As of a few days ago, California has officially “reopened” after being on lock-down for the past fifteen months due to covid19. Looking back over these many months, reflecting on the events that happened, the way people responded, and my own experiences through it, I still cannot come up with the right adjective for it all. In the early days of this mess, the adjective was surreal, and I wrote this blog post about it.

While the pandemic isn’t over, the increasing vaccination numbers and this reopening do provide some hope and light at the end of the tunnel. After some reflection, here are my thoughts on this unique (and hopefully only once in a lifetime) experience.

• I’m tired. Not physically, but emotionally and mentally. I wonder how long it will be until I don’t feel this way?
• I’ve figured out a bit more of what’s important to me as an individual, as well as a mother, daughter, friend, wife, etc.
• It felt odd that my creativity could flourish during times like this, but I was grateful for it.
• People are jerks. However, just when I was about to lose hope in humanity, some person or group of people would do something so wonderful or helpful or kind. So while a number of people still are jerks, they’re luckily outnumbered by the people with beautiful, loving souls.
• High-maintenance people made me laugh. A haircut was never that high on my list of “essential services.”
• For the most part, my children have been blissfully unaware of the rather negative effects of the past year, and I’m grateful for that. No need for them to be worried or have anxiety over something that was out of our hands.
• Being an introvert, I wasn’t really bothered with staying at home and staying away from people.
• A global pandemic sure helps to put things into perspective and to reassess priorities.
• What’s going to happen to all of the masks?

As always, thanks for stopping by. ❤