It's been five years since the beginning of the pandemic, and I thought I'd write about that first year, reflecting on how quickly life changed for the entire world.
I drafted a blog post in March 2021, but never got around to publishing it. I'm incorporating that post with some current thoughts, as well as photos from that first year.
On March 13, 2020 we entered a state mandated lockdown in Oregon. In conversations with my family and friends, we all agreed that it would probably only last until summer, and maybe even into the fall, but I don't think any of us had any idea we'd still be there a year later. Of course, we weren't "locked down" for the entire year, but our lives aren't that much different than they were last spring. We are still wearing masks and washing our hands and observing social distancing guidelines. But I now go to the grocery store once a week instead of every two weeks. We get together with friends, but only outside and masked, of course. We haven't had any visitors and haven't seen any family since September 2019, when we were all together for our daughter's wedding.
We watched a lot of TV, streaming all sorts of British detective series, as well as regular movies. There was always a jigsaw puzzle in progress at the end of our dining room table and it looks like we completed a total of 23 (!!) during the past year. We played Quirkle, Quiddler and Trivial Pursuit, as well as a few other new games. I continued to read and blog, which helped keep me sane.I discovered dozens of delicious new recipes (our favorite might be the fruit galette), baked bread (when I could find yeast*) and experimented with a sous vide.
No longer able to work out at our gym, a Peloton bike (and on-demand classes) saved me from the dreaded COVID 15.
*We already knew TP and sanitizer would be scarce, but flour and yeast?
And we Zoomed. A lot. Zoom kept us in touch with our family and friends. I'm grateful that I don't have to use it on a daily basis, but I'm glad we were able to see the faces of those we love and miss. My book group meetings were also on Zoom, which was a bit weird at first, but we were so desperate for those interactions and made it work.
We have remained safe and virus-free. My mom has now had both of her vaccinations and my husband and I have just had our first jabs. So by the end of April, we should be able to resume life relatively close to what we once knew. We are already beginning to sigh with relief, but that doesn't mean we're going to be careless. We will still wear our masks while out in public and keep a bottle of sanitizer in the car. I'm not sure when we'll feel safe enough to go out to eat.
And of course now, five years after the onset of the pandemic, we've had numerous boosters and feel pretty confident that the danger is behind us. Surprisingly, neither my mom (who turns 92 this year), my husband, nor I have ever had Covid. It seems like everyone we know has had it at least once, but we've never caught it.
We started getting together outdoors within our small "pods," while maintaining safe distances and using hand sanitizer. My Mah Jong pals and I even started to play again, wearing masks and either sitting outside on a patio or in a warm garage with all the doors wide open.
It was cold in that garage!!
Rod and his friends got together to play music in our garage and driveway.
Covid testing sites began to pop up in our county, which has less than 50,000 residents. You had to have a doctor's order to be tested there.
Our little town of Depoe Bay looked like a ghost town!
Watched the strange Opening Day Dodger game with the stands filled with cardboard cutouts. So bizarre.
From my blog post of March 2020:
I am fortunate to live in a beautiful community and am able to get outside and walk along the ocean and in the forest, listening to podcasts and audiobooks, all of which provides me with much needed distraction from the news and updates. We cancelled our upcoming 2-month road trip (we were to leave yesterday) for obvious reasons.
We did eventually get to take a trip up the coast to one of our favorite campgrounds (Nehalem Bay State Park) and camped for 11 days! It was our first outing since the previous year, so we were very happy to get away. We had the campground pretty much to ourselves, with the exception of the first weekend. Even then, it was maybe only 10% full.
More from my 2021 notes:
Our county has moved into a low risk category and yet we are still not comfortable with going out to eat unless there is an outdoor option.
Looking forward to going out to eat with friends. Traveling and visiting family and friends.
A year ago, the U.S. had confirmed 1,000 coronavirus infections. Now, we’re approaching 30 million. We couldn't fathom losing 100,000, but we did. Today, more than 530,000 Americans have died from the virus. [As of March 2025, Wikipedia states that there are 1,219,038 confirmed deaths from Covid in the U.S.]
I don't think anyone will ever forget this time in our lives.
We are retired and our lives didn't change as drastically as those who have jobs or have children in school.
Notes From My Journal:
January 20 - First case of COVID in U.S. (Washington state).
February 29 - First COVID death in U.S.
March 11 - Costco was a zoo! No toilet paper or Kleenex. People are panic-buying because of COVID.
March 12 - Grocery store has empty shelves. Stock market dropped 7000 points since January. We lost $20K in February.
March 14 - Trying not to spend too much time online reading about COVID. This is such a surreal time. Schools are closed. March Madness and NBA cancelled. Libraries closed. Churches closed. Disneyland closed! Broadway went dark. Long lines at grocery stores. I cancelled all of our reservations for our camping trip. :(
March 16 - Lots of emails flying around about whether to cancel book club and Rae's going away brunch. Shay wants to come out this summer, but who knows if that's even possible.
March 18 - Rec Center officially closed.
March 19 - Day 1 COVID "Stay at Home." COVID testing tent set up at Samaritan clinic.
March 20 - IRS moves filing date to July 15th. CA statewide "stay at home" order. "Shelter in place" COVID deaths surpasses 10,000 globally. Our stocks our down $77K. Went shopping with Rod. Bought almost $350 in groceries. Should be stocked up for a month.
March 22 - Socially distanced drinks on the deck with Molly & Dave.
March 23 - Family game night with Rod and Mom (Quiddler). Rod has a cough... trying not to worry!
March 24 - Text from CJ - coworker has COVID. First case in Lincoln county.
March 30 - John Prine has COVID - critical condition.
April 7 - John Prine died.
April 8 - Depoe Bay looks like a ghost town. No cars parked anywhere!
April 11 - Feeling out of sorts. Anxious. Lonely. Missing my girlfriends. Want to go camping!
April 15 - Really miss having a normal routine. No yoga, no pickleball, no Mah Jong, no book club to fill the days.
Wimbledon cancelled.
Boston Marathon cancelled. First time in its history.
May 19 - Trader Joe's and Costco. Masks required for entry.
May 25 - Unrest in Minneapolis after George Floyd was killed by police officer kneeling on his neck for 9 minutes.
May 27 - 100,000 deaths in the United States!
NYC Marathon cancelled.
July 23 - Opening Day (baseball). No fans in the stadium, just cardboard cut-outs with photos!
Got my first haircut after an entire year - 6" cut off!
This is all I have in my notes. I may add more as my Facebook memories pop up, but that's it for now.
May we never had to endure such a terrible health scare again. Science matters!
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