On this day last year, Annie was with friends at Death Valley. Many of my friends and some classmates were in Las Vegas attending the West Coast Conference tournament.
In Italy, churchgoers were still going to church but getting initial practice at "social distancing" when pews had been replaced by chairs set far apart.
We hadn't yet thought about the importance of hoarding toilet paper.
Our minds were on the ZAGS and how they would do in the WCC championship.
It's nice to have this blog and look back at history.
As I scrolled through March 2020 this morning, I saw a picture of half a dozen different colored masks.
I also saw a curve explaining what needed to happen if we were going to get control of this new and horrifying disease called Covid 19.
I saw photos of people gathering at various events, and then, as the month wore on, I saw pictures of a lot of birds and other animals and even a reminder of the first Friday night take-out dinner.
Bill and I had gone to ServaBurger, while my sisters went to McDonalds. We met at the City Pier, ate and talked from one pickup to another.
I took another photo that night as we rolled off from Bridge Street to First Avenue. Downtown Sandpoint was empty and eerie.
On various blog postings, I saw memes, dealing with the new strange and uncertain times, including this observation by my friend Glenn:
Due to Corona, we officially have three days of the week:
1. Yesterday
2. Today
3. Tomorrow
And, this one from my friend Chris Pietsch:
Well, folks, just call me "Banana Bulldog" this morning.
Speaking of food, this time last year marked a dramatic uptick in the urgent need for donations to food banks across the country.
That hasn't changed in a year. Hopefully, with the passage of the stimulus bill, it may change for the better.
This week marks a year's time since our fast-moving awareness that we were in for one of the scariest, most uncertain ride of our lives.
When the West Coast Tournament ended, the ZAGS were supposed to be bound for the Big Dance.
The Dance for 2020 was cancelled, along with a multitude of other events, worldwide, nationwide, regionally, statewide, locally and even inside homes where families, like ours, met together in living rooms for what would be the last time in a year.
In those gatherings, after conversation and speculation of what was coming, countless big, exciting family adventures were cancelled.
Did we have any idea at the time that we would not be seeing each other in these settings for months on end? Nope.
Easy and a lazy tactic to say this morning that the rest is history cuz to try to summarize all that's happened since this March week last year would take a book.
So, here we are back in March, looking toward spring and, at this house, focusing on the WCC Tournament and the ZAGS and the Big Dance, which is gonna be pretty quiet this year.
At least, it's happening!
For that we are grateful.
Being able to look toward March Madness 2021 and the Big Dance signals to us that the dark year of Pandemic uncertainty and sadness is ending with the promise of better times ahead.
We must be careful; we must be sensible, and we must never forget what we as a people have endured, what has been lost but also what has been gained in our respective perspectives.
Maybe this March will not be fraught with SO MUCH SADNESS and so much adjustment to a type of living and dying that caught us all by surprise.
Hopefully, most of us have grown a bit internally from this cruel lesson. Maybe we look at the wonders of life differently during this March.
Maybe we can also look at the glories of times past, like busy birds of spring and the people we love and the traditions of this time of year---yes, March Madness.
AND, this year we can rejoice with an enlightened passion like never before because the past year may have taught us to never ever again take for granted such simple joys.
Happy Monday.
GO, ZAGS! Let's dance!
ZAGS vs St. Mary's Gaels
6 p.m. PST
ESPN
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