Upsides of the Pandemic
In 2017, my husband and I moved back to the U.S. after living overseas for fifteen years. We still traveled to Europe and Africa most years to visit our daughter and friends in foreign countries, until Covid lockdowns stopped us in our tracks. Unable to leave the US for two and a half years, we didn’t get to see our daughter—who lived outside of London and had a baby—since the pandemic began. We didn’t go to restaurants in the first year of Covid, nor did we go to theatres, concerts, or other crowded venues. Hardest of all, we couldn’t get together with extended family members for several years.
Sunset over Seattle. Photo courtesy of Unsplash.
In spite of restrictions on gatherings and travel, a few upsides to the pandemic occurred to me. I turned inward in some senses and reflected more—on my own mortality and that of others close to me as well as strangers who were sick and dying. Since I didn’t have to rush off to work or get distracted by outside activities, I slowed down and carefully considered what to do each day; what to cook in the upcoming week, for example, and how to get groceries safely.
My partner and I put more thought into planning and preparing meals, and as a result we savored them more. Because I went shopping in the early morning once a week when few people were around, I got to know the man who ran the fish counter at our grocery store. We could talk since he wasn’t besieged by other customers and I wasn’t in a hurry to do multiple errands. It was a Zen way of approaching each activity in a day, mindfully and without rushing through it.
Mount Rainier in the distance.
We turned inward in other senses and no longer planned trips overseas. Instead, we took driving vacations to small towns in other parts of Washington, moseying along the coast and through the Cascades. We’re fortunate to have extensive state parks and wilderness areas within an hour’s drive (or two) of Seattle.
I got into better physical shape by hiking in the mountains, taking long walks, and swimming in local lakes when gyms and pools were closed. We discovered a half-dozen swimming spots within striking distance of home, along with new bike trails and footpaths. When my yoga studio started offering classes online, it encouraged me to practice regularly. And my garden looked lusher after all the hours I spent planting and tending it.
I reached out more to extended family members and friends via Zoom, and really meant it when I asked, “How are you doing?” Because it mattered more that loved ones stayed well, emotionally and physically, and I worried when someone got ill since the virus was killing hundreds of thousands worldwide.
I read more and listened to audiobooks on solitary walks each day. I wrote a lot too, having fewer outside activities and distractions that ate up my time. I finished a memoir that will be published in the fall of 2023 called Circling Home: What I Learned By Living Elsewhere. It’s a personal account of our expat lives in very different countries—from Ivory Coast in west Africa and Tanzania in the east to Switzerland, Atlanta, and other US cities in between. It includes lessons I learned about resilience when making myself at home in foreign countries and about connecting with people who were unlike me; and how growing up overseas marked my children.
The pandemic kick-started a time of reflection that continued as we eased into normal public interactions and travel again. We traveled to London and finally got to see our daughter, her partner James, and their baby Willow Grace, the biggest gift of all to come out of the pandemic.
