Four Years

It's clear that the pandemic has not only messed with people's lives and messed with how we now do business, but it's also messed with time.

It's bad enough that COVID killed so many people, and those it didn't kill has left many, including myself, with long-term affects, some which may never go away. My lungs, I am certain and my specialist suspects, are a result of my exposure to the virus in 2022. I have a niece, who came down with COVID at the start of the pandemic, and who has permanent damage to her young heart.

Countless businesses suffered during the pandemic or outright collapsed. So many bricks-and-mortar shops couldn't compete with online retailers, and perished.

And many people to this day, myself and DW included, continue to work from home. I imagine I'll retire without having to clear out my office desk: I'll just have to return my laptop.

Time seems to have been affected by the pandemic, too. At least, from my perspective.

Things that I think happened long ago have actually happened within the last four years. When I think of travel, and my most recent vacations—twice to Mexico, to Cuba, to Portugal, and even this year's trip to Costa Rica—they seem like distant memories.

And yet, when I think of our two cats, Cece and Finn, I can't help but think it was just yesterday that we added them to our family. Our third cat, Camille, seems like she's been here forever, yet we got her in 2018, two years before we even knew about COVID.

But Cece and Finn have been with us for four years. They're our COVID cats, adopted in late October, 2020.

Maybe, because we've been working from home and spending so much time at our house, with the cats around us all the time, it seems like time has slowed down. Maybe, because Cece is still a tiny peanut, we feel she's just a wee kitten.

She's certainly the smallest adult cat we've ever had.

And yet, at other times it seems like it's hard to remember a time when we didn't have these siblings, adopted from a friend's farm, in our lives. I certainly can't picture a day without one of them jumping on my at-home work desk, looking for my attention.

Or lying on my lap as I watch TV.

Yes, time, like so many other things, has been messed up because of the pandemic. Is it four years already, or is it only four years?

Whatever, time doesn't matter. But these two, four years later, do.

Oh, and let's not forget about Camille, who also makes our house complete.