Items
Date is exactly
2021-06-06
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2021-06-06
My Reverse Homecoming
The first trip my wife and I took after the COVID travel restrictions were lifted was a doozy. Our first flight in over a year was a three-hop journey from our small Montana town to Alaska for an old friend’s wedding. With a six-month-old. On our laps. The whole time. My wife and I had our first round of vaccines but worried about our daughter, who was still far too young to have a dose. After much risk assessment and consultation with our pediatrician, we decided to go for it. Mask wear was strictly enforced on the airplane and in most of the public places we found ourselves, and there was a profound and somewhat discomforting sense that we and our fellow travelers were searching for a way to exist comfortably in this new not-yet-maybe-never-post-COVID world. The thing I remember most, though, was how incredibly freeing it felt to be somewhere new again. So much time spent at home, however necessary, had inflicted an unhealthy solitude on much of society, and my first time solidly stepping away from that felt energizing. I’ve always loved to travel and doing so after the darkest days of the pandemic felt like a happy return to form. A reverse homecoming, if you will. -
2021-06-06
HIST30060 Makeshift gym
Exercise became a large part of my life in the pre-pandemic world. It assisted me in maintaining good mental and physical health whilst I navigated university life, work life and social life. I signed up to a gym and regularly attended group fitness sessions. Having found this therapeutic outlet, my anxiety flared up when gyms were closed at the start of the pandemic. I think that many people, like me, would have struggled with the inability to undertake their fitness regimens – for social, physical or mental health purposes – during the pandemic. My Dad was also one of these people – he went out and bought a home gym for us to use (which we crammed into our spare room). In 2021, I thought the pandemic was over, however was still very appreciative of the set of dumbbells I received for my birthday. Sure enough, we were back into a lockdown soon after. Thank goodness for those dumbbells – they’ve kept me sane, more than I’d like to admit! -
2021-06-06
Pandemic Thanksgiving
Our first pandemic thanksgiving