Thursday the 12...

 

While I remember Friday, March 13, 2020 extremely well.  Thursday not so much.  Which is a shame.  Because I wish I could remember more about that day.  But who knew?

Thursday, March 12th, 2020 was the last day I worked in Lyndhurst, NJ.  Although the ride from my house to there (and home) could be frustrating (just as frustrating as getting home from Newark, but on public transportation), the office suite was great.  I, as many of my co-workers (and there weren't that many in the office), had office sized cubicles.  I had a view that looked out on the marshlands of the area.  Yes, some may say it's stinky and it was at times, but it was also beautiful.  There were birds.  And in the distance there was the city.  (And I could count the cars on the NJ Turnpike.)  When the sun was out, my space got HOT, no matter what the season.  And when it was cloudy or raining...I had that (illicit) space heater going, even in the height of summer.  You could walk around the parking lot at lunch time...or down the street to get some exercise.  (Although the back lot would flood if it rained a lot.)  I could run errands on lunch; there was a Stop and Shop and a ShopRite.  I could go the farmer's market, Payless Shoes (remember them?) or the Dollar Tree.  I could even get a pedicure!  I didn't appreciate all that I had.  But then again, would anyone?  

The suite had no bathroom (it did have a kitchenette); the floor shared a bathroom.  The suite next door had recently been rented to a company which had purchased part of a company that I had once worked for.  (I know that's confusing...And now I work for a corporation that purchased the company I worked for when I was working in Lyndhurst...it's all a jumble of corporate purchases.)  So when I was in the ladies' room I would often run into people I knew as we had previously worked together.  We would stand there and wash our hands, trying to make sure we did it long enough as we had been advised.  (As noted in my post of March 11th of that year)  We knew what was coming, didn't we?

Oh heck, we had NO CLUE.  The weekend before I had been handling money and hugging people at our son's spring musical.  (Who knew how lucky we were to get it in?  How many high schools were not so lucky that year?)  We were planning for the school's annual music trip to Ohio. (Which was cancelled, not because of the school, but because all the venues cancelled!)  This was going to pass quickly. (At least according to the President at the time who obviously had no clue!  I mean, injecting yourself with bleach?  What idiot recommends that?  And on national television?  Did ANYONE actually do that?  Did ANYONE think that was wise?)  It was only going to be a few weeks...  Oh how foolish we all were.

And so on that Thursday, March 12, 2020, I went to work like it was any other day. (Or almost any other day.)  I would work from home on Friday so I could pick up my son from school (it was a previously scheduled half day).  He'd be home for 2 weeks (ha!) doing "remote learning" (what the heck?) and I'd go back to the office on Monday.  Oh, what we DIDN'T know that Thursday.  (Unless you were a medical professional and then you probably knew.  We still owe you a debt of gratitude for all that you did during that horrible period.)

The only thing "different" on that day is that I would have taken my laptop (as I did every night) and maybe packed up a few extra things to help me work from home the next day.  (I did occasionally work from home, but it wasn't a "thing.")  I would have said good bye to the people I saw on a regular basis and tell them to have a nice weekend and I'd see them on Monday.  Because that's what I thought...

And then everything changed.  Shopping was a nightmare.  It was really scary.  After the 13th (where we were all jammed into ShopRite and getting our hands on whatever we could and stacked up in lines as we tried to check out) I had to go shopping alone.  My husband with underlying medical conditions was afraid to go with me.  I'd wear a make shift "mask" out of a scarf.  (I can remember a few weeks later when my cousin sweetly dropped a mask off for me to wear.)  I'd come home and shower after I was done.  (We didn't wash our groceries as some did...it was a SCARY time!)  I'd work in my home office with my son in his room doing on line classes.  How strange.  How scary.  How long ago it seems.

But it wasn't that long ago.  It was only 6 years.  It was a time where I grew to like working remotely.  (And now I wish I could do it all the time.)  While I don't wear a mask outside or in stores, I DO still wear them when I am in close quarters (like on the bus, light rail, etc.)  Covid is still out there.  Thanks to science and evolving medicine, less people are getting it and dying.  (Can you remember how many THOUSANDS died?  The refrigerated trucks that held the bodies?  Remember?!)

We have (for the most part) moved forward.  (Although sadly, some still ignore the facts the science and education teaches us.)  But we should not forget.  It was a scary time.  And we should not forget that.  We should not forget what we went through.  We should not forget what we had to do.  We should not forget our gratitude.  

Remember March of 2020.  Remember the 12th.  Remember the 13th.  Remember it all...  We don’t need history to repeat itself.  We need to remember.