One year ago today, the World Health Organization defined the spread of Covid 19 as a global pandemic. Here’s a note I shared with clients to mark the ‘anniversary’:

It’s been a year now, since the fear of infectious aerosols flowed through our daily experience in ways that changed the way we dressed, how we lived and how we died… 

My cursor has been blinking on the page for awhile now, as I try to figure out what to say about the last 12 months. Maybe that is a central challenge of the pandemic: learning how to communicate differently. I’m thinking beyond trying to understand what people are saying through their masks, and beyond the most well-used phrase of the pandemic: “you are muted”. 

Socialization has different slices of anxiety. More than a few of you have described bumping into friends in public and not knowing what to do or say. Mourning those who have passed is a real challenge. Celebrating births has new logistical demands and the challenges of childcare when guidelines demand isolation are enormous. Aging is even harder to address in the pandemic for those of all ages: from new borns to teens to the elderly. In sum, our experience of time passing is different.

It’s not all bad and I’m hopeful that many things will get better. A lot of people have pivoted towards great new beginnings. Some businesses, entire sectors and many individuals have flourished. Today I just want to note that how we “re-group” will have new configurations. And since it has been over a year that front line workers have had to deal with dangerous aerosols on a daily basis–alongside all the other stresses of pandemic life–I want to thank you very very much. I also want to thank those helping others with their mental health. Communication is a challenge in times of ‘social isolation’ so your work is as inventive as it is important.

On that note, we will all be riding our bikes outdoor soon. My wonderful daughter is in Vancouver where the cherry blossoms are out, and they will soon fall onto sidewalks where they will look, as George Bowering once noted, oddly like popcorn. Cycles and branching. Let’s stay in touch.