Eight Thankful Pandemic Gifts

Eight Thankful Pandemic Gifts

Looking back at the pandemic, I am thankful for many things. The pandemic brought out the worst in people and society, including separation in families, friendships. Racial, political and social injustices were magnified within the world and communities.

While I missed meeting friends, going out for lunches or dinners, what I especially missed was the sense of freedom of just going out whenever you wanted to, walking in the malls and browsing for that unique item, which you could gift to someone or use.

Rather than focusing on the negative, let me share eight things that the pandemic made me thankful for:

• Front Line Workers: Our front line workers deserve a medal for putting their lives on the line to serve us, whether it was our nurses, personal support workers, cashiers, sanitary engineers, agricultural workers, postal workers, delivery personnel and so many others. They kept society going, not the movie or sports heroes. Some of them paid the ultimate sacrifice with their lives.
• Maintaining Relationships: All the relationships safely maintained, with distancing and masks with my sister, her family, in-laws, etc. where we had driveway, backyard and even side by side parking lot car visits, during lock downs.
• Online shopping: I remember shaking while doing grocery shopping and avoided some grocery stores with narrow aisles. It was great when I was advised that I could do online grocery shopping. In the beginning, we had to stay up until midnight to get a time slot., and as stores pivoted, it became easier to find slots. I was appreciative of my online shoppers.
• Being Outside in Nature: Walking in nature provided me with the ability to see the wild flowers, all the birds and to remember that there is still beauty in the world.
• Plans are just Plans: My sister, I and our daughters planned to surprise my sister, living in the America, travelling from Canada to celebrate a milestone birthday. With the borders closed, we realized that this would not happen the way we planned so we needed to pivot with a Zoom meeting. A friend at work once set, “there is always a solution to every problem, and we just need to find it”.
• Trying New Recipes: Trying new recipes took our minds off the lockdowns, provided a method of sharing our culinary expertise with others. Some recipes were hits and others were misses. My daughter perfected her baking skills and decided not to attempt making macarons. I tried making some Jamaican dishes like fried dumplings. Carole, my family agrees, you still make the best fried dumplings.
• Space: I was grateful to have the space, where my family of introverts, including myself could have our own hide-a-way spot. While we enjoyed meals together, we all needed our space to decompress.
• Medicine: The government restricted pharmacies from providing the normal three or six month medication to a one month supply. For individuals who need to take medicines to keep hypertension or other illnesses at bay, we were grateful for their availability, even in limited supplies.