The Pandemic Made Me Appreciate My Friends More

I always appreciated them, but now it’s different

Photo by Helena Lopes on Unsplash

Something about a three-year, endless pandemic makes you appreciate certain things “like friendship.” Here we were, hunkered down with our immediate families, in the fight of our lives versus this nasty COVID “SOB.” Seeing our friends became a very low priority on most people’s radar as we were all trying to survive.

I still know people who have not come back into the real world (whatever that is); granted, COVID still seems to be an ongoing concern. One such friend’s wife refused to leave the house and looked unfavorably upon him for “socializing” outside the home. The irony is she somehow came down with COVID, and he did not.

Was I a good friend before COVID? I like to think I was, but the honest truth is I could have put more effort in. Never was this more apparent than when we lost one of our friends in July of 2020. I still think about many missed opportunities to this day.

Finding things to do at home became more commonplace, with daily excursions taking a backseat. Meeting up with friends wasn’t the priority, as our immediate families became the number one concern. We all basked in the same misery bath which was our daily lives.

A saying I am starting to get sick of hearing, but seemingly becoming more true:

There is a light at the end of the tunnel!

I know this because I have seen larger groups of my friends, and I am craving more! Just a little bit of normalcy is being returned to us over time. In the past few weeks, I have crossed paths with my friends no less than three times, and I couldn’t be happier. That missing piece suddenly reintroduced to the puzzle has provided some sense of fulfillment. I took them for granted before and I will be damned if that continues afterward!

Photo by Chang Duong on Unsplash