Written during Summer 2020, hopefully, this piece will remind us of what we’ve learned.
Can you believe COVID-19 has stolen headlines for four months?
Many would answer, “No. I thought it was four decades.”
March through July 2020 will not highlight anyone’s yearbook. Still, some good has emerged.
You don’t believe it?
I don’t, either.
Just kidding. In a grouchy, 2020 sort of way. Despite endless complications, this bizarre experience has presented us with positives. Even if you’re grumpy, too, check out a few below:
We no longer must dream up excuses to avoid boring events. First, events — boring and otherwise — have been cancelled. Or delayed until this virus learns some manners. Second, a reluctant attendee need only cough, and both crowd and event vanish.
For some, credit card bills have dropped. Ours have diminished to 1990 amounts. Because I’ve overdosed on screens, online shopping holds zero appeal. Besides, why buy new clothes to check the mail? They don’t impress the mailbox at all.
Our cars may last another decade. Though my ten-year-old Ford has doddered so long around the garage, it may forget how to start.
As TV time has shrunk, reading time has expanded. Because of aforementioned aversion to screens, I avoid TV like an irritating relative. Instead, I read more books the past four months than during the past four years.
Canceled sporting events = big savings. Hubby and I have not blown a single dollar on Cubs games, only to sit in the rain for hours. Or watch them lose. (Usually both.)
Masks cover a multitude of greens. For chronic spinach-between-the-teeth people like myself, masks are a godsend.
Toilet paper never looked so good. The shortage has eased. Stacks lining Walmart’s back wall assure me that when a crisis arises, America will triumph.
Entertainment costs have dropped. Not once have I spent big bucks on a lousy movie with a soul-sucking ending, as theaters are closed. Nor have I squandered ten bucks — or 200 million calories — on popcorn.
Cleanliness is off the charts. Personal and business cleanliness standards have set new records. The U.S. population has never boasted such clean hands. My mom would be proud.
Finally, we’ve become a country hungry for conversation. When people do gather, fewer stare at phones and more talk to humans. When a driver stopped in the street to chat with us — a small-town practice that usually annoys Hubby’s safety sense — he welcomed the chance to talk. The young driver (gasp!) seemed to enjoy it, too.
Living through a pandemic isn’t easy. But unlike many during the 1918 flu and Europe’s bubonic plagues, most of us are living through COVID-19.
If we pilfer small positives, our days will brighten. We may even become easier to live with.
You don’t believe it?
Hubby doesn’t, either.
But if our credit card bills continue to drop, he can live with that.
Your Extraordinary Ordinary: What positives have you gleaned from the pandemic?