Five Long Years Later
The country began its COVID shutdown, and nothing has been the same since.
Five years ago I was making good money, loved my work, and was riding high for pulling off a major software interface revision under a very tight deadline for my largest client.
Five years ago the aerospace engineer I worked closest with at that client was sitting behind me to my left in a big lecture hall when the sports shutdowns all began on March 12th. He said, “Oh, it's overblown, it'll all be better in three weeks.” Three months later his company cancelled our project, he was furloughed and I was released entirely from my position.
Five years ago, the day after that conversation, I was in Greensboro, North Carolina, watching the Coliseum staff take down everything for the ACC tournament, as reporters from all along the East Coast milled in the parking lot. After I was unable to go inside to view the mecca of Mid-Atlantic Wrestling, I went back to my rental and completed the drive to the airport to boarded my flight to return home.
Five years ago, I returned from that flight, and I got only a small glimpse of our new office my company was moving into. We had pizza together before collecting our gear to prepare to work from home. I never saw that office again or any of my colleagues in person again.
Five years ago public health officials were still trusted.
Five years ago we hadn't lost friendships, family members, and coworkers to conspiracies, quack science, vaccine deniers and refusals to take the bare minimum of preventative steps to stop a deadly disease from spreading.
Five years ago I had not yet become a parent to two twin furbabies that changed my life forever.
Five years ago my mother was still alive, although it would be nearly a full year before I saw her again.
Five years ago my wife had not yet been on a ventilator, in a coma at one of the peak points of COVID-19.
Five years ago there hadn't been an insurrection and attempted overthrow of the Biden administration before it was sworn in.
Five years ago there hadn't been the devastating tragedy of the October 7th, 2023 Hamas attacks in Israel, and then the 18-month-long complete destruction of the Gaza Strip as Israel sought its revenge, freedom of its hostages, and increasingly, the permanent removal of Palestinians from their lands.
Five years ago the idea of electing a convicted felon President was considered an impossibility.
Five years ago we learned a lot of painful lessons.
Five years ago was forever and yet it is still very close.
No matter how many years pass, we will never be the same.
This post is in the memory of the nearly eight million people that have been killed by COVID-19 across the world.