Life in the Age of Corona

A Daily Diary

Friday, May 28th, 2021

The End

Today is EM’s final day in High School.

She is shedding a tear or two, mainly because she will end her school career by clicking on a Zoom “leave meeting” button rather than saying farewell to teachers and fellow students in person as would have been the case in a normal year. Next week would be an A -week, so her in person week. I guess she could still go one last time on June 3rd.

June 4th is graduation day and she is no longer a student in the school, so can presumably not enter the building on June 7th.

Today the pandemic has ended; at least in Maryland, so this also the last day of the Blog,and this is my final post.

I will end the Blog how I began; with a poem which I posted on day 7 of #stayhome. Of course, the hope then had been for the summer of 2021.

It was March 2020. The streets were empty, stores closed, people couldn't get out But spring didn't know, and the flowers began to bloom, the sun was shining, the birds were singing, swallows were coming soon, the sky was blue, the morning was coming early.

It was March 2020. Young people had to study online, and find jobs at home, people couldn't shop anymore, or go to the hairdresser. Soon there would be no room in hospitals, and people continued to get sick. But spring didn't know, time to go to the garden was coming, grass greening.

It was March 2020. People have been put on lockdown to protect grandparents, families and children. No more reunion or meal, family party. Fear has become real and the days looked alike. But spring didn't know, apple trees, cherry trees and others grew, the leaves grew.

People started reading, playing with family, learning a language, singing on the balcony by inviting neighbors to do the same, they learned a new language, be supportive and focused on other values.

People realized the importance of health, the suffering, of this world that had stopped, the economy that fell. But spring didn't know. The flowers left their place for fruits, the birds made their nest, swallows had arrived.

Then release day came, people learned it on TV. The virus had lost, people went down the street, singing, crying, kissing their neighbors, without masks or gloves. And that's when summer came, because spring didn't know.

He continued to be there despite everything, despite the virus, fear and death. Because spring didn't know, it taught people the power of life.

author anonymous

Well it is now 2021, but it is summer! Exactly on year, two months and 16 days since our first day working from home. While our offices will only return to partial capacity (50%) by September and many of us will continue to work from home, everything else is fully reopened.

EM and I are celebrating the freedom of the newly vaccinated with a graduation trip to the West Coast. Tonight, we will fly to LA, pick-up a rental car and over the coming five days make our way to Sacramento from where we will return to DC on June 2nd. We have two nights and a day in LA and San Francisco each as well as a night in Napa. We shall visit with friends along the way.

I am grateful for the distraction the Blog has given me. The things I have learned in my readings to feed the Blog. I am thankful to all those who have stuck with me through the pandemic, following our lives online. I hope we have all learned about the power of life, as the poem suggests, over the past 444 days. Most of all I hope we have learned to be grateful for the smaller pleasures in life. I hope the sense of caring and community long outlasts the virus.

I for one am ready to go back out into the world and enjoy it, albeit with caution and a mask at hand – you never know.

Here is to new beginnings.