We have entered the tornado, prom, carnival mishap, and medical waste and face masks washing up on beaches season. Proms have returned this spring I know for sure because I read the story of the racist promposal on my show recently. Out of Minnesota students held up a sign that said “If I was Black I’d be picking cotton, but I’m white so I’m picking you Prom?” I guess the prom theme there is “Civil Unrest.” I hope carnivals return this summer because I’ve missed the stories of spinning rocket ships tethered to a post and then breaking away from the ride because the cable attaching it was the size of an ankle bracelet. Speaking of tornadoes emerging from Covid will have the same feel of coming out of your basement after a twister has raked your area. When you poke your head out some things will be permanently gone, slightly damaged, off kilter, etc. The pandemic has shuttered some businesses forever, eliminated jobs and definitely changed how we will go about our business in the short/long term. The closest comparison is 9/11 but that is a stretch because nothing shut down after the attack like we shut down this past year. Ok, planes didn’t fly for a couple days but everything else remained open even though it took people a number of weeks to feel somewhat comfortable to be in public places but even that fear mostly drifted away within a few months. That whole “everything is going to be different from now on” that was being echoed on 9/12 went into the ether in about 6 weeks. Coming out of Covid will definitely leave some scars but how permanent will they be? Are we anxious to be back in crowds, are we looking forward to bumper to bumper traffic on a daily basis, do you want to “dress up” again and leave the house to go to restaurants? Six months into the lockdown we wanted to go back to “normal” but over 12 months in we’ve settled into some patterns that seem kinda nice. How much have you missed going to movie theatres, concerts, sporting events, etc? Will you feel too exposed without a mask in public because you don’t know who got vaccinated and who didn’t. Whenever you give people an excuse or reason to try something new out it’s not uncommon that what they were doing before will go by the wayside. Now in 6 months Hurricane Covid’s destruction might start to fade if our recovery keeps accelerating like it is as I write this. Time as they say heals everything. However, if we get back to pre-covid activity soon and in the middle of summer I’m walking down a crowded street and someone’s sweaty exposed arm brushes up against my non-sweaty arm I’ll wish for the days when I was home all day everyday walking around in sweatpants and ordering from Amazon and then at 5 o’clock say “oh it’s time for a cocktail.” I will at that moment then refer to Covid 19 as the good ol’ days.

Gunga, galunga
Garry