Today is an anniversary unlike many others, one that I am not celebrating, one that makes me rather depressed.
To the day, March 18, exactly one year ago was the first day that I started working from home.
I left the calendar in my office set on 3/17/2020 to remind me of that day.
A few days earlier on March 13 our State's Governor declared a State of Emergency due to the virus. Only on March 21 this was followed by a Stay at Home order and closure of all non-essential businesses.
Little did we know then - how much more do we know now?
I was lucky, but felt at times cursed, to work in an industry falling in the 'essential businesses' category since the company that I am working for is importing foodstuffs from Europe into the US. As such I was allowed to drive to our office at a time when most people had to stay at home. But it was eerie driving at that time.
Here in NJ the roads are always busy no matter what. But during the early days of the pandemic hardly a car or truck was to be seen on our usually packed highways. Same with our office building, which is not too big, three floors - that I had all to myself when I went in. Which I had to do a few times, usually for IT stuff.
I wanted to write this post for this day specifically, but now that I do, I don't think I am quite ready yet to reflect in depth. Suffice to say that personally I was very lucky. My immediate family had no encounters with Covid-19. I haven't lost anyone to it (yet) and I have had a job that paid the bills during this whole time. Yes, it was overwhelming at many times and anxiety ran at an all-time high for months, but I am not complaining, because I know I am one of the lucky ones.
My hope remains that we all learn from this past year and will be able to look forward to a much brighter future.
And in that sense, I will add not only a photo of said empty roads, but also some pictures of flowers symbolizing hope: Iris and snowdrops.
