💉 when the storm quietly began

six years ago, on december 1, 2019, the first known case of what we now call covid-19 was recorded. nobody knew that a single diagnosis, something that was quiet, remarkable, barely noticed outside one hospital, would ripple outward and reshape the entire world as we see it. it didn't come with sirens, or headlines, or global panic right away though. it arrived softly, almost invisible. and then everything changed.

six years later, it is strange to look back and remember life before the masks, before lockdowns, before vaccines, before words like "social distancing" and "quarantine" became everyday language. we didn't yet understand how fragile normal could be, how quickly our routines, our relationships, and even the way we breathe around each other could shift overnight.

in the early months, we learned new definitions of distance and what what defined as close. we waved to each other through windows, we celebrated birthdays through video calls, and even graduated through car windows. we turned kitchen corners into classrooms, living rooms into offices, bringing our outside lives into our homes. many of us lost more than time. we lost loved ones, our health, and a sense of certainty. gone in ways no one was prepared to measure.

and yet, there was something else, too.

there were neighbors leaving groceries on doorsteps for the elderly or the immunocompromised. strangers coming together to sew masks by hand. students graduating with drive-by parades. families rediscovering their dinner tables. people cheering for healthcare workers out of their apartment windows. there was a new sense of global community. one that was scared and grieving, but hopeful. we were holding ourselves together in ways that only humans can.

today isn't just a date on a timeline. it is a remembrance of all that was taken away from us, and all that was carried forward. six years later, we remember, not to relive the fear, but to honor the lives changed, the lessons learned, and what humanity endured.

~ ☀️