It’s Memorial Day once more. This year promises to be very different from last year, but for the best possible reasons. The world just went through a serious struggle that cost thousands of people their lives and left thousands more reeling. Sadly, that’s something veterans know all too well.
As someone who has veterans in his family, including some who actively served in real conflicts, I can attest to the heart and strength of those who serve. It takes a special kind of soul and a special kind of patriotism to make that effort. Conflicts come and go. Times change and politics evolve. However, it is usually the soldiers and their families who bear the greatest burden.
To all those who have served in the United States military and the families of those who paid the ultimate price for their sacrifice, I sincerely thank you. I hope you do something special to celebrate your service and your sacrifices today.
This is usually the time of year when I celebrate the end of winter. For months, I’ve dealt with cold days, long nights, and a frustrating inability to comfortably wear flip-flops when walking around my neighborhood. At this point, I’m ready for warm weather. I’m downright eager for it.
However, this is not a usual year. I still remember vividly how, around this time last year, I was making ambitious plans for the summer. I knew where I wanted to go, who I wanted to visit, and what I wanted to do during the hottest days of summer. This is fairly typical for me.
Then, the pandemic hit and I don’t think I need to remind everyone of how that messed up my plans.
Needless to say, a lot of plans in 2020 got messed up. Plenty of plans in 2021 have been disrupted as well. However, there is legitimate hope that we are turning the tide against this pandemic. We have multiple vaccines being implemented all over the world and more are likely to arrive in the coming months.
The end of this pandemic is in sight. I’m trying to take comfort in that. I really am.
After last year, though, I just can’t bring myself to be that optimistic. I had my hopes and spirit crushed repeatedly last year. I missed out on opportunities and big family events that still break my heart to this day. I can never get those moments back.
I still want to try to create new moments this year, but a lot has to go right for that to happen and after last year, I’m not ready to make such lofty assumptions. The less-than-efficient vaccination efforts have already done plenty to disappoint.
Even so, the trend lines for the pandemicare going in the right direction, for the most part. We can say with a straight face that the worst is behind us. That doesn’t mean the end will come as soon as we want.
Then, there’s the matter of new variants to the virus. That, more than anything, has me concerned about making summer plans. If just one of those variants proves to be a problem, then everything would be set back considerably. We might not be back at square one, but we would be pretty damn close.
So far, it does appear that the vaccines are effective against these new variants. The key term there is “so far.” If we learned anything last year, it’s that things can change very quickly and go horribly wrong in the span of a day.
I don’t want that to happen.
I hope it doesn’t happen.
It may still happen and a part of me can’t help but brace for that.
I still want to make plans for this summer. I want to go to the beach, go to the movies, visit friends and family, go to a baseball game, and enjoy a family barbecue at some point. Even if I can’t do everything I hope to do, I’d like to be able to do some of it.
I hope the world is healed enough by then to make that possible.
I hope everyone else gets a chance to make summer plans as well. We’ll just have to wait and see, once again hoping for the best while bracing for the worst.
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