I took this picture in Hawaii, on our first and last trip of the year. It was March and the first news of Covid-19, the novel coronavirus, was still sketchy at best. My gut said “stay home,” but as a group, we decided to go with whatever the travel recommendations were from the CDC.
I was the one tasked with doing the checking because I was the one most concerned. When I checked the CDC website, there weren’t any travel restrictions or recommendations unless travelers were heading to China. Those restrictions started coming the day after we landed.
We spent the whole trip with our planned activities either closing on the say we planned to do them, or the site planning to close the day after we visited — like it was chasing us. Only being with good friends made any of it tolerable. The things we didn’t know then.
The rest of the year felt the same way: Like we just needed to get over the horizon and we’d be safe. Just get back to the hotel. Just get through LAX. Just get home. Once we’re there, everything will be fine and then we could go back to normal.
That’s not what happened, though. By the time we got home, new challenges were navigating a world with masks, social distancing, essential workers, and Zoom meetings, to add to the challenges that already existed (some of which I had the privilege of never having to experience personally, like systemic racism, but other familiar ones, too, like our fractious society in general.)
Last year, it became evidently clear that the horizon is a moving target. By the time you’re to the point where you thought the horizon was, your perspective has changed. The next mark is set, but the goal of going “beyond” can never be attained.
Nothing can wait until we get around the next bend or over the horizon. The best anyone can do is adapt, keep moving, and make time for the things we want right now, however doing them in this present moment looks.
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