It’s hard to sum up ones feelings of what’s happened over the last year.
When this was all beginning there was a palatable feeling of fear in the air. We saw reports of deaths and sickness on the news each and every night but the general feeling was “it’s over there in another country…not here.”
Then suddenly things changed. There was one case diagnosed … then another … and then more.
Our country and our town lost its sense of being safe almost overnight. It wasn’t safe to go out in groups, out shopping and being with our friends. Things that we had taken for granted were now abruptly called into question.
I won’t go into the details of the food and toilet paper hoarding that followed (some things we now chuckle about) and at the time that fear was real. The schools were closing down for a couple of weeks after the March break and that should do it. Then 2 weeks turned into 2 months and then graduations were cancelled. It all seems like a blur but it also feels like a life time ago.
Fast forward to today and we’re still hearing of rising and lowering numbers of infections and sadly more deaths. But there’s also a sense of hope now that more and more vaccines are being approved and in addition to the gloomy numbers we hear on news broadcasts, we’re now seeing people being vaccinated.
We’ve been through a lot over the last year. We have been forced to change the way we live, the way we act, the way we do business and the way we interact with families and friends.
We’ve learned about variants … mask technology … the words social distancing, pivoting, Zoom meetings (along with statements like “You’re on mute” and “Next slide please”) have been engrained into our vocabulary.
Sadly many of have lost friends and family members due to COVID and that is the ultimate cost of this pandemic. This is why today we take the opportunity to remember those who lost their lives and the impacts on their families because of COVID.
Things are getting better now. More and more people are getting vaccinated and that will have an impact on the spread of this horrible virus. We as a community still have to be vigilant going forward but here is light at the end of the tunnel. While all this is happening we must remember where we have been and learn lessons from it. Most importantly we can’t forget the people we have lost…our friends, colleagues,and family members.
Our flags are lowered to do just that.
We also need to take a moment and thank our frontline workers, health care professionals, doctors, nurses, AND everyone who has had to deal with this each and every day in order to keep us safe. Thank you so much for the time and sacrifice … it will be a debt we won’t be able to repay. Thank You!
I am continuously amazed at how our community has come together so quickly. We think of the physical distance we keep from each other, this event has brought us closer in so many other ways.
Whether you feel we’re at the middle of all this or we’re in the beginning stages of the end goal, I ask you all to remain strong … MILTON strong … and we will get through this and get back to handshakes, hugs and high fives all around. Our community has such a strong resolve we can’t fail and we won’t.
Take care yourselves and each other. Be safe!
Mike