Last Friday was the last day of the third quarter.
I flashed back to last year. I do remember exactly what I was doing on the last day of the third quarter. It was a graphic arts class. I've covered this teacher's classes before, so it was a fairly typical day in her class. It was so typical that I didn't even blog about it.
It was also the last in-person school day we had.
That whole week had been odd. Morning announcements told us of cancelled events due to the approaching COVID. They got rid of reusable restroom passes and they gave each classroom new disinfectants.
We were all walking on eggshells.
I remember leaving school that day. I had three assignments scheduled for the next week. I told the secretary I'd see her Monday. She had just gotten word another nearby district had closed. She wondered if we would see each other on Monday.
She was right.
After I got home I got word. The governor had issued orders that everything, including schools, needed to close. I got an email from the district as well as a phone call from the sub caller.
It's amazing to think it's been a year. The nerves. The worry. The new normal.
I think from now on, the end of the third quarter will bring up these memories. Where were you one year ago?
I was at work at my office work desk. We were all walking on eggshells, too, especially as I worked in an office building and used elevators, shared bathrooms, etc. daily. One year ago today, a woman from our IT department showed up unannounced at my desk at my office job and said "take a picture of the back of your computer; we are sending you home now and you need to know how to reconnect your computer". That was at about 9:36 am (I know, because I still have the pictures I took of the back of my computer on my phone.) We thought it was going to be maybe for a month or so. Not!
ReplyDeleteI mentioned this to the 9th graders, and they pointed out that we were told we were closing for three weeks. Ah, how naïve we were.
DeleteWe were sent home because ‘the office will be closed for the next two weeks.”
ReplyDeleteSounds familiar.
DeleteHow frustrating. ~sigh~ We were pretty much in the same place a year ago. It's a blessing that we are retired recluses. :) Best wishes, my dear.
ReplyDeleteBut you still went out in the before times. Sometimes. It'll be nice when that comes back.
DeleteIt's crazy that it's been a year already!
ReplyDeleteIt has definitely been a crazy year. Our last day in the office was Friday, 3/13/20. Most of my coworkers work a flex schedule, so there were only a few of us there. They had us calling and texting everyone to get emergency contact information (I'm still not sure why that was a thing). It was just weird doing that. One of my co-workers had turned 40 that week, and I had decorated his office with balloons, confetti, streamers, etc. It was almost surreal standing in an office filled with party stuff and talking about a pandemic and when we might see each other again.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if the party stuff is still there. Has anyone been back since?
DeleteI agree.. it'll be years before we stop thinking about were we were when we found out.
ReplyDeleteToday last year (20th March 2020), Australia's border closed (and hasn't reopened, and won't until at least October this year). On March 24th we started lockdown in the ACT (the territory where I live). We were the first to lockdown, but over the next 10 days, the rest of the countries states and territories went into lockdown as well.
ReplyDeleteWe locked down early and hard, because it's autumn here and colds were running rampant (as they are again this year).
March 25 will be one year since India imposed its one and only one lockdown. It lasted over two months. Then there would be a series of graded "unlocks" over seven to eight months.
ReplyDeleteMy team hasn't been to office since then. Never one could believe that newspaper pages could be made in journalists' houses in different parts of the country; or news broadcast studios could be set up in living rooms!
Now, India is seeing what looks like a second wave. Numbers are slowly but steadily rising. But life in India is near old-normal.
One year ago, there was fear. Now, many are less fearful.
Because of economic considerations, the governments are wary of re-imposing lockdown. But I won't be surprised if the governments have to.
Many are saying -- God forbid -- it will be 2020 all over again, but in a less intense manner. Because, until the last virus remains on earth, we are -- theoretically -- unsafe. And it will take many years for the human race to be totally free of this virus.
A grim picture, sadly.
I already worked from home so no change there. But I remember that feeling of unreality as if the world was "switched off." And then how it became normal over the weeks and months.
ReplyDeleteIt is crazy that is already one year past and I don't know where. I remember last year on 11th we close everything, you remember last day and last class that you have. I think that will be something that we remember whole our life.
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It's amazing how unremarkable that day was at the time.
DeleteIt boggles the mind, doesn't it? Already just over a year now. I had a mammogram on March 10, 2020, and we knew the virus was coming. Nobody wore masks then, but I used hand sanitizer three times while I was there, and we all sat six feet apart in the waiting room. It wasn't crowded. How naive we were then, thinking it was mostly on surfaces. My husband and I (both retired) went out to lunch that same day. Inside a restaurant. Haven't done that since. Also haven’t had a mammo yet this year. Hoping to get the vaccine first.
ReplyDeleteI hope you're up for the vaccine soon. I remember before masking, too. So glad I didn't catch it then.
DeleteThings at this time last yr was NUTS....totally NUTS. Once I have that second shot things will be great. I still wear my mask after the first shot cause you can still get it but your chances are lower.
ReplyDeleteIt'll be so nice to have that worry off our chests. Then we still have to wait for everyone else to get their shots, too.
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