It’s been a year.
A totally unimagined year.
When, a year ago to the day, we were told to stop living the way we’d always lived.
And we adapted.
We baked bread, completed 1000 piece jigsaws and cleared out cupboards.
Craved the mundane things we never thought we’d crave.
The school run, the weekly shop, work mates, the commute.
Missed seeing faces. People. Other humans.
But we zoomed, oh yes how we zoomed.
Zoom work calls, zoom drinks, zoom birthdays, zoom workouts, zoom quizzes.
Stopped getting dressed properly and watched a lot of telly.
Used words we’d never used before.
Lockdown, furlough, self isolate, pandemic.
While Captain Tom gave us all hope and reminded us who the real heroes are in all of this.
The NHS workers saving lives and seeing lives lost.
Teachers who have kept our children learning.
Our children who have adjusted and shown such resilience.
And we’ve all felt differently at different times.
Good days, bad days, average days.
Days when we really couldn’t see the point of getting out of bed.
Missing loved ones and losing loved ones.
And for many, mental health battles are very real.
Affecting a lot of people, who are finding it hard to stay afloat each day in this world of isolation.
So it’s more important than ever that we keep talking about it and helping each other understand that it’s ok.
Show kindness to one another.
A smile through a mask is hard, but eyes really can show warmth.
And we’ve come a long way.
We should all be so proud.
We’re not done yet but now at least there’s hope.
Hope for a corner that we’ll turn, thanks to the wonder of vaccinations.
And what our new life will look like is anyone’s guess.
Because it’ll be different.
Just as we’re all different.
But we’ve lived through an unimagined year.
And it’s one we’ll never forget.
