We made it! (5 years overdue)

I survived Covid, how about you?

My guess is, if you’re reading this, you definitely survived, but did you? Being alive after something so earth-shattering isn’t the same as survival, not on a deeper level.

If you lost someone, I’m so very sorry.

If you lost something – your sense of safety, your job, your sense of smell, even some memories – that’s a loss that probably haunts you to this day, even years later.

Years before we ever thought about bats and labs and a weird spiky virus ball, I used to read stories about the great Spanish Flu epidemics and the Black Death and even future-focused stories about death by the millions and I remember thinking, thank God that’s in the past (or a hypothetical future I’d rather not think about.) I never expected to live through something so transformative in the modern world.

Like you, I hunkered down and washed everything in bleach and used more hand sanitizer than I thought I’d ever need. Did you also leave your non-refrigerated groceries in the garage or front porch for a day or two, “just in case?” Did you pray for your kids, your grandparents (and maybe some people you kind of cared about)?

Did you also dream about a nightmare scenario where dogs became carriers and the world started putting all of our beloved pets down? Oh… just me… never mind.

Still, Covid wasn’t all bad. No, really, hear me out. Sure, I was out of work and terrified that a single breath would kill me, but some good came out of it, too.

During Covid:

• I finally got to rest enough that my torn meniscuses (meniscii? menisci? – no idea) behind both knees finally healed. I’m not a candidate for surgery so I had to live with pain climbing stairs at home and at work for years.
• I wrote and wrote and wrote some more because I had nothing better to do. Not here, obviously, but novels and short stories. By the time I had to go back to work, I had finished one novel, started and finished another, and written half of a third. I also finished quite a few short stories, about one a week. I’ve never before written so much and only just recently got back into it.
• I got out of debt because I was too afraid to spend a penny so I let my Amazon account go almost completely dormant. Yes, they panicked, but that’s on them. I did miss seeing that truck stop by every day, sometimes multiple times.
• I read and played video games for hours. You know, like a grown adult wants to but rarely gets to. I played Elder Scrolls Online for days at a time – okay, only hours, but it felt like days. Come on, admit it, you played a few games, too. Yes, phone games count, Susan.
• Last, but infinitely not least, I got many extra hours with my dog family. Something that mattered more than I knew at the time. When I’m ready, I’ll tell you why 2022 was so much worse than Covid for me.

We made it through, we’re on the other side, and Covid is in our rearview. It changed the world, mostly for the worse, but maybe, just maybe it changed your world just a little bit for the better, too.

If not, I’m just glad you survived. Because I would miss you if you weren’t there, even if I never know you.

You matter.