The Difference A Year Can Make
I awoke Monday morning to a ding from Google Assistant on my smartphone and a photo taken a year ago that day.
The photo was a picture of my kids sandwiched between their Aunt Karen (my sister) and Uncle Ronnie as their backdrop was the Savannah River. I, of course, was the photographer and as I glared at it thought ”this is one of my best shots.” I sent the photo to my sister and brother-in-law with the caption “a year ago today.” He commented on how heftier he was then (not that anyone could tell but him..he’s always been tall and slim). My sister replied that she was still wearing those same shoes. I told her I think we all were probably still wearing our shoes from then.
Then my thoughts immediately went to how much difference a year can truly make. It was Labor Day weekend and we wanted a quick Saturday to Monday getaway. We (the adults) had toyed with a visit to Chattanooga, Charleston or Savannah. Ronnie and I were team Chattanooga with Hurricane Dorian brewing in the Atlantic. Eventually we settled upon Savannah, Karen’s choice. I don’t recall how she won out with a storm maybe headed that way but I feel sure it was in an effort to visit family and friends nearby.
Unlike now, there was never the discussion of whether we should go or ruling it immediately out due to coronavirus concerns. There was no need to pack your personal stash of cleaning supplies, no need to feel like visiting distant family might be irresponsible, and no need for now much needed masks.
I remember it beginning to rain just as we rolled into Chatham County and arrived at our hotel. (FYI, I learned from a press release about hotel occupancy that Labor Day weekend hotel bookings are down 66 percent compared to last year with four out of 10 hotel employees not working).
It looked a lot like our weekend would be spent indoors but it wasn’t. The rain let up some as Dorian edged northward to make landfall. It became a true family weekend when Cousin Rodney, a Monticello native now residing in Florida, make the short drive up with his wife and kids to visit and dine out with us.
Our dinner party of 11 then would surely be a quandary now. A picture of that outing popped up Tuesday morning so I forwarded to Rodney. He replied ”that was the good ol’ days” with a laughing emoji.
Who knew the “the good ol’ days” would be just 365 days ago, if only we had known it then. In all likelihood, there were probably a roomful of scientists who knew where we were headed.
In contrast to the ol’ days, the kids and I tuned into our virtual open houses Monday as virtual learning for their entire system begins the day after Labor Day. It was not what I expected. Walking from room-to-room for an hour from his PC to her laptop, I thought it might be the teachers amongst a screen of fresh-faced eager students. Nope it was the teachers and mostly parents with a lot of questions with the students appearing every now and then.
I think of the 110 plus seventh graders at my daughter’s school, I saw a dozen during the open house. But that’s ok because the real virtual meeting started after the open house concluded as 20 or more of her classmates convened for some “post summer & pre school” discussions.