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Family: Patiently waiting for pandemic to be over

Another week lies before us.
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Another week lies before us.

For myself and for many Albertans, I am sure its another week of waiting and watching.

Waiting for the numbers to drop.

Waiting for our ‘new normal’ to go back to ‘almost normal.’

I realize there are about a million and one ways to entertain oneself and keep busy regardless of what is going on in the outside world.

But, oh, I miss them.

The people!

It is not that I want to throw huge parties that linger on into the wee hours of the morning.

It is not that I even care if my doorbell rings each and every day.

But I can’t help thinking how wonderful it would be if those activities were options.

One thing this pandemic has taught us is the sad, but true fact that it is much easier to appreciate something when it’s gone.

So many freedoms we all just took for granted, forgetting how fortunate we were.

But now that we do not have them, we want them back.

And pronto.

We want to go golfing with whoever we want to go golfing with. We want to go out and eat. We want to invite people over and we do not want to social distance from them.

We want to hug them.

But unfortunately, there is that unwritten rule that seems to come back to haunt us more often than not.

“You don’t always get what you want.”

With all the wants and freedoms that the pandemic has temporarily taken away, it is so easy to lose sight of what we do have.

We are not living in a war-torn country. We do not wake up each day fearing for our life or the lives of our loved ones.

Most of us do not know what it is like to go to bed hungry.

Most of us have no idea what it would be like to live without a telephone, a computer and all the modern amenities that keep us all connected even during a time such as this.

We have the freedom of worship and even if traditional church services have been temporarily put on hold, there are no rules governing an individual’s spiritual life.

And the seriously fortunate ones among us can enjoy good health.

How blessed we are to be able to move freely and wake up each day with strength and energy.

So, when I think about the inconveniences that we are compelled to live with for the sake of the bigger picture, in comparison to the freedoms we do have, I am truly humbled.

But, still, being the privileged human being that I am, there are times when I forget to be grateful, and I just want my less than perfect self to be living back in the less than perfect world that existed before the pandemic.

But I will wait. Just like everyone else. I will wait.

Treena Mielke is a central Alberta writer. She lives in Sylvan Lake with her family.