Text Only

How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.

<strong> Tomorrow will mark my third COVID wedding. Simply typing that previous statement makes my head want to explode</strong>. How have I now gone to three weddings in the past twenty months? More importantly, how many more weddings will I go to that must adapt to the ever changing local and state regulations? <strong> I honestly never thought that I'd wear a mask to a wedding. Or take a COVID test the night before. Or have to show a vaccine passport for admission. But here we are.</strong> This seems to be the "new normal" - whatever the heck this is.<strong> I once thought COVID was going to a blip on the radar</strong> - one time event. You'd say "yes, I remember that one time." <strong> Instead it's turned into a marathon - a never-ending marathon where just as you think you've hit your stride, you encounter another hill or obstacle</strong> (dehydration, get lost, cramps, etc.). Especially here in California where it's a vicious cycle of mother nature (the fires!), the politics (the recall election), and the pandemic. The state cannot catch a break. Thinking back to this wedding tomorrow, I'm not nervous - not like the first wedding last September where I wore a face shield AND a mask. Or the wedding I went to in April where I'd had just half my vaccine dosage. No, this wedding is by far the safest. But like the state, I can't drop my guard. <strong> I look back at the last twenty months and I'm exhausted</strong>. There are moments when I'm just mentally drained from it all. Given all the above, I've tried to take every day as it comes. Earlier this week I was interviewing a candidate and I remarked that I no longer think about things in "year increments" - I do it in "days and months." Otherwise, it seems too daunting. Right now, I'm just trying to live my life to the fullest that I possibly can.