This past week marked one year since COVID-19 landed in the U.S. and changed everything.
A year ago, we were trying to get Erin home from Philadelphia, never imagining that she would spend 5 months in our basement doing online college, and that she'd still be going to school online 12 months later.
A year ago, the team of coworkers I worked most closely with were let go, and within weeks, myself and others were notified that we would be furloughed throughout the spring and summer months.
A year ago, Dan's company pulled the sales guys off the road and they still haven't returned to regular travel.
A year ago, we were hoping that we could shelter in place for a few weeks and stop the spread of the virus. Now 12 long months later, we are finally feeling some hope that life will be improving in the near future.
The past year has been filled with loss for sure. But our losses of normalcy are small, compared with the losses suffered by so many others. While Erin contracted COVID, she weathered it well and is now lucky enough to be fully vaccinated. Dan and I have jobs that allow us to work from home, so we have avoided the virus and now our vaccinations are underway. Both sets of parents - one in their 70s and one in their 90s - have stayed healthy. We are lucky.
With vaccinations underway and increasing rapidly across the U.S., it feels OK to be cautiously optimistic.
This week, Erin is finishing up a full year of online school. Not how college is meant to be, but she has persevered and is finishing her junior year coursework this week. She will spend the next 6 months doing her co-op experience, working in a brain injury clinic in Philadelphia as a diagnostic tech. One of the draws of Drexel was that co-op is built into the plan of study for all students. Erin is ready for the change of pace.
While so many plans and events were canceled this past year, we continued the work of our foundation and gave out scholarships to four deserving winners again in 2021.
Abby Wick, Katherine Thorvilson, Josh Hanson and Hayden Jones will carry on Shannon's spirit as the latest scholarship recipients. We're glad to have them on our team.
