365 Days Ago

365 days ago it was Friday, the 13th. It was also, my 13th wedding anniversary. It was the day the President declared a National Emergency.  It was also the day school closed for 365 days straight.  It was the day I lost my job in an uber going to my anniversary dinner in downtown.  It was the first time I ate in a trendy LA restaurant that was completely empty except for the 5 us who couldn’t cancel our travel reservations.  It was the day I brought Lysol wipes to the hotel room to wipe everything down before settling in. It was a day that was supposed to be fun but instead was one of the weirdest days that went on to become a weird year. And it’s not over yet, even weirder.  During that year I checked off some unexpected items on an unexpected global pandemic checklist l, such as:  I’ve never been unemployed for 365 days before ✅ Never used an iPad to log my kid into school for 365 days. ✅Never thought Disneyland would close for 365+ days. ✅ Never thought movie theaters and movie popcorn would disappear. ✅ Never thought I’d loose my indoor dining privileges. ✅ Never thought I couldn’t see family or friends for so long and miss holidays with them. ✅ Never thought I couldn’t hug people when I wanted to. ✅ Never thought I’d wear a mask or wash my hands so much or buy so much toilet paper and cans of Lysol. ✅ Never thought I’d spend so much time outdoors. ✅. Never thought I’d spend so much time inside my house. ✅ Never thought ordering groceries and having them delivered would be a thing much less sanitizing those groceries with wipes. ✅ Never thought I would go to so many drive-thru holiday light things. ✅ Never thought I would bake so much. ✅ Never thought I’d see the return of the drive-in. ✅  Or that big studio movies would release day and date with streaming. ✅ Never thought I couldn’t travel that my passport became insignificant. ✅ Never thought my city would be on lockdown with mandatory curfews. ✅  Never would have thought Zoom would be a thing.✅