April 17, 2022

From Sharon:

For me, this was about acknowledging the anger I have felt these last 5 yrs. My children were 1 and 4 years old when the pandemic started. Nwo in year six of the pandemic, and as a family who has continued to mask indoors and in crowds outdoors, reflecting on the feelings—actually, not just the feelings but the reality of so many friends, acquaintances, society at large, our government, even our public health institutions who pushed to end masking and who created the illusion that this pandemic was over has created a lot of different emotions in me—the first being anger. But I have also felt connection and relief connecting w/those who also continue to live in reality and are COVID conscious and competent. I feel appreciation & pride for friends who make sure to test and mask w/out me having to ask. I feel thankful that the knowledge shared by the COVIDing community at large in regards to precautions, testing, air quality & filtration, mask recommendations, etc., have helped to keep me and my family safe for all these years. We still have a lot of uncertainty in front of us but I am happy to say that even though I still have anger, that my anxiety about the unknown has diminished b/c these last five years have taught me that b/c of our community we have the ability to keep each other safe, to support one another, to provide for each other as a community should.

Thank you for the opportunity to contribute to this project. It was deeply meditative and thoughtful for me and provided a lot of much needed reflection. (3/20/2025)