What were you doing a year ago? Having dinner with bae, brunch with the girls, drinks with co-workers? A year ago we were living our lives happy and oblivious. A year ago were we told to WFH for a couple of weeks. We packed up essential office items, had our work laptops upgraded or traded in for a better one, and ran for the hills, or your home, whichever you prefer, thinking we’d be back in a couple of weeks at most. Time marched on, weeks turned into months, months tuned into a year. Who knew a year ago we’d still be home, working, cooking more meals than we have in a lifetime, yearning to be outside among complete strangers enjoying that mimosa and ricotta pancakes on the restaurant patio (not inside a plastic bubble).
What have we experienced?
We have Zoomed, Teamed, Duo(ed), and Facetimed ourselves into oblivion. We have said “your muted” more times than we’ve said, “good morning.” We’ve seen virtual backgrounds, kitchen sinks full of dirty dishes and the mischievous child lurking behind mom or dad. We’ve heard household chores going on in the kitchen, dogs barking at the mailman and children’s virtual classes happening in the other room. We’ve heard oh sorry I got kicked off, my WiFi went out, is my screen frozen, can you still hear me. We’ve had technical glitches and technology frustration. We’ve become tech wizards and computer scientists, all-be-it unwillingly.
We prepared more meals than a chef on the Vegas strip (no worries, I am still getting takeout from somewhere). We made sourdough bread (I don’t really understand why sourdough and not pumpernickel), we made our own coffee and steamed our own oat milk (I still want that coffee shop latte though, so baristas don’t leave me), we did our own hair (don’t worry professional stylists, we still need you b/c you need to fix what we messed up).
We have become resilient, strong, determined, compassionate, caring, generous, considerate, understanding human beings.
Here’s to a better year, better life, better world.