On New Year's Day, I like the feeling of the clean slate. I want to begin the year with hope. But more than ever, I have the sense of relief that the old year is gone.
We survivors share a sense of loss. So many of us have lost loved ones. Life will never be the same for those families.
But we have lost the feeling of a quick closure to the pandemic. The vaccine offered such hope. But the vaxxed can still get sick, still spread the disease. It's not the silver bullet after all.
And now the pandemic has brought us cancelled flights, rising prices, long waits at restaurants, longer family separations, school quarantines, rescheduled sports events, and cancelled concerts. After Broadway finally reopened, they quickly shut down again. We never know when to mask up. It changes day-to-day.
But we survived. And now it's 2022.
Let's dare to hope again. We can adapt. We can recalibrate. We can find a way.
Let's do more than survive this year. Let's thrive. And the key to thriving is love.
