COVID Lockdown: One Year Later

One year ago today California shut down due to COVID-19.  I was two months away from retiring from the USPS.  March 17th also happened to be my wife's birthday.  As it turns out, also the last time we ate inside a restaurant.  The first few weeks were the most unusual times of my adult life.  While working I left the house at 6AM and usually came home 11 or 12 hours later.  The ride back home was often full of rush hour traffic.  Not in March 2020.  This was really a lockdown.  Few cars on the road.  As a mailman I could sense that people were nervous.  There were more people stuck at home.  And the ones I talked to on my route had no idea what the future held.  As the infection cases lined up, I got the feeling many people were unsure if this new life was the new normal.  A trip to the grocery store resembled something that you would see only in other states that experience a Hurricane.  Empty shelves without the promise of more stock became the reality of the moment. 

Life at the USPS was also different and more confusing than I can remember.  Masks weren't mandatory just yet.  Some of us wore them inside, some only wore them outside.  How did the virus spread.  Could it stay on letters or packages for a long period of time.  Hand gel was hard to come by.  They did give us masks.  As the weeks went on, our office was having trouble buying toilet paper.  Working inside a small office had many of us worried, but not overly concerned.   

I retired in May 2020 and now the reality of living during a pandemic became more stark.  A planned trip to attend a wedding in August was nixed.  A visit from my son who lives overseas, was also cancelled. In face since March 2020 I've not traveled anywhere.  Something I didn't think was possible when I first thought about retiring.  The days and months have flown by.  I did manage to eat at a restaurant late last year.  But only outside.  News of a vaccine came late in 2020.  Now at age 56, I await my turn.  My guess is sometime in May my wife and I will get vaccinated.  

It's been a year of living on the edge.  Trying to avoid situations that could put us in danger of getting the virus.  Will we make it?  Well, life is looking a little better.  COVID cases are down.  Vaccines are ramping up. There's optimism that better days are indeed ahead.  Count me in as one of those who wants to get back to the life we had before 2020.  Minus Trump as President, of course.