Hindsight is 2020
B and S, Jacksonville, FL
B: We live out in the country anyway, so we were kind of isolated a little bit before the Pandemic so we would have these pizza and wine Fridays with certain friends that we like to get together with so we really missed those get-togethers during the Pandemic. We were very risk averse so until there was a vaccine, we didn’t do that and we really missed getting together with those people when those opportunities presented themselves. I’m in 3 different organisations and there were no face to face meetings so it all had to be on Zoom so that was an adjustment. So we missed the social interaction, I did at least.
S: I missed it to a certain extent but my hobbies are gardening and history and mysteries and genealogies and thing like that, which are one person activities. I have to say that it didn’t affect me all that much.
B: I’d have to agree that it wasn’t as great of a hardship as it was for some people. We’re retired so there wasn’t an adjustment of the workplace, having to wear a mask and all this kind of stuff that people had to do that were still reporting to an office.
S: Yeah, we’re very lucky. Very lucky.
B: We never got COVID, we were never threatened by it because we didn’t have to go into a workplace to earn a living.
S: The only thing I missed is that I do international folk dancing and I have been doing that for almost 50 years! So that was a big adjustment because obviously you can’t get together to dance with people.
B: They tried to do dancing by Zoom but it wasn’t quite the same: there’d be an instructor on Zoom and you’d dance around in the living room….And of course the travel curtailment—we wanted to go to Canada but of course that was shut down. So there were some disappointments but compared to some our hardship was not really that great. People lost loved ones and that never happened to us and I think we had a grandchild that got COVID late in the game because people were letting their guard down. We know people who have lost, one friend lost a wife and a daughter to COVID and we’ve had couples who both died at church, they were part of the congregation. So there were grave hardships for other people.
S: Mostly because people thought it was the ‘flu….
B: Yeah they didn’t buy into the fact that it was a serious pandemic and needed to take precautions. There seemed to be a division in this country between those that feels that there is no risk and those that feels that they need to listen to what they’re told to do. And we were in the latter camp. If we were told to get a vaccine, and wear a mask then we did. We were very lucky.
S: I learned that wearing a mask is great because I haven’t been sick for two years! At all!
B: And handshaking---you’re not just grabbing people’s hands anymore. But that has been a blessing. I go to church and church was virtual for a while which was really odd to have a church service on a computer.
S: But as far as what I learned, I’m not sure anything changed for me.
B: We’re filled with gratitude basically because we weren’t gravely affected or lost loved ones or losing a livelihood or a business. My son works in a hospital and he had people challenge him saying “what do I really have?” and when they’re told it’s COVID they couldn’t not believe it and didn’t believe it was as serious as it was. But anyway, we’re grateful for the vaccines and the work that has been done by people who are gifted enough to understand such things. We’re really appreciative of those people.