10 Questions To Mark One Year of the Pandemic

Welcome to Thinking Out Loud Thursday where I share something I'm thinking out loud about and invite you to link up and do the same.

One of the many podcasts I love to listen to is 10 Things to Tell You.  The host, Laura Tremaine, recently covered 10 questions to mark one year of the pandemic.  Today I'm thinking out loud about those 10 questions.

1.  What was life like in early 2020?

2020 started off strong.  I went to Kansas City to ring in the New Year just like I'd been doing for years.  I hosted a girls' weekend at my house for some out-of-town friends and we had even taken a trip to Vegas with our son and daughter-in-law to see a Blues hockey game.  Little did we know what would lay ahead of us!

2.  What was the biggest change?

We are a couple that goes out a lot.  We love to visit restaurants, go to movies, plays, concerts, and sporting events.  All those things came to a screeching halt in mid-March!

3.  What were your coping mechanisms?

It didn't take much time at all to realize that we were going to need to find some things to make us feel happy and fulfilled.  What I thought would be just a couple of weeks of lockdown turned into months.  We adjusted our travel plans to areas where we could be outside and basically by ourselves.  We filled our weekends and evenings with doing puzzles and binge-watching television.  Zoom became a pretty big part of our lives!

4.  What did connection in your relationships look like?

One good thing that came out of this pandemic was reconnecting with some of my sorority sisters from college.  We have been getting together on Zoom throughout this year and can't wait to have a reunion in person.  Two of my bookclubs have continued to meet via Zoom.  I'm also in two bible study groups - one totally on Zoom and one some of us are on Zoom while others gather in person.  As thrilled as I am to have these Zoom groups, I'm equally struggling with missing my other friend groups and family.  

5.  What will you remember most?

How eerily quiet the world was for a while.  When everything in St. Louis shut down, Eric and I still had to go to our workplaces.  My normal commute was cut nearly in half because there was no traffic.  Like, NO traffic.  Some days on my way to work I would only see a handful of cars.  Parking lots with zero cars.  My work window overlooks the flight path for Lambert Airport and there were no planes flying.  It all just seemed so weird.

6.  What was the biggest challenge?

Not letting the feeling of sadness and loneliness overwhelm me.  I thrive when I'm busy and active.  I missed seeing my family and friends.  Overcoming that was a challenge for me.

7.  What was a beautiful memory?

Singing happy birthday to my friend's 21-year-old daughter with all her family.  Meeting our great-nephew for the very first time over Zoom.  Walking in our neighborhood and seeing all the beautiful sidewalk chalk designs.  

8.  What do you believe now that you didn't one year ago?

Things can change so quickly!  Don't take a single moment for granted because you don't know when your current circumstance can change.

9.  What would you do differently?

Keep a bigger stockpile of toilet paper.  Just kidding!  

10.  What will you carry forward?

More appreciation for everything.  My hope is as life gets back to normal, I will remember to appreciate the ordinary things we didn't get to do during the pandemic.  

Now it's your turn - what are you thinking out loud about today?  Link up and share!

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