Over the last couple of weeks, as life has slowly gotten back to some sense of normalcy, I have found myself beginning to forget what life was like just a few months ago. You remember, don’t you… having to wait in line to get into the grocery store because they were only able to accommodate a certain number of people at the time. Or not really being able to recognize people you know from behind the masks they were wearing, that is when you decided to venture out of your home…. even to just take a walk around your neighborhood.

 

All of the fear and angst I had felt these last several months has quickly dissipated as we continue to get further and further away from all of the restrictions we lived with. 

 

Take for instance how my family and I spent this past weekend. It started with having friends over for dinner, followed by the next day at a barbecue with my parents and a dip in their pool, and then the weekend concluded in the stands to watch my nephew play in his all-stars baseball game. All of this, without wearing a mask or being socially distanced. Each one of these would have been unheard of, not two months ago… and yet, it all felt normal. 

 

In fact, while I was doing each one of these activities, I completely forgot about the fact that we are still amid a worldwide pandemic, and there is a new strain of COVID that scientists fear is even more contagious than the previous variants.

 

Now mind you, my family and I are all fully vaccinated so that has helped us feel more comfortable doing the things we had normally done before COVID, but it still feels a bit odd that I am forgetting what life felt like not two months ago. I know that this is a normal, natural occurrence as I don’t remember how I felt at the moment I was going through something. But something as monumental and life-changing as the last almost year and a half has been… I kind of assumed it would stick with me longer. 

 

I just hope that I am able to continue appreciating being able to experience the things I missed during COVID so I don’t take them for granted like I know I used to. 

 

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On an entirely separate note, over the last week, many of us have been gripped by the news coming out of Surfside, following the devastating building collapse. Rescue crews from all over, including Israel, have been working nonstop trying to dig through the rubble to find and save those trapped. For those community members wishing to help, the Greater Miami Jewish Federation has established an emergency fund and you can make your donations by clicking this link - https://jewishmiami.org/gift/surfsidebuildingcollapse/. 100% of all of the donations received will be used to provide assistance to those affected.