VM Voices: Living In a Post-Pandemic World
The announcement has been made: life should somewhat ‘normal’ this summer and by the fall, we should be fully living in a post-pandemic world.
I’m so excited that I’m speechless.
I’m so happy that I’m terrified.
I’m so overwhelmed that I may lock myself in my house and pretend the pandemic is still happening.
Anyone else feeling all the emotions?
It’s hard to imagine transitioning to a post-pandemic world. People keep saying things will go back to normal. But what does normal even look like anymore?
For 14 months we have been living in a locked up world. For 14 months we haven’t hugged or touched our friends and family. For 14 months we’ve worried about masks and hand sanitizing and socially distancing.
>> View the VM Voices Collection for more personal stories from local moms
Over a year of this bizarre life. Will we ever be the same? Could we ever be the same? Is ‘the same’ even a reasonable expectation?
I lost my dad during the pandemic. There was no funeral. My friends, not even my mom, were allowed to physically hold me up when I needed them to do exactly that. No hugs allowed. There was no comforting from anyone but my immediate family. There’s been no closure. (I will admit I fully broke pandemic rules and hugged my sister and my brother-in-law while in Prince George. I needed at least that.)
>> Have you read? Living through a pandemic with three kids, a dog and a cat
In the past 14 months my kids have not had sleepovers with their friends or even indoor play dates. They have not hugged their grandparents who live in Penticton and Delta in over a year. My 7-year-old hasn’t even met my stepsisters or their kids (his cousins!) who live in Prince George because the world shut down three months after he moved here from Haiti.
It’s all been a lot. It’s been more than a lot. For all of us.
So yes, I want to go back to ‘normal.’ I want to live in the world we were living in before any of us had the word coronavirus. But as much as I’m ready for it all to end, the thought of ‘normal’ overwhelms me.
Because our normal will never be the same.
Amy Beeman the mom of three. She is also a VM Top 30 Blogger, Leading Moms speaker and radio personality.
Have an opinion? A story to tell? Something you’d like to get off your chest?
