you flying to Seattle?

“Yup, just finished boarding”

“You do realize, they just identified the first case of this virus in the US. In Washington. What the … ?!”

It’s true. It had been confirmed in Everett—about a 20-minute drive from my company’s head office. I was flying into the unknown. That was January. It was only going to get worse.

We were monitoring the situation closely. My daughter was scheduled to go on her first trip abroad with school. She was going to Portugal and Spain for March break, how exciting at 15. I had gone out and bought a box of KN95 masks for her to take with her. We had already got some Euros for her to bring for tipping. We were hoping for the best. We were proud of her for wanting to do something adventurous. The pandemic hit Spain and Portugal first and several students could not return home to their countries because of it. Our school trip was cancelled just days before they were scheduled to fly out, which was a blessing.

Who went through this with you? Despite the doom and gloom, we did a lot of cocooning and isolating as a family. It brought my son home from university for a few chunks at a time. I was working from home, a job that I had secured as 100% remote the fall before. My husband was keeping busy after just achieving lifetime permanent status with our national airline (irony – now that he couldn’t go anywhere). Thank goodness he was at home – he had done a work stint in China a year earlier.

My daughter took her high school classes online – from her bed. Thank goodness for the internet, I was able to keep up with my Mom, in her 80s and amazingly agile on her iPhone.

Where did you go through this event?  At home and no where else. Except to the grocery store – when we were allowed with “social distancing” (a new term).

We had family and friends’ meetings on line though. Several family Zoom reunions, with some family we had never met in person. A couple of high school reunions. Some girlfriend Zoom social hangs.

We did rent a cottage for a week’s summer vacation – it was outrageously expensive at the time.

How did you feel then?  I felt somewhat in a bubble. I immersed myself in work. I had the option to go to head office as much as I wanted before Covid. I did try to go a couple times during, but with testing requirements and timing, it didn’t work out. But I felt so productive. We worked so well together internally. We also collaborated effectively with our external colleagues to accomplish amazing things.

I worried for my daughter. A lot . Life can be tough enough when you’re 15 without a global pandemic. We had just found a solution to help her deal with anxiety about going to school . And then this.

What changed in your world? I lost my part tine gig teaching at the gym. The gym! It has been my mainstay over the last 20 years. I did get the Les Mills app, I did manage to workout at home. But group fitness was not sustainable during the pandemic. I missed my fellow dance instructors and most importantly the great people who came to my classes. We lost a lot of instructors and the class has not recovered unfortunately.

Our travel was cut down, and we have not travelled as a family unit since before the pandemic. But it is also life. Family vacations are harder to keep up when your kids have their own schedules and friends.

What changed in YOU? I became more outgoing, less filtered, more the “real me” with people. Perhaps it was working on Zoom and freeing my inhibitions. I lost some of my imposter syndrome. Isolated in my office tucked in the corner of my house, working solo in person but with hundreds of folks online– I hit major high points in my career. More open to change than I ever was before.

I became more family focussed, and nostalgic. I don’t think I was alone in that. I’m trying to do more with my siblings, and taking advantage of more time to spend with my mom on a regular basis. I hope I’m being nicer to my husband but you’d have to ask him if that’s working.

How do you feel about the pandemic NOW – it feels like it was a dream. Except for the fact that I still have several boxes full of masks (see above, ie. me being obsessive…) life has normalized. I feel it brought out the best but also the absolute worst. Memories can be so short. It was just five years ago that we were slammed with this global crisis. The virus spread like wildfire because we are so interconnected. It brought out some awful divisiveness. Good people around the world also worked together to get us back to new normalcy. I wish people would remember that.