Where Do I Start?
Ladies and gentleman, start your engines!
Or should we?
For me, September has typically represented new and exciting beginnings. As an eager student, I was always super excited for the first day of school (the smell of new school supplies still makes my heart sing).
But this year...well, what to say about this year? It is like no other.
On March 12, when the school board announced that March Break would be “extended” by two weeks to flatten the COVID curve, I had a wave of dread pass over me as I considered the three long weeks I would be stuck at home, bitter about my cancelled Mexico trip, yet buoyed by some joy about lazing around in sweats and binging Netflix.
Well, y’all know how that story ends. Here we are, six months later, our end-of-summer glow masked (literally) by the unknown of what lies ahead. With one day/month/season bleeding into the next, it feels equal parts monumental and anti-climatic.
On the one hand, we’re about to finally put an end to the March Break that never ended. The kids are going back to school so many of us will get a bit more routine back into our lives. On the other hand, the flurry of fall shopping, program registrations, holiday planning, and so on don’t have that same sense of urgency. After wearing the same three outfits for most of the summer, there is less need for a new wardrobe. (We’ve got an unworn one hanging in our closets!) And after what we’ve all been through, I doubt many of you are planning extravagant holidays or parties. (Based on the state of the world, I’m not planning much further than next week.)
My usual autumn anticipation is now couched with a dose of cautious optimism and a (large) sprinkle of anxiety. What if the brakes get slammed on us again? What if we do see a major surge of COVID cases (not the sensationalized ones they talk about on TV)? And what if our fall TV shows don’t come back? Oh, mon dieu!
So I wonder, is this the end of the beginning or the beginning of the end? And the answer is, I have no clue. Recently, I heard the ever clever Malcolm Gladwell on a podcast speaking about the idea that none of us really have any idea of what’s going to happen in the future. There are probabilities and predictions, but really anything can happen. This year is proof of that.
But what I do know is that we got through it. If we knew then what we know now, most of us would have thought we couldn’t handle it. But we did. And here we are. So even if we’re not sure if we’re at the starting gate or the finish line, we’re moving and shaking (hopefully not all from nerves).
So let’s get this party started! (In a socially distanced manner, of course.)