Last night, at my Greensburg Toastmasters meeting, I spoke about what things were like during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Downtown areas felt like ghost towns, and commuting on the Parkway was a breeze. Shopping malls were closed and events and weddings coming up were also canceled. You could still have a ceremony, just not a big one. Due to the spread of the virus, it was recommended to stay at home and stay safe.
For me, the layoff was just one of the major turning points I’d deal with over the next year. Eventually, I would be exiting my old job but that wasn’t on my mind in the spring of 2020. While working at Giant Eagle and hospitals meant you were an essential worker, I was non-essential at WIS.
While we were on orders to socially distance, stay at home, and wear a mask whenever we went out, it was also important to know that not everything was canceled. This made up most of my speech.
My speech started out on a down note but talking about those things that weren’t “cancelled” made it very uplifting. The only thing missing from my speech was some animated gestures. I was given the option to redo this, as the same project or as a different one. If I give it at Laurel Highlands, I’ll substitute some of those terms for things not cancelled (thinking Cheesecake is not cancelled).
During that time, I thought about what could have been. We all did. No one expected this to come and do the damage that I did. I spent a few those days early in the COVID lockdown making multiple road trips to Ligonier and even Johnstown and the Hiram G. Andrews Center. Summer was dramatically altered, though we didn’t feel it quite as much at home.
I found shows to keep my occupied. During the pandemic, the Office was one of the most viewed shows on Netflix, thus making the former show popular once again. I started Gilmore Girls before the pandemic, so I was well into the show’s seven year run by the time everything shut down in March. When Toastmasters suspended in-person meetings, I attended meetings online through Zoom. Some of those were Cranberry High Noon and Earlybirds. Others included Next Step, Dawn Patrol, and North Hills. I also took part in the meetings doing Table Topics. Our contest season ended with the area 23/24 contest in Oakmont on March 7 as the next week all hell broke loose. We soon learned that all divisional contests and the District conference were going to be postponed. I started a Financial Peace University course through my church the week that everything shut down (I even planned to drive myself to Boardman and Hermitage for work events just to attend this event in the evening). It would be postponed for at least the two weeks that Cornerstone was closed so that the facilitators could figure out how to run the course online. We returned to a condensed version of the program in April, doubling up lessons if we had to in order to meet the deadline.
To quote Dave Ramsey, this was a time in our lives when we lived like no one else. Unfortunately, it wasn’t for good in the Spring of 2020.
Closing off this blog, I’ll be starting my Stars Hollow Rewatch after Easter and will do all seven seasons once again. Will I enjoy it knowing what I know now? I also plan to have a list ready for watch for holidays and Fall. At least this time, I’ll watch it during the Fall unlike 2020 when I started in Winter and finished in the Summer with the Day in the Life. Maybe I’ll watch the four-part mini series on Black Friday. I plan to start Kelly Bishop’s memoir and reread Talking as Fast as I Can around Conference Week as well. I might even watch a few episodes of the show at Cutie’s (headphones in) or in the Little Stars Hollow I like to call Ligonier (or another perfect Hallmark town).
The Monday after the Spring Conference marks the return of the Cutie’s Bible Study and I am definitely looking forward to it.
Stylish 🍒 