OT - NO POLITICS One year ago life changed - A reflection on how it has changed us

[Fenway]

PLEASE DO NOT SOIL THIS THREAD WITH POLITICS
​

March 10, 2020, I was in South Philadelphia as the Bruins would play the Flyers.

The plan was to drive to Buffalo and stay in Niagara Falls, Ontario as the casino there was literally giving the rooms away in the hopes you would gamble and frankly 2 nights at the Falls was more appealing than 2 nights in downtown Buffalo.

We were well aware trouble was ahead. The Bruins were supposed to do the California trip the following week and the Sharks announced there would be no fans as Santa Clara County ordered it. On the 11th we watched in horror as the NBA closed down and knew the NHL would do the same.

Little did I know that within 10 days I would flee Cambridge for the old family cottage in Hampton and stay there for 3 months before I agreed to work the Belmont for NBC.



That was so depressing.

Then I signed on for NHL bubble duty in Toronto and later Edmonton.

I have friends say that I am so lucky to see the Bruins play and I can tell you it sucks. I am part of a team that tries to provide an illusion that things are normal but being in empty venues has been hard.

AGAIN NO POLITICS OF WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN DONE, WHAT WASN'T DONE AND WHAT WAS DONE.

There are so many close friends I have not seen in a year that it boggles the mind.

I am asking that we all vent about what we have lost in the past year.

I pray for the day I can be on a packed Red Line train heading for Park St and be thankful for it.

Click to read more...

 

[aguineapig]

Every day the numbers seem to improve, but the roulette wheel that is covid is still spinning and on February 3rd the number 19 dropped in my slot. Thought it was a sinus infection but was urged to get tested and later that day much to my surprise my Doctor called to confirm I was positive. I protested and claimed after so many years together he knew how negative I am, this could not be. I never have had a high fever, nothing in my lungs like portrayed early on by news accounts. Not uncommon I am told. My symptoms have been a constant dull headache, body ache, fatigue and intestinal un- fortitude. Each day mid afternoon the headache has reached migraine proportions. Three different prescriptions none has helped. Three trips to the Doctor same line. Long term post covid symptoms they say, they see it daily.
I wore the mask, hand sanitized in the store and the car, washed hands till raw. Trips to Hannaford early AM senior time, hardware store for wood pellets and my Yankee skinflint .99 cent Cumby coffees were my limited routine. But it still ran me down. At no point thus far have I thought I would have to go to the ER or much less thought I was going to die. But a few times thought it might not be a bad idea. Remain cautious. The wheel is still spinning. I got my vaccine paperwork from my Doctor in the mail Monday.

 

[Gator Mike]

Whole thing just sucks.

At times, I feel like I've had a year of my life sucked away from me. And I feel like I don't have much of a right to complain because there are so many people worse off than I am.

I have friends I haven't seen for a year. A friend of mine died of cancer last summer, and he still hasn't had a funeral. Holiday gatherings were a huge deal in my family - we haven't had one since Christmas 2019. I have an 18-year old niece who's going to college on a field hockey scholarship - we weren't allowed to attend her Senior Day game. I miss going to movie theaters and restaurants and concerts and games.

But I'm mostly concerned about what this whole experience has done to my daughters. They're different people now than they were a year ago... and I'm not sure it's for the better. My oldest seems to be mad at the world right now, and I don't blame her. My youngest will now spend days at a time barely coming out of her room with the curtains drawn. Neither of them were like this prior to the pandemic.

This can't come to an end soon enough.

 

[Alicat]

It has been a wild year. I have struggled mightily with trying to separate work and home which is tough when you live in a studio apartment.

I've always had anxiety but it was under control until April 2020 when the panic attacks and insomnia hit. Every night around 9pm I would get a sharp pain in my back that would radiate to my chest. I would then take an antacid and an 800mg motrin and 2 hits of albuterol and it would go away only for me to just lie in bed wide awake until 2:30 - 3am only to force myself out of bed at 7:30 to sign on to work.

After about 2 weeks of off and on panic attacks I called my doctor and said I need help. I got an appointment 2 days later and started on anxiety medication which I had been so resistant to in the past. It was a game changer. I felt so much better. I started exercising and walking at a local park. I also started using wax melt cups (can't burn candles) in fresh scents from Yankee Candle to help relax when I started to feel off. The spring, summer and the first part of fall went smoothly for me.

Everything started to spiral again after I got a concussion. A week of brutal headaches and light sensitivity knocked me on my ass and then the next month of random headaches, insomnia, exhaustion and anger followed. I felt fine after that and by the time the holidays came around I felt normal. Then the last week of December hit. I'm always down for a few days but then I usually bounce back. This time I didn't. The exhaustion, anger, lack of appetite and headaches came back with vengeance.

I had a normal appointment with the doctor and got put on a whole new medication that, while it was working, threw me into side effect hell all while work went haywire. I am so lucky my boss understands and talked to the big boss about boundaries which allowed me to have a frank conversation about work-life balance and things have been great since then.

Bottom line, I feel lucky to have survived 2020 because there were a few times where I went into a scary place but I am so lucky to have a great support system and a doctor who also recognized I needed more help so instead of appointments every other month I go once a month. I am grateful for this place because even though we are dysfunctional at times, we are family.

I've had my first dose of the vaccine as has my mom and in 2 weeks we both get our second. I am hoping that by May I might be able to see friends I haven't seen in over a year plus a few others who I have seen briefly.

Hang in there everyone!

 

[DiggityDog]

I’m a bit of a homebody so there are things about this pandemic that I have personally enjoyed as far as not having to go out and avoiding people in general. It has benefitted me in this way.

The difficult part on a personal level is that it feels like a whole year has been taken away. I have a two year old son and none of my family were able to attend his birthday, he turns three in May and it’s looking like it might be the same situation. This may be whatever to most people, but it’s sad to see a kid disappointed, especially when he doesn’t quite get what’s going on and why nobody can be there.

My wife is due with our second child this May, and none of our family can come visit the hospital and see him. They will all have to do it via FaceTime. When we had our first child one of the great joys was having our families see their first grandchild and the way they lit up. My son can’t even meet his brother until 4 days until after his birth. Our babies health is the priority so in the end that is the focus, it is just unfortunate to have to miss out or delay these moments.

I hope when this is done people take with them the importance of cleanliness. The importance of washing their hands and sanitizing when possible. Disease is literally everywhere. We may actually continue to wear masks well after this around flu seasons in the future.

 

[LSCII]

I'm the type that has always preferred working in an office environment as opposed to an isolated home office. I feed off the energy of others on days where I'm maybe a little distracted or tired and it helps keep me productive, so this working from home thing has been a struggle at times for me. But aside from that, I look at the positive side of this. I've gotten to spend so much more quality time with my wife and kids and I'm forever thankful for that. Obviously it wasn't under the best conditions what with a ranging pandemic happening, and I certainly miss my friends and extended family, but I'm still very thankful for the year plus I've gotten to be around my inner circle far more than I would have normally. I think this has also taught me an appreciation for some of the little things people tend to ignore. Like being able to get together with friends. A lot of times, I'd make plans and then on the day of them, I'd decide to not go. I don't think I'll be doing that any more because you never know when you'll get the chance to see people again. I'm also thankful that while I know a handful of people who have passed away because of this virus, the majority of my friends and family have survived and managed to stay safe. While I still mourn the loss of people I know that succumbed to it, I think it's more because of the fact that we haven't been able to gather and wish those folks a proper farewell. So once things get a little more normal, I believe we'll be able to do that and finally get some closure.

 

[sarge88]

Nothing good has come of this.

I know that some people say that it's brought their family closer -- but we were close before Covid.

What it's done is make my college aged daughter frustrated and scared that she's not learning enough in school, as she's in a medical program and hasn't been able to do the "hands on" "clinical" learning that she should be. She also misses her friends, playing sports and doing the things that 21 year olds should be doing.

My son, who has anxiety, is actually enjoying the distance learning model, which may sound good, but it isn't. He's a kid who we need to support and encourage to be social and take risks. This past year has made it far too easy for him to avoid doing the things that healthy, well adjusted kids should be doing and I fear that he'll seek out future opportunities to isolate now that "distance learning" and working from home have become the norm.

As for me, without getting into things that we can't -- there are so very many things that have negatively affected my outlook on life in general that I find myself getting angry over things that otherwise would have rolled off my back.

My wife works with special needs children in a public school and she's constantly frustrated by the lack of support they are getting from her union and administration. In our district these kids are the only ones attending in person, so she is going in every day, caring for and educating her students only to read comments online by non - special education teachers refusing to come to work and ignoring the fact that my wife and her direct co-workers have been doing it for months.

 

[BlackCrowes]

I can't believe it's been a year. It's amazing what you can internalize, what you can normalize. I remember thinking a year ago "Mask? I have to wear a mask??? Who am I, a cartoon character? I don't own any freaking masks...." And now it's like, meh, whatever. Little things like that.

But as normalized as this all can be for me, as a 48 year old man.... Jesus, the kids. Like they have no frame of reference for all this. My oldest is a High School Junior, and watching the toll this past year and even 2021 is taking on his hockey teammates is heartbreaking. To see what is the most important thing (to them) just slowly suffocated in front of them, it's just hard to watch. My son's team (as all teams in the state of CT) were allowed to play an abbreviated season of 12 games. Last week, a Freshman on the practice squad contracted Covid. He's healthy and fine, thank goodness, but it put the entire team in a 2 week quarantine, which wiped out their last 8 games. They do come back the day their conference tourney starts, but for the seniors? This was their last hurrah, 4 games with no spectators? It's just brutal. And that says nothing for the athletes in the fall or winter where the season was just snuffed out, and never to return.

Just to be clear I'm not saying this was a bad decision or a wrong decision, that's precisely the point. The decision is what it is, these kids who didn't get a chance just have to live with the repercussions. And that will never be recoverable. At this point I'm just waiting so we can all get vaccinated in our house and then try and start figuring out how to go from there.

 

[BMC]

This is one instance when being a serious introvert has been a blessing. I do not have the need to be with people the way so many others do so social distancing/isolation has never been an issue for me. It has been a different story for many people I know though.

I have been blessed- I did not lose my business (my industry was declared essential), job or home as so many others did. My loved ones are fine- my niece had COVID but thankfully it was a mild case, she has no post illness issues & no one else caught it from her. My sister & nephew are doing fine and our mom rocked the lockdown like the champ she is.

I feel bad for my niece & nephew though- she lost her HS senior track season & graduation to this thing and now she has lost her first college indoor track season as well. No decision yet on whether there will be outdoor track. My nephew graduates from college this year but we will not be going even if the college opens it to the public. They & their friends have had to learn that life can be deadly as well as wonderful much too soon. This is their generation's 9/11.

For so many other people though this has been a nightmare without end and my heart goes out to them. They've lost loved ones, businesses, jobs and/or their children's education has been damaged, perhaps beyond repair. Some will be able to pick up the pieces and move on. Others will struggle to do this & fail. One thing is certain: none of us has gone through this unchanged.

 

[jgatie]

One year ago I was in Key West with my brother, watching the Bruins beat the Flyers. On the trip down, we had noticed the plane had a little extra sanitizer sprayed on it, but that was all the attention we paid to COVID. The next day we were at the pool bar when the NBA pulled the players off the court. My brother and I just stared at each other in disbelief. We came home that weekend (the plane seats were soaked with sanitizer this time). I went to the office that Monday, predicting it would be the last time I see the office in a while. I was correct. The following Saturday (1 week after I returned home) I developed a dry raspy cough. I called my PCP, and she told me there were no tests, and nothing they could do for me, that I should just quarantine, and if it gets worse, go to the hospital. I told work I was unavailable to come in for onsite emergencies and settled in for 2 weeks. I never developed a fever or other symptoms, and to this day I don't know if I had COVID or not.

Now the good parts, because I tend not to dwell on the bad parts (it's a well I don't want to descend into). I work in IT, but it's the most ass-backward IT department in the world. COVID has cured some of that. We now have actual VPN access for everybody. We have e-signing of documents (yes, a modern IT department used to print out hard copies, sign them, and give them to the mail room staff). I'm an introvert and don't do well in meetings (I tend to be blunt and to the point), so Zoom/Teams/Webex is a godsend. I can shut off audio/video and say all the things that used to get me in trouble in person. I get more work done, because the 70% of the staff that does nothing except walk around and yak with others is not disturbing me all day. My 10 minute commute is now 30 seconds, and the coffee is better. I have only been back to the office 5 times in the last year, 4 times for something I had to do onsite, and once to swap an old laptop for a new one. The best thing is the boss says he thinks we may keep the work from home abilities once things return to normal.

Personally, I miss friends. I miss going out to eat or drinks at a bar. On the other hand, I'm saving cash. I still go over my brother's place for sports. He has his elderly father in law living in an in-law apartment, so I know he takes full precautions, and I'm not fearful of spending time there. Other than that, streaming TV has been the refuge.

All in all, aside from idiots in stores who can't seem to learn how to wear a mask, it hasn't been that bad. Then again, I'm the definition of a roll-with-the-punches type person. Though who knows what it's doing to my sub-consciousness, that could be in shambles for all I know.

 

[Alicat]

This 30 for 30 was too short in my opinion but captured what happened a year ago

 

[Ladyfan]

I hadn't seen any family member (small family) since the last home B's game (GahdenRinkRat) . She has had her vaccine so I saw her last week for the first time. I needed a ride to the doctor for an MRI so she came to NH from Boston and took me. It was great to see her.

I haven't seen my daughter who lives in Calif. since Christmas 2019. She usually travels for work so I would see her often. I miss her.

My company stayed open because we build power modules for ventilators (and other medical equipment). I was able to work from home for a few months but they made everyone return. I now am allowed 2 days WFH a week. There have been over 80 cases of COVID19 at my place of work.

I miss all of my friends at the Garden and lost one of my favorites to COVID19.

I get my first vaccine 3/20.

Strange sad year. Looks like maybe there is a light at the end of the tunnel if folks can just be smart and wear masks and socially distance for a bit longer.

 

[Gee Wally]

As of Friday I will be at home a full year after 43 years of getting up and going to work every day.

What have I lost?

My job. A sense of being that I’m still struggling to get my head around. Under these circumstances ‘retired’ wasnt what I envisioned.

I lost a cousin to Covid.

Holidays sucked. No daughter here because of travel rules. No big family gatherings.

Most painful for me was I lost my Mother. I wasn’t allowed to see or be with her in her last moments.
Because of Covid rules.
Hell, we still havent had her ‘at sea’ services yet due to rules and such. Hopefully in a few more months.

On the bright side both me and the Bride had our first shots with second scheduled for first week of April.

Also I have been waiting now nearly a year to have cataract removed from my left eye. I am now essentially blind in that eye. I have an appointment in May to do pre op stuff assuming vaccine roll out is on schedule.

I just want to be able to safely leave the house and truly start ‘retirement’.

 

[Dr Hook]

I feel relatively fortunate that not a great deal changed for me and in the area I live aside from the first couple of panic weeks where toilet paper could not be found for love or money. I had already converted to all online teaching so my work was unaffected, and my wife's job actually got busier (she is a psychologist). The area I live is not tiny, but not a large metro region either, so cases here were and stayed fairly low. The biggest disruption for me was to live music as we had a lot of gigs cancelled and we still are not back to full booking yet. That is a pretty minor complaint. I know several people who got Covid, only a couple of those had any real trouble with it, and only knew one person who passed away from complications from it (an older guy who did not take proper care of himself when he was first diagnosed).

The hardest part was not being able to regularly visit and check on my elderly parents- I was able to go a few times, masked up, in order to take care of some things they physically could not do, but it was difficult.

 

[Fenway]

So many little things I miss

Walking down to the 1369 to get coffee and then doing work on the laptop. Bar trivia nights with people I have been doing it with since the '90s. The Cambridge library has been closed for a year along with the senior center where I taught computer classes a few times a month as a volunteer.

Somehow I thought things would be close to normal by the 4th of July last year but.....

Going to a movie, going to a baseball game - the list is endless.

 

[bossfan]

Biggest change for me is that I lost my oldest brother to Covid last April. Hard to believe it's been almost a year already.

Other then that it's mostly the ability to see family. My nephew just had a baby in January that I have not been able to meet yet. And his 2 year old daughter I have not been able to see in almost a year.

 

[LSCII]

Biggest change for me is that I lost my oldest brother to Covid last April. Hard to believe it's been almost a year already.

Other then that it's mostly the ability to see family. My nephew just had a baby in January that I have not been able to meet yet. And his 2 year old daughter I have not been able to see in almost a year.

Deepest sympathies on the loss of your brother.

 

[crimsonace]

I was sitting at my son's soccer practice, watching the Bruins & Flyers, not knowing that would be the end of the Bruins' season as we knew it (and a pause that derailed momentum that had the B's looking like a Cup contender) ... with my laptop putting together broadcast charts for that Friday's game, which would never be played.

By day, I'm an educator. On March 12, I said goodbye to my students - nearly all seniors. Two hours later, we got a notice our school was closed indefinitely. It wouldn't re-open for the year. I never really got a chance to see out the school year - or the hockey season - as they both ended abruptly.

My life has not been as heavily affected as many. I've been able to successfully avoid the virus so far. Our state locked down hard initially, but opened up by summer and our school was fully in-person for most of the year (but we did have a few weeks where we had to do school virtually - and teaching college economics to high school students via Zoom is really not fun. Students aren't as likely to engage in discussions and ask questions as they are in a regular classroom). By night, I do play-by-play - of high school events and in minor pro hockey. I also work the Indianapolis 500 and Brickyard 400 every year, but due to COVID staff limitations, was unable to do so, breaking a 21-year streak of covering the two races. The former had one game canceled. The latter is playing a full season - albeit two months late. So thankfully, it's been a bit easier on me. The hard part has been watching my kids lose their spring athletic seasons. Hopefully, we can beat this soon and be back to normal by fall.

 

[LSCII]

So many little things I miss

Walking down to the 1369 to get coffee and then doing work on the laptop. Bar trivia nights with people I have been doing it with since the '90s. The Cambridge library has been closed for a year along with the senior center where I taught computer classes a few times a month as a volunteer.

Somehow I thought things would be close to normal by the 4th of July last year but.....

Going to a movie, going to a baseball game - the list is endless.

It's always the little things because those are what's actually important in life. The change in routine and the mundane daily interactions with friends and family. That's the stuff I miss.

 

[McGarnagle]

I'm still frustrated over many things - my routine being thrown off greatly - stuck in the house weekends, gaining weight and still not being able to go to the gym, the inability to see friends or just sit down at a restaurant and eat with people, sports being postponed and held in empty arenas, travel plans put off for a year, and I was forced to self-isolate for Christmas which sucked.

But I recognize that compared to a lot of people I'm coming out of this pretty well. Nobody that I know died or had bad complications from Covid. Financially and professionally I had my best year ever. I did get through a lot of tv shows/movies/video games with the extra free time stuck at home that I probably wouldn't have gotten through all of otherwise (though that kind of came at the expense of doing a lot less reading than usual since I did most of my reading out at cafes where I'm not so distracted). So it obviously could've been a lot worse.

Overall, I just want things back to normal and I'm sick of the lockdown. My state and county still have stricter regulations right now than my family back home who I talk to on the phone have to deal with, as well as most of the rest of the country. I've gotten the first shot and a lot of the people I know have started their vaccines too, so I'm hoping things start opening soon. Even simple things like sitting down at McDonalds over lunch and getting a refill of Diet Coke are what I really miss and took for granted. And yeah, I've been getting fat and need to go to the gym - home workouts or going for jogs after work just don't do it for me. And being able to go places with people again will be great.

What's going to be interesting to see is what people's patterns will be as the world opens. I'm sure there will be a segment of the population who just goes full speed into everything they had missed and spend all their free time at movie theaters, restaurants, events, parties, etc. non-stop, as well as a segment who is going to still be extremely skittish and cautious and continue to not go in public for a while afterwards, and then I suspect most people will be somewhere in the middle.

 

[Ladyfan]

Biggest change for me is that I lost my oldest brother to Covid last April. Hard to believe it's been almost a year already.

Other then that it's mostly the ability to see family. My nephew just had a baby in January that I have not been able to meet yet. And his 2 year old daughter I have not been able to see in almost a year.

I am so sorry for the loss of your brother

 

[toria13]

My last day of work (in-person) was Friday the 13th. I was working at an elementary school in the library. By that point, the kids had been notified that we were taking two weeks off, March Break and another week after. I suspected that it would be longer already by then, after the closure of Seattle Public Schools on the other side of the country from March 12th to at least April 24th had been announced the night before but I wasn't allowed to say anything of the sort to my students. I worked at a private international school and the kids I was teaching often had parents that worked internationally in the government or high up in industry, so many of them, even the younger ones knew that things were maybe worse than we were saying. I had one ten-year-old tell me that his mom had been recalled to the US and that he didn't think we were going to come back to school until the fall. Privately I agreed. Out loud I simply assured him that he wouldn't be charged any late fees if we didn't come back to the school building and he couldn't return his books.

I spent all day reassuring the kids as much as a I could. I have a rule about working with kids. You shouldn't ask them to carry things when you can protect them but you shouldn't lie either. I can't count how many times I repeated that we were all doing what we needed to to protect everyone's health and that we were making plans with the information we had right now. If things changed in two weeks, I told them, we would make a new plan.

When I got home after work. I was just in time to catch my roommate before she left for the airport to see her family for Spring Break. She hugged me and said she'd see me in 5 days. I didn't see her until August.

I've been quite lucky. I've been holed up in my apartment basically the whole time, and even though it's been lonely (some times more than others), I haven't been out on the front lines physically. I think the hardest part for me has been knowing that my family has been out there the whole time (mom is a grocery store employee, stepmom works a a hospital). I'm studying public health in my graduate program and my current job is all COVID response, so it's impossible to get away from the numbers. That's been really hard, just knowing the risk and having my mom tell me how many people are ignoring distancing requirements or that someone else she knows tested positive and being far away and not able to help. I can't wait until I can visit my parents and get a hug again.

 

[Bruinaura]

I haven't seen my mom and stepdad in over a year. No Thanksgiving, no Christmas.

One of our employees died from Covid last month.

We were switched to WFH for ten weeks at the start. I generally have hermit tendencies anyway, so I didn't mind it. It was actually hard going back to the office after that. Our dress code is "professional and stuffy" (my words, not theirs lol) so I missed my casual wardrobe. Pajamas, sweats, etc.

Took the dog for a lot of walks. Started ordering grocery delivery. On the occasions when I've gone into a store, it's nice not having people standing two inches from you in the checkout lane. Social distancing can be good sometimes...

Survived the TP shortage without running out. Made sure I had enough in the event of a second shortage, which it appears we've managed to avoid?

Did very little driving. In fact, just last weekend I drove about fifteen miles to a friend's house and I'm pretty sure that's the longest trip I've taken since this started. But I was reminded just how beautiful the Tennessee countryside is.

So I'm giving thanks, there are people even in this thread dealing with much worse things than I've had to face. My condolences to everyone who lost someone close to them.

To end on a lighter note, remember, I have virtual cookies for anyone who needs them.

 

[Olden McGroin]

Man builds full-on video rental store in his basement

He owns it all, yet he still calls it a rental joint.

Following the closure of his local movie rental store during the coronavirus pandemic, one man spent his extra time in lockdown building an homage to it in his own basement.

 

[TD Charlie]

Personally, I’m just fine. Mentally a little rattled, but I’m ok. Physically, same as always, gain a few lose a few. Financially, better than a year ago with all the cash I saved staying inside the house for 365 days. I’m ok

it’s my children that I feel are missing out, my daughter especially. She’s 8, and while I consider her an old soul, she’s maturing at an appropriate pace while other girls in her school are talking about TikTok, makeup, and other trendy things that I’m hoping are still MANY years away from my 8 year old. Not having easy access to her best friends is so difficult. She doesn’t want to talk about her Instagram photos, she wants to play Barbies and have sleepovers with her girlfriends. Covid split up classes and has pushed a lot of kids away from each other unfortunately. She’s moody, terrified to fall asleep or be alone, and I one hundred percent am expecting a phone call from her at 3am because she woke up and is afraid to move.

But you bet your ass I’m answering that call. I look forward to it.