Taking Stock

The middle of summer. Long weekend. Civic Holiday, Emancipation Holiday. Some of us are over half way through a summer course. Some are half way through the summer hiatus–whether that be work, or filling in the time (creatively) before September. 

It’s the weekend we usually spend with friends, family, at our favourite summer spots, when we pause and celebrate before taking stock and gearing up for what’s next.

Gearing up, for, well, what is next? Has our campus outlined about labs, sports, dorms, classes, transport, clubs? And how will that work? Will we be safe?  How will we pay for the year, the texts? Is our job safe, or can we find a job?

Will our kids be going to regular school, or only some of them, or none? How will that work? Will they be safe? Will their teachers be safe? Will our parents be safe? Will we be safe?

We are seven months into COVID-19, and do not know how many more until we can even project when normal might return–or what that normal might look like.

We live in a country and a time that has not seen this amount of uncertainty in our day-to-day lives for this length of time, and it  is not at all comfortable. Ours is not the generation that fought wars, made it through the Depression.

BUT, we are making it through. We have done this for seven months, five of them under almost surreal conditions. We have our days, our moments, just as our parents, grandparents and great-grandparents did. They did what they could do, and we are here because they did.

We are doing what we can do, adapting, adjusting, and making it through. Sometimes we make mistakes, sometimes we are afraid, and angry. Some of us mourn those who haven’t made it through, just as our parents, grandparents and great-grandparents did. 

This weekend we can acknowledge the fear when we feel it, cry if we need to, savour what is dear to us–family, connection, food, and celebrate the courage that keeps us going. How we lose our grit, then pick it up again.

Be safe, and endorse yourself for the many steps made, the many adjustments made, for accepting the missteps, and for just carrying on.

We will continue to make it through. 

That’s the stock I take; I’d like to hear from you [email protected]