One Year Later…
- Shelly Kamanitz
- May 31, 2021
- 3 min read
At the time it was unthinkable that our world could change so dramatically. History told us otherwise.
What a difference a year makes. It’s been one year and two months since I started this blog. If someone had told me that the pandemic would last beyond June 2020, I wouldn’t have believed them. I remember thinking two months was too long to wait. At the time it was unthinkable that our world could change so dramatically. History told us otherwise.
Some of us found it easier to cope because the lockdown started in the warmer weather, and we were lucky enough to gather safely outdoors with friends and family.
The Charles River path became a sort of village meeting place, replacing the bars, restaurants and other public venues that were closed indefinitely. There were the regulars walking their dogs, people having picnics, playing basketball on the courts, crewing and kayaking on the river, and kids playing on the playground.
One day I met a little girl with her grandmother, decorating her troll dolls with glitter and pom poms. She invited me to help her, which I did. Of course, I didn’t have my camera on me that day!
"Pandemic or not, nature plodded on. The seasons changed. As we headed into a dark, cold winter, it really began to feel like the movie Groundhog Day."
The days began to blend into each other with no end in sight. I could hear Sonny & Cher’s “I Got You Babe” playing in my head every morning when my alarm went off.
The worst part was that we literally had no control over this virus. It was a living organism that seemed to get stronger and more deadly as it spread from person to person, community to community, country to country, until it engulfed the whole world. In our technologically advanced society, it was incomprehensible to us that we were so helpless against this invisible enemy. Unfortunately, the two things we did have control over (mask-wearing and social distancing) have been politicized with certain parts of the population, making it even more challenging to beat this.
A few months before the vaccines became available, I noticed that people were getting more irritable and starting to hit the breaking point. And after a year of not being to celebrate life’s milestones in person – birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, and sadly, even funerals, everyone was just over the pandemic.
Vaccines are available to everyone now, so there is hope. Spring is here, flowers are in bloom, and the birds are chirping and building their nests.
"I felt an overwhelming sense of relief after getting vaccinated, as if I could finally take a deep breath. On the day the mask mandate was lifted, I attended a high school graduation. It was such a joyous occasion. The weather didn’t cooperate, but it didn’t matter. "
As I watched the seniors walk in carrying their Class of 2021 banner, I couldn’t help but remember this time last year when graduations were held virtually, when many students missed out on that celebration.
When I went out to eat for the first time in a year it felt so natural, as if things had always been this way and that the last year had never happened. But at one point, I looked around the restaurant and did a double take as I noticed all the unmasked people. There will probably be little moments like these, as we all adjust to the post-pandemic world.
After a year of observing the Covid-19 guidelines, it may take time for some people to fully trust the no-mask policy. You can’t just flip a switch and expect everything to magically go back to normal. And we’re constantly getting new (and sometimes inconsistent) information about the science from the CDC. But if we can just hang in there a bit longer, we’ll be on the other side of this. I hope we will have learned something.
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