Lessons from the Pandemic (published 5/17/21)

 I have had my share of rememberable experiences in my life. Some are personal ones like my marriage, my children and grandchildren being born, finding out I was adopted, and my parents’ deaths. And there are impersonal ones; the assassinations of the 60’s and 70’s, Nixon leaving office and the World Trade Center bombing, just to name a few. And then have been natural disasters I experienced; two or three earthquakes and Hurricane Sandy, I am still sorting where the COVID year fits into these; what lasting impression it will leave. I do know this last year has made me feel that I am so lucky in life. All at once something happens that you do not expect, and you are strong and you make it through. That is a wonder. The pandemic got me thinking about how nobody in our immediate family has a debilitating illness like cancer. No one has been in a lot of pain. I have never really been sick. Susan had a brush with a serious heart issue during the pandemic, but the outcome was positive and there is no ongoing or long-lasting crisis. Our two daughters are healthy. Neither of them has ever had anything serious happen to them. Both are married in strong relationships, and both are successful. We have two grandsons and a third grandchild arriving any day. Susan and I have enough money to travel to do things around the house. We have a lot of friends, and we enjoy life. I believe that this pandemic really made me think about how lucky I really am Living through the pandemic is clearly a lot easier when you are retired, not needing to go to work every day, and not having young children at home. For us, looking back, the pandemic was not more than a minor inconvenience and a missed trip to Italy. But the fear for my life, and the life of my family will be hard to erase. Through Zoom, we kept relationships going and even growing. I tried new things like this writing class. I went through slides and converted them to digital. We cleared out a lot of old paper. We ate more at home. Were these things were devices to partly hide my fear? I also think about how we were in San Francisco, traveling by public transportation, just a couple weeks before havoc broke lose. And two nights before the isolation started, some here in this writing class were all together at the MacCallum House in Mendocino for a Shul fundraiser. Everything is in timing, and luck. In one way or another the pandemic reminded me of Hurricane Sandy. We woke up one morning to sunny skies. By noon it was raining, and by nightfall there was devastation. And the devastation only affected certain neighborhoods. You just never know when life will suddenly change. What I have come to appreciate more than ever is to take each day one at a time and enjoy it to the fullest. You never quite know what the next day brings. Will be come out of the pandemic as we went in. Will life forever be changed? Or will it just be another story to pass on to my children and grandchildren. Only time will tell. I do know I will be writing more stories about my life and its adventures as a result of the pandemic, and that is good.

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