Prem Menon: Pandemic Side Effects

The continuing lock-down has people developing new habits and missing old ones. Prem Menon has this Perspective

I close the door of my car, fight the traffic, and arrive home from a tough day at work. I’ve had meetings all day and have not checked the news. Our city, state, country and the world is in a state of panic.

As I watch it, a million thoughts go through my head. Who will watch the kids? Will I really have to sit at home? Do we have enough stuff in our pantry? Maybe tomorrow morning everything will be back to normal? I follow the news from all outlets and social media. I can’t seem to decipher fake news from real news. All I hear about are people dying.

I come to grips that it could be months before kids can go back to school. I make a grocery trip to stock up and get whatever I can. “We won’t run out of food, ”I tell myself. It’s a roller coaster of emotions.

As the lock-down continues, I adjust to seeing my wife and kids all day but not seeing my work family. A month goes by and everyone at home has gotten into a rhythm. I find myself playing games with my kids in the middle of the day. Lunch becomes a fun ritual. I get to know the names of my kid’s teachers. I know more about my kids than I ever knew before.

Everyone has adjusted to the new normal. I imagine that when it ends, and all the panic and sense of danger dies down, I will make my way back to my work family. Some folks may have changed. They perhaps grew a beard or changed the color of their hair. The work day would progress through our masks and with social distancing. It would be good to be back and to have a semblance of normalcy.

When I arrive home after a long work day, a few thoughts cross my head; that it was good to see my family at work, but also that I missed my wife and kids all day. A photo reel of the past 12 weeks plays in my head and I realize that I created priceless and everlasting memories when the world was under lock-down. It was the lock-down that brought my family and community together and that is one of the positive side effects of this pandemic.

With a Perspective I’m Prem Menon.

Prem Menon works on getting Alexa into cars and lives in the East Bay.