As Georgia re-opens its doors, it brings to question when your state will follow suit, now doesn’t it?
Certainly, I’ve thought about that especially, since a big part of my family lives there. I’m rooting for you, Georgia. What more can this daughter and sister do or say given I’m forced to watch from a distance, beyond reciting a few prayers too. I’ve also thought a lot about what it will be like to no longer be forced to quarantine. Given Georgia’s Governor is correct, other states may figure out that answer sooner than initially anticipated despite President Trump’s thrashings. No doubt, the suddenness of quarantine threw all of us into a tizzy but so will the suddenness of it being lifted even using the most conscientious of measures.
I write this post eagerly looking forward to quarantine being over, mind you. I also write it fully understanding the hardship quarantine has placed upon the entire country. I am neither trivializing the devastation nor dismissing the harsh realities of it by any means. Coronavirus sucks for everyone and within that group, some more than others. No one knows that better than those who have seen the loss it has imposed around the world and especially in our own homes.
I wonder however when we are no longer forced to quarantine, if there won’t be even a moment that many will miss it. Sounds crazy, right?
Let’s face it however Coronavirus taught us a lot about ourselves and our lives. Personally, it reminded me of who and what really matter to me. It handed me over the names of my true friends. It gave me insight into the emotional and mental resilience of my adult children. It carved out time to play Yahtzee, ping pong, and Frisbee while forcing me to take elongated walks and bike rides with my youngest. It taught me “what I could live without” and what I couldn’t. It made me less frivolous with my time and spending in some places and ‘more’, in the right places. It opened the door to all of the home projects that I’d been putting off, leaving me better organized and my house, spiffier than ever. And that’s just some of what forced quarantine has done. I’m not alone in these revelations, I know.
Without question, I could have come by all of this personal growth without being forced to quarantine, but would I have? Would you? Or would we have occupied our time spent filling it with something else given we weren’t “forced” at all?
Don’t get me wrong, I’d gladly trade what I’ve gained in self-awareness for a single life spared or economic hardship avoided due to Coronavirus. But since this is impossible, pondering the question and compelling you to do the same is the role I’ve chosen to play.
So as Georgia’s doors begin to swing open and Governor Kemp goes down in history as either a hero or heathen , I’m thinking about what I will take with me when Connecticut’s doors do too. Undoubtedly, my particular “new normal” will include the presence of mind gifted to me by this miserable virus as well as my commitment to keep that going even when I am no longer forced to do so. May we all avoid a refresher course in the Fall as is being predicted.
And yours?