Here we are going into season 3 of covid strong and ‘celebrating’ our second pandemic holiday season. Our little province has done well through most of the time but a poorly thought out self congratulatory university event has us pulling numbers that are on par with the worst numbers nationally since this has all begun. Right now in Nova Scotia it’s as real as it’s ever been. Though it’s still to early to see how our really high vaccination rate, good adherence to the rules and strong public health guidelines do this time. It’s gotten us all thinking about how the last two years have gone and wondering how much longer.
In the USA 1 in 400 have died and I think we’ve all been touched. Even here we have friends that have been forever touched by Covid. We’ve all had to skip things and adjust our lives to these new normals. While some have suffered more all of us have had some suffering. That said… as we enter another round and the holiday season I think it’s time to think about any upsides or at the very least count your blessings. Not that I’m saying that any of this has been ‘worth it’ but rather those silver linings can help in the darkest moments. Even if the nicest thing you can say is that you didn’t get divorced or you perfected cooking for yourself that’s something.
So I guess I’ll go… We work in construction and home improvement generally. It was pretty nice to be recognized as essential although I’ll be the first to say its comparatively a pretend essential. It was also a field that let us keep working safely. We did put some jobs off due to pandemic circumstances but there was lots of demand so that was a pretty great relief. That first year of no races, lead to no running (which sucked) but that meant I got to launch a side hustle into a full fledged business in way less time. We didn’t have to adjust our lifestyles often or in a big way beyond a nice sit down meal at the end of a long day but we got through it just the two of us pretty dang easily. I know that wasn’t the case for many so I’m grateful for that. When it comes to running and that aspect of my life most of a year off from it made me realize just how important it really is to me which was eye-opening. And last but not least if it wasn’t for the pandemic there is no way I ever would have had a Boston Marathon medal hanging on my board right now. I probably would have tackled the distance eventually but having ‘run Boston’ for my first one feels pretty special.
As hard as it is to do and even though we are entering into the frustrated forever zone focusing on the positive is never a bad idea. Our Christmas changed a lot this year compared to what we would have done but that’s okay. Certain traditions were skipped, the celebration dinner at our house was skipped entirely and some shopping had to be skipped. Hopefully we’ll be able to blow the roof off this joint next year but if not there will be blessings this year too. I hope that all of you have some silver linings at the end of 2021 and that your holidays were still happy and safe! See you in the new year!
Sweat Sweetly 
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