Will it ever be “normal” again?

When I sat down to create this blog post, I had every intention of writing about how this has been the worst year in memory—the one from hell! But it didn’t take me long to realize that everyone is well aware of that fact, and why dwell on how badly things have gone?

It would be so easy to list a litany of all of the bad things that have befallen the world, and I’ll do my best to avoid delving too deeply there. I do, however, want to share some thoughts that I have been thinking about through these many months.

 I sympathize with those whose families have been victims—in some way—by COVID, and nary a day passes when I don’t spend time thinking (and hoping!) that some form of vaccine will be ready and available to make a difference—SOON. And I would like to think that it will not become any more of a political endeavor, but that’s probably way too much foolish thinking on my part.

I feel for anyone who has lost a job, business, income, family member, friend or anything else that disrupts their comfort and well-being. Because we are so dependent on so many other entities in our daily lives, and when one of those parts is “messed up,” the results are never good.

I have always marveled at the resiliency of young people, and never more than those whose “normal” routines have been totally altered. Trying to maintain some semblance of going to school, playing on a team, participating in a “normal” fashion, have pretty much stretched the limits of adaptability. Those high school seniors last spring, who had to miss so many traditional aspects of school life—prom, graduation, and various other end-of-school activities—all have my best wishes that somehow they will find ways that will ease that part of what should have been wonderful and memorable moments before transitioning on to the next phase of their lives. 

From my own situation, I have a 91-year-old mother who lives in Ohio, and I have not been able to make what used to be frequent and routine drives from my home in Illinois to see her. Travel restrictions, coupled with my own health situation, have prevented my in-person visits with her. The last trip to Ohio was in mid-March, just prior to the nightmare of this sweeping pandemic setting in. Fortunately, I am a pretty good letter writer, and I have faithfully written (the old fashioned way!) and mailed two letters a week to her. At times, it has been a stretch to come up with something fresh to “chat” about, but she really doesn’t care about that part of it. It’s the receiving of a letter from her son that brightens her day. At least I hope it is!

So how long will we all have to endure the masks and social distancing and regulations on restaurants, bars,  and grocery stores? When will we feel confident that we’re being led down the right paths to survive all of this? And will life as we knew it before last spring ever return in some familiar and “normal” manner?

I guess there are no easy answers, and perhaps what we knew as “normal” is a thing of the past. Right now, it seems that there is way more bad that has ensconced itself in every aspect of life. Somehow, though, I do my best to “keep the faith” and believe that the good will return. I hope you feel the same!

Got to keep smilin’!