“Can you hear me?”
“What about now?”
“Carol, I think you’re on mute.”
“Do you have your mic plugged in?”
“I can see everyone but I can’t hear anyone!”
“What’s the dial-in number, does anyone know?”
“Oh dear, hang on- my kid just opened the front door!”
And that’s how the last 12 months have been like for most of us. PURE. JOY. I don’t know about you, but I am tired of telling Carol she’s still on mute hearing and seeing that word (COVID) everywhere. We need to rename it to DIVOC or something because it’s driving me mad.
So, it’s been a minute year, eh?
I wanted to write something in anticipation of the one-year anniversary of when covid became widespread in North America, but I have been working on this damn post for what seems like an eternity (much like how the last 12 months felt)! I wrote and rewrote this post over and over again trying to form the proper words to convey how much of a struggle it has been (not only for me, but for all); the words don’t seem to want to flow. Then I realized I already kind of wrote this post half a year ago. Frankly, every blog (it seems) and media outlet I’m seeing this week has been inundated with the same articles: covid is one year old! I get it; we all get it. It’s been a flippin’ year!
This time last year, I was preparing for my daughter’s March break from daycare (in Canada we always break from school for one week in mid-March). The promise of spring was in the air: longer days, warmer weather, and renewed hope that 2020 was going to be the best year yet.
In reality, though, it was the start of the longest year of our lives. Rumours swirled about a potential “lockdown”, but no one knew what that really meant, what it would be like, how it would work, and whether or not it was even feasible. We literally had nothing to compare this seismic event to; we had no way of foreseeing how things were going to pan out. In early 2020, no one had any insight as to how a society could possibly function productively within the confines of one’s own living room. Weather forecasters, CEOs, news anchors, Prime Ministers, teachers, and the like were working from home; they were making do by converting their home-sanctuaries into work-epicenters. It was chaotic at best! Suddenly we had new empathy and were all too familiar with what Professor Robert Kelly must have been going through in 2017 in this now-viral video.
In March of last year, it was eluded that we might have to live under a state of lockdown for a month and that quite literally blew my mind then (ha!), much less the rumoured one year we ended up with (and for some, still living through)! For as modern and westernized as our society is, it was unfathomable that this could be the solution and the best solution at that. Somehow we are able to propel man through the atmosphere to the life-giving planet of the moon* yet we weren’t able to create a world where we could safely protect our civilization without hunkering down in our homes like groundhogs for an undetermined period of time? How could this be real? How long would this be? Where was science? Where was all the technology? We were back to basics it seemed, and we completely buckled under the pressure.
Here’s what else was a shock to the system: everyone totally underestimated the value of toilet paper. TOILET PAPER! I learned that when our humanity is at risk of imploding, the first thought on most people’s mind will be, “MUST BUY TOILET PAPER!” I wanted to scream at all the loo roll hoarders of the world with my fist in the air, “God damnit, I want to live in a society where everyone, who wants it, is eligible for a square of toilet paper!”
So, are we freakin’ there yet? No we are not, but hopefully we are much closer than we all think.
*Yes, I know the moon is not a planet. Thank you!
Love this! And I didn’t spit the planet thing, my first thought was ‘But did we really?’ Conspiracies are a secret guilty pleasure…2020 produced some gold there 😂
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Spot*
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Me too! Had to google the moon… Apparently it’s not a star or a planet, but a satellite??? Planet just sounded so much better LOL
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Amen. And I love that viral video! The part where the nanny hurls herself through space to grab the doorknob and pull the door shut is probably my favorite. Like, she’s really taking one for the team there. And when he’s pushing his daughter away, like, bad kid, go that way, that part cracks me up, too.
It’s been a wild year, for sure! Wow, I just can’t believe it’s been a year. I love how strange and unpredictable life can be. Great blog post!
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Thanks Meg! That heroic lady was actually his wife lol she’s even more Godly in my eyes LOL
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Oh wow, OOPS!! My apologies to her! 😀 Yes, she’s quite a wonderful wife, I daresay!! Way to get in there and clear the room!! 😀
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I feel like you captured many of our thoughts perfectly! The toilet paper reference made me laugh! It’s so true! Who would ever have imagined we wouldn’t be able to buy toilet paper? 😂
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That was scary! No toilet paper?!? Whaaaa???! Lol
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It’s been the longest year of my sixty-two-year life. People are so unfortunately predictable at times in terms of behavior:
Step 1: Live in denial or not take anything seriously until it affects us directly.
Step 2: Overreacting by going so far off the edge the other way that we stop acting rational and store up goods for the next six months.
Step 3: Get fed up with the whole situation and reopen even when things were worse than they were when we closed.
Step 4: Get mad at anyone infringing upon “your rights.” Never mind that they have rights too.
Step 5: Jump through every possible hoop imaginable so that we can cut ahead of others in line to get our vaccination.
It has not been our finest hour.
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Pete, (thank God) we totally agree on all those points! It has been one frustrating year… I’m always trying to see it from every person’s unique lens but I tell you, sometimes it’s really really difficult when you see senseless behavior like the ones you outlined.. *sigh… All we can do is keep moving forward and hope that history doesn’t repeat itself!
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I’m so sick of COVID too. I just want to be done with that damn word. I think once we’re done with this mess we should collectively ban that word.
When the lockdown happened – I’d keep thinking back to the plague days and what people must have had to deal with then. Atleast we have the internet to entertain, inform and educate us.
I moved cities in the middle of the lockdown and it was a nightmare – I wound up losing a lot of money too. So yeah, this pandemic sucks, this last year sucked.
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Oh man! A move! Lots of ppl here moved too bc the housing market for some reason was booming lol still kind of is… Can’t wait for all this to be over 😔🙏
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What a rollercoaster it’s been, trial but mostly error here in SA. They banned hot food at some point, they banned smoking ( cigarettes, cigars, hookah, EVERYTHING), they banned ALCOHOL! Shuuu, what a time to be alive.
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hot food? Lol why all the bans??
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LOL! it was a mess! We have a lot of vendors so government banned them from selling on the streets, so they fought back and that ended up with gov deciding no one sell food “prepared on site” so there went the garage ( petrol station) pies 😭 dark times. They took the alcoholbecausee we looooove drinking as a nation. it was to reduce trauma or hospital cases because hospitals were packed to capacity ( some turned their parking areas into makeshift wards) and also when we drink we want to socialize . It was very dark times.
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Oh man, all things you don’t think about until a pandemic I guess…. I don’t know how we could have coped here… Our liquor stores have always been on the essential service list and I DON’T DISAGREE!!! LOL
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🤣🤣🤣 it was traumatic to say the least
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Loved this post. They made a movie once, The Longest Day (D-Day). Certainly, they’ll make a movie, The Longest Year. I won’t go. By the way, i know what you mean about the challenge of writing during this year. I’m stuck in low gear, myself. Have a great day, north of me.
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Thanks for reading! The only thing that makes this a bit comforting is that we’re all in this together! 🙂
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Have you had a vaccination, or 2? We had ours but we’re in the ‘geezer group’.
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Yep, I’m sort of frontline so I’ve had one, the second one is delayed for a bit but I’m good to wait! Glad you got yours!
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I enjoyed reading this! The opening is legit how every single meeting goes. You would think the whole year would’ve given us the opportunity to up our IT skills, but no. There is always a Carol in the mix 🤦🏾♀️
And the toilet paper thing still upsets me. How much pooping did people expect to do that they hoarded the whole damn lot?!
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Lol Damn the Carols! Just kidding! 🤪 Yea… Not a great example of “we’re in this together”… *sigh… Thanks for reading! 🙂
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Oh my. It is hard to believe it has been a year. I remember that Thursday & Friday before last year’s March break. Never has a Friday the 13th proven to be so disastrous. On Thursday, people were still happily planning their vacations. By Friday, they had changed their plans. Crazy!
And don’t get me started on the toilet paper! One of the great mysteries of life. LOL
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Yes, my life seems to be divided in two: before and after March break… And I don’t think the world will ever be quite the same again… But I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing…. Thanks for reading! 🙂
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