Like I Was Saying...
March 10th was my last “normal” day.
Coming back from a bathroom break, my supervisor told me to pack my laptop and anything I’d need for an extended time away from the office.
I asked how long and he shrugged. “Until this thing is over.”
COVID had arrived and was scaring the bejeezus out of everyone. So management was shutting down the shop. I didn’t think it was a big deal.
I had just came back from LA, a hotspot at the time, and didn’t see anything alarming. Sure I had seen a few people with masks, mostly Asians, but didn’t think anything about it.
Before our flight out of LAX I went to the bathroom before my flight. Exiting I saw this Asian man in a suit, but his jacket was askew. I gave him a heads up and thanked me through his mask.
Truth be told, I thought the mask thing was weird. Little did I know.
It was a normal March afternoon and the sun was bright. The world to me didn’t seem on the verge of Global Pandemic. To be fair, I’d never been through one, so what did I know.
I was excited. My birthday was going to land on a Saturday this year. And there was a good chance we were going to celebrate it in town. Usually, my birthday gets lumped in with Lucy’s grandmothers. She was born on St. Patty’s Day.
In a couple of weeks, I’d be in Orlando seeing Marcos play in his second 7’s Rugby tournament. My biggest concern at the time was making that trip happen. I’d bought the plane tickets a few days earlier. I was looking for a hotel room to rent or share with another parent.
Lucy’s Spring Break was around the corner. She’d have the week off and maybe we take an impromptu trip to the valley and hit the beach.
I remember packing my bag and thinking I’d be back in a week. Two weeks tops. Surly before April.
Well, today is August the 12 and its been five months since my last “normal” day. Part of me thinks we’ll never go back to those days. That we’ll always be in this “new normal.” Whatever that “new normal” is, because its evolving all the time.
It hasn’t been easy. Thing is our family has fared better than most. Lives have been lost. Some families changed for the worst. Some better, sure. Jobs have been gone. Hell, even big name brand stores are filing with bankruptcy.
How does a business prepare for a Global Pandemic? Who could’ve seen something like this coming?
School years interrupted. Graduations cancelled. Right now, kids fresh out of high school aren’t doing ice breaking activities. Instead they’re learning how to log into their classes from the bedrooms they thought they’d leave. Man, that sucks.
Part of me thinks its a mental game now. It’s looking at how live was and now is and adapting to this new way of life.
That’s where my head is at. I don’t think we can go back to normal. So its dealing with what’s ahead.