Uh, how has it been five years since the start of COVID? It feels like the pandemic started a million years ago but also started just yesterday. But *checks Google calendar* it’s been only five calendar years or 1,825 days. And, folks, we made it?

Although today, March 11, was the day the WHO declared COVID a pandemic, my personal pandemic started two days later, on March 13. That’s when the university where I worked (and still work) decided that after the upcoming spring break the next week, the students would be sent home for the rest of the semester, and we would pivot to online classes. And shortly after, everyone in my department packed up their computers and headed home for the foreseeable future.

Earlier in that week, I was tasked with creating a Coronavirus website for the university, and my only request was not using that red germ that was being used to signify COVID. For the next, maybe almost two years, my boss and I were constantly posting updates on the website from the president, vice presidents, or on-campus health services. We also managed the weekly COVID dashboard that was published with positive test results for students, faculty, and staff. Boy, just writing that sounds really weird now, but every Friday morning, we’d hop on a Zoom and wait until the director of health services input the week’s numbers before making the dashboard live.

I worked from home in my bedroom while living with my parents, which was quite an adventure—mostly when my mom would yell down the hallway to me while I was on in a Zoom meeting. (I started putting post-its on my door with meeting times for the day.) I also did a lot of reading—84 books total that year—and a lot of running. I will never be in the same running shape as I was in 2020. I’ll admit I was scared by the pandemic, and I didn’t leave the house for those first few months. But I started doing some normal things again—with a mask on and lots of hand sanitizer —and things were okay.

I recently found my “Mask Basket” in my office closet in the condo and showed Josh all of the fabric masks my mom made during OG COVID. The masks were made with two different fabric patterns so they were reversible; many of them matched my work outfits, but others were seasonal or ice cream-related for when I went back to scooping in the fall of 2020. I’m not sure why I still have the basket, but you know, it doesn’t hurt to be prepared.

In the spring of 2021, my parents and I were able to get vaccinated; in Connecticut, it went by age, so my parents got theirs first, and then I got mine a little bit later on. But it was such a relief to know we were protected. Unfortunately, I did get COVID in June 2022, and Josh has also gotten it (prior to living in the condo with me); pretty much everyone I know has gotten it once (or twice), but, thankfully, neither of my parents have gotten it. *knocks on every single piece of wood in my condo* And we all get our boosters in the fall; Josh knows I require full vaccinations in order to continue this relationship.

While writing this post, I scrolled all the way back to 2020 to see my posts from that time. I remember writing so much and leaning on my online community here to get through the beginning of it. My mom and I did puzzles and took trips to the library, I watched a lot of Animal Planet, I explored the possibility of becoming a zoo keeper, and I questioned buying a 2021 planner. It’s great to have posts from that moment in time and see how things have changed since.

So, here we are five years later. In 2020, I thought we’d never make it out of that year—that it would forever be 2020 and a scary time to live. But things got better. I’m fortunate I was able to work from home during the beginning, and hey, thanks to COVID, working from home became more normalized, and I’m able to WFH full-time now with my current position. I still carry a hand sanitizer in all of my bags, and I have a handful of masks that I use on occasion (especially when I was sick after Christmas and went out in public).

This isn’t super related to COVID, but sort of? If you told 2020 me where I would be in 2025, I don’t think I’d believe you: living with my boyfriend of 3.5 years in a condo I purchased myself and working at the university full-time from home (after two promotions). I’ve run a bunch of 5K races, I have three tattoos, I’ve read so many books, heck—I’ve flown to Washington, DC and Cleveland, Ohio! All of that to 2020 me would seem insane!! But here we are.

I’d prefer not to live through another global pandemic. One was enough. We’ve all been scared, and I don’t think as a society we could handle another one—seriously.