One Year in a Pandemic

I cannot believe we're coming up on one year since the COVID-19 Pandemic began.

2020 was such a hurricane of emotions, fear, panic, anxiety and more that it almost seems impossible to fathom that we now have vaccines that are working to fight against this disease... and working! No one will alive today will ever forget this past year because it changed our world drastically. The last time I remember a global change of this magnitude was the September 11th attacks in 2001, which will have its 20th anniversary this year as well.

If there's anything I have learned in this pandemic it's the importance of health and safety, of course, but also just how important it is to play and experience joy. Joy can be ripped from you and held hostage like a thief overnight and finding again is difficult. It's this precious treasure that all of us possess that has the power to leave us empty when taken away but also give us the strength to find it again in the darkest of times.

The Pandemic is not over and won't be for a while and wearing a face mask may have a permanent place in worldwide society now but at least we are on the side of history where a vaccine exists. A year ago, we were frantic, consumed in fear and uncertainty -supplies were hard to find, stay-at-home orders were about to begin in full force around the globe, and we'd watch as the numbers grew and grew until somewhere in the middle of it all, we found a way to survive.

☀️ The sun has begun to peek through the clouds as Spring starts to show itself in the blooming daffodils, tulips, and clovers proving that life really can begin again. Where I live, a vicious ice storm ravaged my city and destroyed trees, houses, power lines, and more. 

Now, the landscape looks beautiful and blossoming. If it weren't for the tree limbs noticeably absent, their scars still etched on the vegetation, it's as if any destruction hadn't happened. Renewal. Revival. The warmth of the sunlight pours into every shrub, tree, and animal signaling a positive change can come when the war is over.

Maybe, it's time for us humans to follow suit? We honor and remember the over 500,000 Americans killed by this disease. You will always be remembered as more than just a statistic and as the friends, family, brothers, sisters, mothers, grandfathers, and more that each one of you were.

We can't go back, but maybe we can begin to let the light in to start a new future.

​xo,
JONATHAN MILLER🌙