I was looking back on what was going on this time of year in 2022 and 2020. Last year, we made our first trip to Puerto Penasco, the Mexican beach town near us. In 2020, we were in our Palm Springs home working from home with orders to shelter in place. My daughter was staying with us. Here is what I wrote in 2020:
9 Thoughts About Shelter In Place: DAY 21
One of my favorite streets on my morning walk.
21 Days. Isn’t that something? My daughter came home a few days before we got the order. I’m so glad she made it here. She’s been a joy to have around along with her fur baby Waffles. We have plenty of room to have my husband, me and my daughter all working from home — together — yet apart.
Here’s a few thoughts I have about these strange days:
ONE
I go from super calm and productive to anxiety ridden from day to day.
TWO
I’m losing track of the days and the time. Twice I have woken up thinking it’s 6 a.m. and started the coffee only to look at the clock in the kitchen that reads 11:40 p.m.
THREE
My routine of daily three pages of writing, my three mile walk and Bible readings to start my day are more important than ever. All three help me stay grounded.
FOUR
I’m reading lots of good books. Sitting in my back yard in the sun reading is one of my favorite things to do.
FIVE
10,000 people have died in our country. My heart goes out to all the people suffering and losing loved ones.
SIX
We are now told to wear masks when we leave the house. I’m using a make-shift one from my quilting supplies. It’s hard to breathe during my morning walks, though, and my glasses fog up.
SEVEN
My writing jobs are completed and turned in and now I’m in uncharted territory without every minute of my day focused on meeting deadlines.
EIGHT
My daughter and I cleaned and organized the food cupboards and the laundry room. It feels good to have clean spaces.
NINE
I’m reaching out to family via phone and email. It’s important to stay in touch with your loved ones.
My new morning walk look.
What were you doing a year ago this week? What were you doing this week in 2020?
Three years ago I was stuck in Seattle as there were no flight out to Dubai. I was walking 2 hours a day and blogging. Ramadan was about to start in a few days.
Wow EA- those are some stirring memories to read. You bring back a lot about that time with simple observations. It feels odd to even write about “that time” and what we didn’t know. This time in 2020 for me would have been about 1 month or so in of working often 6 days per week as we lost staff and dealing with policy changes hourly over how to manage ourselves and patients.
It is strange to look back on 2020 to the days we were figuring this out. I remember going to the grocery store feeling like I was putting my life at risk.
We really had no idea, no one did. I hope some of what has been learned will help for the next time because I have no doubt there will be a next time.
I hope not, but you’re probably correct.
I love that you have this to look back on. Who knew? I remember when our campus shut down on March 17, 2020 and we were all on an adrenaline rush….too much emailing, texting, too many Team meetings via Webex or Zoom…back when no one knew where to look at the camera — or how to turn their microphones or cameras off when they were doing “personal business”, LOL.
We all thought it would last a few weeks…who knew. Thanks for sharing. You’re giving me blogging ideas…about my desire to keep my team connected back in 2020 with a daily motivational email message. I figured I’d keep it up, Mon-Fri for a few weeks…that turned into two years of remote work. Looking back, I don’t know how I managed to do it every day but it was akin to a daily blog. 😉
You had a lot of changes going on. I was always working from home, but all of a sudden I had company with my husband and daughter! My husband still works from home but in Arizona he has an office and is out of the Master bedroom — where he worked in Palm Springs.
Oh — yes — having the hubs and daughter around all the time – that must’ve been a big change, too! Folks needed to find that ‘new normal’…whatever that meant…then OR now! 😉
I think I’m still working on it!
Well in 2020 I’m sure I was pissed off about missing Broadway shows….last year I was back to somewhat busy…
Last year was back to normal for us. But our new normal of living in AZ and my husband working from home.
👍👍
😁
I had returned to the school district as an ESOL teacher. We were wearing masks and I trying to motivate a few students. The teacher on leave used to connect with me via microsoft teams. It was pretty frustrating at times but I did my own thing! I stayed healthy as did my husband.
At least your school was open. In CA the schools closed. I would walk by an elementary school in the morning and cars were lined up to pick up boxed lunches.
When the schools did close down, I was working online with a college part time, so it all worked out. At least in theory…
That was fortunate for you to be working online.
I do remember that I had many Middle Eastern students and they seemed to adapt well.
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We were still free and weren’t masking . We had a small Easter gathering . I was still running trails, but the races became virtual. My kids homeschool coop got canceled.
I remember watching Easter service online. My husband’s best friend growing up has a church outside BYU. The three of us watched his service together. Then we picked up take out Easter dinner at a restaurant a few blocks from us. They had a table across the entrance and would bring the to go boxes to the table.
I can say upon reflection that the Covid scare made zero changes to my daily routine (with the exception of wearing a mask) because our State did not shut down anything. Businesses, restaurants, retail, museums, libraries, schools, parks, zoos, beaches….all remained open for business.
We had the opposite in California. What really bothered me was to see the playground equipment in the park covered with yellow police tape!
We stripped kids of their youth in so many ways. In a time of their lives where they should be testing the limits of fun, we close the parks, close the schools, close the theaters, have them put away skateboards, bicycles, and front yard sprinklers, and tell them to stay inside or wear a mask.
I think the harm is immeasurable. My daughter was a new college grad entering a career she liked and was laid off for close to a year, isolated from her peers. I think it was even worse for the kids in school who lost all their activities.
It’s crazy looking back, how times have changed. I was working from home for the first time, my wife was trying to teach from home, and our youngest son was home from school. Our daughter would soon join us. Crazy . . . now I’m the only still at home during the day. Definitely crazy times.
It was a strange time. Our daughter came home because she had moved into an apartment in Berkeley with a couple she didn’t know. She didn’t want to be locked down with them. We were all working from home from different bedrooms.
I remember the whole improvised mask thing. I sewed some out of old dish towels.🤣 I was already working from home, but had planned a big April research trip to a bunch of eastern states (still haven’t rescheduled), and hubby was already retired. No toilet paper at all and recovering from knee replacement surgery were a recipe for a miserable period in my life, best forgotten.
Wow. What an incredible time for you and your husband. I’m glad we moved on!
Wow wow wow – so interesting to see your notes from 3 years ago. The day 5 number of 10,000 people dying really made it so poignant. My mom was in a senior living residence in Seattle (as you know, so close to the first deaths in Kirkland) and we were afraid they were going to lock it down so tightly that she wouldn’t be able to go out for her walk or bike ride in the morning (fortunately it never got that bad). She ended up living with us for 2 months.