Dear Covid

Dear Covid,

It's been over 8 months since I heard about you.  I wasn't sure if you were going to visit Canada.  You certainly weren't particular about the locations you decided to inhabit.  As a matter of fact, in less than a month, you covered almost the entire globe! 

On Friday, March 13th, 2020 I started to understand the extent of your influence.  March break was now to be two weeks!  How would I ever keep the kids busy for two WHOLE weeks?  

Oh well, at least K was going to be attending taekwondo camp and B had theatre camp all set up.  Little did I know, in the days that followed all of that would be cancelled.  We would be glued to our computers and social media to follow the path of your destruction.  Infected counts, death tolls, hospital overruns, people we actually know suffering and dying, all because of you. 

School was then cancelled for the rest of the year.  Parents began to panic - making the best plans they could for online learning and someone to watch their children while we continued to try to do our jobs.  Figuring out new technology.  

Engaged teachers guiding students as best they could in this confusing new world we were thrust into.  Teachers who went AWOL, and frustrated parents trying to rise to the unattainable expectations of ....who?  Of ourselves and the perfect parents we painted ourselves to be - and then the inevitable crushing realization we actually CAN'T do it all.  

It was like we were living in a movie.  Locking ourselves in our homes - not even taking the risk of leaving to get food to feed our families.  Taking groceries into our garages and sterilizing the outsides of containers in case the TOXIN breached the thresholds of our homes.  

We lived in fear.  We were stressed about everything.  Companies started to shut down.  Businesses that were a staple in the community, boarding up windows and doors.  It was armageddon.  

And then summer came.  The sun came out and even though we were still ordered to maintain our bubbles, we ventured outside.  We felt the sun on our faces.  The warmth.  We bathed in the lake, the tepid water cooling the burns fear had inflicted.  We laughed.  We looked at our children with marvel and wonder - did they not fully grasp what was going on around them?  Or were we just that good at sheltering them from the storm?  Were they more resilient than we had given them credit for?  

We let butter drip from our chins as we ate corn on the cob.  We had campfires and watched the flame dance freely in the moonlight - as if it had no care in the world and knew nothing of you.  We loved each other in the dark of the night knowing that the sun would come out to play again tomorrow and help us forget that you ever came.  

And then September came.  Parents, once more, went to our computers.  Our faces continuously illuminated by our screens.  What were the plans for school?  Were we to go back to online 'learning'?  Were we to risk our young to the threat that was still present?

Families separated.  Events cancelled.  Celebrations banned.  Children grouped and locked in classrooms to prevent the threat from getting access to that which is more precious to us than anything.  

There is so much you have taken from us.  You have taken our graduation celebrations.  You have stolen our March break camps and summer camps.  You denied us the pleasure of visits with family and friends.  You have broken down our communities and support networks.  

Or you think you have.  

You took our IN PERSON graduation celebrations.  But we erected signs.  We had Zoom calls.  We created and continued our schooling online and virtually.  Students 'snapped' more than before.  They Tik'd and Tok'd till the wee hours of the night.  You weren't able to take it from us.  

You stole our March Break camps and summer camps - but gave us more time with our children.  Our work sacrificed a little but our family relationships were strengthened, we connected, we drank the sunshine and giggled on the beach.  We found the happy and wonderous amid the chaos.  You weren't able to completely steal it from us.  

You denied us the pleasure of CLOSE visits with family and friends.  But we created drive-by parades.  We brought our instruments into the driveways and streets and stayed apart physically but together in hearts and minds.  We had window visits, Facetime calls, Zoom group calls - even a Zoom dinner date!  We would not be denied by you.  You weren't able to completely deny us.  

You broke down our communities and support networks - but we built new ones.  Acquaintances became close friends.  Friendships separated by geography now didn't seem too far apart - because the 'distance' was now all on the same level playing field.  We created virtual groups, we offered help to those in need.  We dropped groceries off to strangers, we offered solace to those under duress.  You could not break down our communities and support networks.  

You think you have won.  You think that after wave 1, wave 2 will destroy us.  We will get knocked down.  You may win a battle or two, but you will not win the war.  

We will continue to find the sunshine, the laughter, the joy, the adventures, the comradery.  

We will continue to go on.  You will not win.  Losing to us is just not an option.