Items

• 2024-07-23

  Ashley's Pandemic Adventures

  During the pandemic I learned that I am not the type of person to sit still especially after being laid off from work. I did things from kayaking for the first time in my life (not pictured), to renovating my house, building a garden and buying ducks and taking care of them. I also was still in school (online), so I did my homework when I wasn't doing anything else. Despite the pandemic stopping the world, I didn't let it stop me from doing things that were important. During the kayak trip, I came face-to-face with a water moccasin that I never saw (not even after I got out of the brush), then later down found out I paddled over a gator that I never noticed was in the water. I did see the one snake that I paddled under though and was terrified it was going to fall into my kayak *shudder*. Renovating my house was both cathartic and rejuvenating because it felt like I gave the house a new lease on life. We bought ducks out of fear that groceries would be harder to come by (we were going to eat the eggs don't worry). Unfortunately, a pack of coyotes got to them a few months later which was a bit traumatizing. This was about a week before I blew my tire on my way to work. These were signs that I should have quit the job I managed to get, but I never listened. My dog and cats helped me with my homework during all of this because study time is important to keep the brain active. I painted actual paintings, fixed one of them that needed to be updated. I planted a garden, and somehow grew a pumpkin patch that sadly never grew pumpkins. Later, towards the end of the year I saw a full rainbow, and the end of one landed in my backyard. I felt that this was a sign that things would be alright even if it seemed like it wouldn't be. No, I never went to the end of the rainbow because you should never trust leprechauns. I will say...the one thing I never got used to was wearing masks. I get claustrophobic if I can't feel like I have air...and the masks were quite suffocating. I still wore them, but definitely never like them.