Last Saturday, driving to work, I had tears in my eyes. I’ve been emotional about Gladys’ resignation the day before. Whatever you feel about politics, the fact is she’d been our constant companion through lockdown. And now she was gone.
I remembered 9/11 and how so many people couldn’t bring ourselves to turn off the TV during that day. Our eyes remained glued to the screens. It felt hard to switch off. We were in shock. We needed to somehow digest the indigestible. But I also think we couldn’t turn off the telly because it felt like cutting the string that tied us to all those people in New York.
So, regardless of your politics, Gladys did hold the rudder fairly steady for us over lockdown. She gave us a bit of clarity through the merkiness and some certainly in uncertain times.
And last week I felt cast adrift that she was suddenly gone from her captainsy and my emotions bubbled up from that.
But my tears were also in remembering what she had said at the start of the lockdown: that our shortest way out of lockdown was indeed, as the polies promoted, the vaccination route.
And my tears were of IMMENSE GRATITUDE TO ALL the local residents who have made that choice to roll up their sleeves. (Yes, I know vaccines aren’t for everyone. And I know it’s heated and divisive. And please, I don’t want to get in that discussion because I am feeling a bit exhausted by that topic these weeks.)
But I just want to say here, that the people who have made that choice to get vaxxed, I AM ENORMOUSLY GRATEFUL because it means we can all open up our small businesses again.
On behalf of all your small local businesses, THANK YOU.
And now sooner, the kids can get back to proper schooling and socializing.
We can all get back to seeing each other FOR REAL again!!!
Thank you, YOU ALL for being with us on this journey. For your warmth. And all your wonderful feedback on the classes which fed our souls and kept us going.
Thank you for BEING OPEN TO NEW WAYS of doing things and for COMING TOGETHER AS A COMMUNITY through this.
THANK YOU, dear teachers for being creative on zoom, and for getting vaxxed and helping us reopen, and in advance for teaching with masks.
THANK YOU, birds for your birdsong, louder in lockdown. And beaches, parks and walks, for being there for us.
THANK YOU, Northern Beaches. Seriously, could there be any better place to be in lockdown in the entire world?
And more practically but just as importantly,
THANK YOU, home shopping and all delivery drivers. You saved us.
THANK YOU, everyone who didn’t need to empty the supermarket shelves of toilet paper. In many ways, we all did lockdown better this time didn’t we?
THANK YOU, computers for giving us new possibilities and allowing us to come together in new inventive ways. Zoom classes also let us stay snoozing in savasana without having to wake up.
On that note, THANK YOU to the bloke who invented ZOOM as a way to see his long distance girlfriend. (It worked. She is now his wife)
I JUST LOVE THAT ZOOM WAS INVENTED FOR LOVE.
May romance never end!
Don’t forget to book ahead and see you ‘from Monday!
