Things I’ve Learned While Living Through a Pandemic

Life as we know it may never be the same. Who's to say what life will be like when we return to a "new normal."

I was on a two day trip that involved four different airplanes when the pandemic first reared its ugly head early last March. The airports were sparse, planes half empty, and masks were becoming a thing. I remember a flight attendant on one flight I took from Washington D.C. to LaGuardia saying, "There we're 54 people scheduled on the flight but only 19 people actually made it to the plane."

Little did we know how scary it would soon become. When I landed back in Birmingham, the airport was a ghost town. Soon after businesses start closing their doors and everyone was quarantining themselves in hopes of staying alive.

Here are a few thing I've learned since those flights.

1. Stay healthy! Take your vitamins, eat your veggies and fruit, make it hard for any pandemic to whoop you!
2. I will never be able to retire. Not because I don't make enough money or don't have savings but because I nearly drove myself crazy in the three weeks I was home alone with my cat. To all of you who have spent time hanging with me, I apologize if I've ever gotten on your nerves as bad as I did mine!
3. It is totally possible to put a mask on with one hand. You know you've had to do a hundred times at this point and we're all experts now!
4. I have become so comfortable wearing a mask that I sometimes forget I have it on. Just the other day I went to blow dust off of my table with my mask on. Don't laugh, you've done it too! I've also went to take a drink of something, again, to no avail. LOL
5. I've never realized how beautiful your eyes are. Now I know.
6. I don't feel like a freak anymore! I have never been afraid to wear a mask at the doctor's office or in Target during flu season. I've always been a germaphobe and cleansed my hands profusely. Sanitizer has been a part of my life for years. No one can label me a weirdo now because we're all weirdos!
7. I really love going to see live music. You never realize what you've got till it's gone as they say. The last show I saw was Lucero at Saturn in Birmingham. I'm normally not a big crowd kinda guy but I would stand shoulder to shoulder with you to see anyone perform at this point.
8. Love your people. Tell your people, whether they're friends or family, that you love them and show them. You never know what the next day will bring.

What have you learned since this all began? What was the last concert you went to? Let me know in the comments below.