Today marks one year since quarantine began due to the COVID-19 coronavirus epidemic. It was Friday March 13, 2020 when my company sent an email telling us that we would be working from home for "the next two weeks". It seemed like a field trip or an experiment at the time. But I had a feeling it would be much longer. Companies like mine all over the country and the world were doing the best that they could with the information they had to keep their people safe. Two weeks became two months, became two seasons and now a year. We have all heard the stories about adjusting to working from home. Zoom parties with friends, drive-by birthday parties, etc. And now a year later we don't do those anymore.
Daily life feels so different and I'm not sure it will ever be the same again.
The beginning of quarantine was a whirlwind of activity in our house last spring. Everyone under one roof trying to get work and school requirements done under crazy circumstances. We celebrated not one, not two, but THREE graduations in quarantine last Spring. Our oldest daughter graduated with her Master's and is now a Physician Assistant on the front lines. My son received his undergraduate degree and our youngest daughter graduated from high school. For years we had looked forward to the Spring of 2020 because of all the graduations and even lamented that we might not be able to attend all three in-person because of scheduling conflicts. Instead we watched both college graduations on our TV days apart, and were able to attend a "drive-up" high school graduation. Who could have imagined.
We have all lost count of the milestones missed in quarantine.
It is a weird dynamic now because my wife and kids are all working outside the home. They come and go with their daily life trying their best to cope with a new normal, but for me every day is the same. I have been fortunate to be able to have a job that I can perform remotely and my company has been fantastic in communicating throughout the pandemic. They have provided us with the technology and the tools to succeed. The job has never been the issue, it's everything else that surrounds the job that can mess with your mind. The routine, the sameness, the lack of knowing when the end of the pandemic will come. Unless you have a work-from-home job right now you wouldn't understand. I don't expect anyone else to feel sorry for those at home. I am safe and healthy and fortunate. But I worry for what will happen on the "other side".
All I know is that on March 14, 2021 the coronavirus is far from over. I think many people have moved on with their lives and we hear that people "are just done" living their lives in quarantine, but the virus doesn't care how you feel. It is amazing that our best pharmaceutical companies and our government worked to develop multiple vaccines in record time, but that isn't the finish line.
I know we need to open up and I feel for the small businesses that have been hit the hardest in this pandemic, but if we could just push through a few more months until the majority of Americans are vaccinated, I think we would be in such a better place.
I worry for the less fortunate and for the younger generations in this pandemic. How will our young people find jobs when the entire global landscape has changed. The jobs of the future may not even be defined yet, how can they prepare?
In the end I believe in the human spirit and the American spirit and know that we will adapt to any changes in daily life. I am hopeful for the future even when things look bleak. I also believe that the ways in which we adapted in business and culture will serve us well when this pandemic is over. I just want to get there.
So this post was meant to mark the time and preserve my personal thoughts (as rambling as they may be). Thank you to my family for their tremendous support through this very difficult year. In the end, one of the positive results of quarantine is the extended time we have all spent together. I will cherish these memories forever.
I hope everyone will continue to trust science, be kind to each other and have compassion for those less fortunate. I look forward to a time when the world can be together again. But until then, wear a mask!