This week marks the passing of a major milestone.
The enormous sack of plain flour that MB managed to order at the very start of the Covid 19 crisis has now finally been emptied. MB is a very keen bread baker, and was able to obtain a delivery slot early in lockdown to secure delivery of bread and plain flour even as the shops were completely emptying of all flour products.
It seems weird, slightly unsettling but also timely that this flour bag emptying occurs almost exactly a year after we first entered into lockdown. We are one year on – never for a minute one year ago did we think we would be where we are today.
A year since life was what we normally think of it to be.
Ordinarily we mark anniversaries. Do we want to mark this one? Will much be made of the fact that we are now a year on, and do we want even to go there?
These past 12 months of Covid-19, and associated restrictions and lockdown, contain many milestones that are awful, devastating, grief inducing and on which we do not want to dwell.
But my question I guess is this:
How have you changed since March 2021?
How is your life different now from then? There will be obvious answers to those questions.
But what has happened in those intervening months that has changed you for the better?
Over the past few weeks here I have been musing about finding fun in little ways, and seeking joy in small places.
I wonder if one positive change that these 12 months have brought is our learned ability to appreciate the small things and not take them for granted.
Over the past week I have listened to this being expressed in a variety of different ways.
Appreciation for the bin men taking away all the excess cardboard in addition to the already full recycling bins.
A trip to the opticians becomes a major outing for which we get slightly dressed up (earrings and nice boots rather than the default of loafing about the house in jeans, slippers and the same baggy comfortable hoodie).
Meeting an actual human In Real Life when out for walk and being able to have an albeit distanced conversation with no screen involved.
Going out to get a takeaway coffee with the same level of anticipation and excitement as we would previously go out for a nice meal.
Hearing a busker and being nearly in tears at that emotional reminder of the power and connection of live music.
These achievements perhaps would not normally be that noteworthy. But each speaks to the fact we have reached the bottom of the barrel in terms of what we get excited about or appreciate.
One year on: So much of what we have taken for granted has been stripped away.
And much of what brings joy, enjoyment, fulfilment, connection, purpose has been depleted, diminished, decimated.
There is so much that we have missed and are missing terribly.
Where does that leave us?
I hope with a new found – and lasting – appreciation for the fullness of life that we want to be living.
Imagine being able to hug that family member or friend for the first time after a year. How tight will you hold them, how good will that feel, how aware will you be of the tactile, whole body experience a good hug is.
I hear many people saying the same kinds of things: when we are allowed out, it is not the big things we are looking forward to, although they are important.
It is the small things that make life precious and which we never thought twice about not being able to do before. Having friends round to the house for a meal. Going to the pub, or a gig. Getting a hair cut. Those innocuous but fun conversations with colleagues IN the work place that can’t happen over Zoom. Being able to plan something in the future and knowing it WILL ACTUALLY HAPPEN.
So one year on, as we approach one year of life being very far from normal, how important is is that we appreciate the small things now and value the people who are making them possible.
And furthermore, in acknowledging the impact of how this year has changed us, that we do not go back to living with entitlement or lack of appreciation. That we continue to notice, appreciate and celebrate all the little things that make life good that we have missed terribly in this past year.