A year of Quarantine
March 13th marked one year of quarantine here in California. I remember that Friday vividly. The Wednesday before we got a letter saying the schools had no plans to close and two days later, about an hour after the kids got home, we got the call. Like many, I had no idea what this meant. I did know I needed to get to the grocery store stat. We are weekly shoppers. We get what we need for the week and that is about it. So saying we were unprepared is an understatement. My husband got home shortly after the call of school closure and I was like we need to go now. He wanted to wait until Saturday, our normal shopping day. Glad we didn’t, the stores were already a mess of empty shelves and panicked shoppers. I hate to say it but the beginning of this pandemic brought out a lot of ugly and the grocery stores were ground zero for it. The stay at home order came very quickly after the schools shut down. I still cant believe its been a year. It has dragged ass in lots of ways and blazed through in others.
This last year triggered so much for many. Especially all my fellow empaths and sensitive folks. This has been a way to trailblaze new and inventive ways of connecting and brought so many closer together. That same technology has seemed to turn on the very ones that support it as well. It has become so much about likes, follows, backgrounds, and filters. It makes me want to scream. Don’t get me wrong, I have been a user of technology, Zoom is a great way to complete readings and Clubhouse is a great way to connect. One thing is for sure, our need to connect and support each other is undeniable. If there is anything this last year has taught me most, its that we honestly hold the power to destroy or uplift. It is a scary but very real revelation. In the year of “Karens” this fact is one I find myself wanting to address. I can’t watch the videos people post, I can’t comment on them, and I often have to stop myself from judging. Judging is so easy isn’t it? It is so easy to look at others shit and quickly forget that you’re knee deep in your own.
We have the quarantine 15, and then the badass folks that completely transformed themselves in months with whatever their home and sheer will power offered them. We have influencers rising, and then falling. Some harder than others. It has been a year of social unrest and finally a call for justice. One that has been handled well by some and absolutely horrible by others. Political unrest like I have never seen. Again, handled very well by some and well, you know the rest. Parenting has taken on a whole new meaning, I don’t think any parent knew what distance learning mixed with working from home meant. Can we talk about that for a minute? I love my kids, I swear I do. I was never the mom that counted down the days to school, I loved family time. That was until I had them home all the time with no where to go and nothing to do. Talk about a love test.
This year also meant strength in ways we couldn’t even imagine. Our healthcare workers have showed up in ways we honestly never thought possible. Our overworked, underpaid, and underappreciated nurses took their talent to the next level people! We saw our neighbors stepping up to help each other. Errands, dog walking, meals, we stepped up. This year has been the most diverse in emotion and reaction. We have one extreme to another and everything in-between. I want to take the time to acknowledge this year, all the wins and all of our loses. It has been hard, emotional, and above all full of growth. I am so very grateful for all this year has shown me and at the same time absolutely ready to let it go. I do know as lonely as it feels, we aren’t alone. There are so many people like me, like you, just doing the best we can. Sometimes that means we kill it, and others it means we dive head first into the dumpster fire. Wherever you are, its exactly where you’re meant to be.
Here is to a year of quarantine, may I never use that phrase again!