As we put the finishing touches on a recent edition of Tire Business, I paced on my porch while talking on the phone. My 5-year-old daughter tapped on the glass then opened the door and inquired, "Would you like to come to a fashion show?"
I muffled the phone against my chest, and quietly said, "Of course I do."
If there is one silver lining in this whole pandemic, it's that I am now able to attend many more fashion shows.
Living through something as heavy and terrifying as a global pandemic is hard to wrap your head around. It's very sad to hear people have died or lost a family member. It's tough to learn that someone lost his or her job.
Certainly, if you play a game of "what if this happens?" in your head, you can go down a dark road full of worry and paranoia.
But if you have the right perspective, it's not as hard as you'd think to stay positive and have the mentality that, "We'll get through it. We always do."
At least, that's what I keep telling myself.
Everyone is giving each other a lot of space right now. Here in Northeast Ohio, everything has slowed down a lot. The last time I went to the grocery store, I didn't come within 15 feet of another person (self-checkout).
So much has changed in the last two months.
We celebrated my father's birthday with a dinner attended using video meeting platform Zoom. Also, everyone knows what Zoom is now.
Two months ago, I was in a busy international airport and saw maybe 20 people wearing face masks. A few days ago, my wife was sewing some for the whole family.
At the Tire Business office in early March, we were instructed to pick a day where everyone would work from home to test out if we were actually able to get everything done. We picked the next Friday. On Monday of that week, everyone was ordered to start working from home. Instead of preparing, we were thrown into it.
It all escalated so quickly.
I feel fortunate that I am able to work from home, though it's been an adjustment. Sometimes it's hard to focus on work when my daughters want me to draw with them. Other times it's hard to focus on Play-Doh when I need to work.
We are living in one of those generational moments that no one who lived through it will ever forget.
I wonder what memories my 5-year-old will have of this time, and how I will fill in the blanks when she's older? I could talk statistics of cases and deaths. I could talk about the very difficult tightrope-walk of depressing the coronavirus without ruining the economy.
Of course, what I'll probably tell her is that every day of the pandemic, she woke up and put on her prettiest, most elaborate dress. She would style her hair, grab her purse and plop down in front of the TV to eat a bowl of cereal and watch cartoons.
Basically, I will tell her that she handled the pandemic with class.
The silver lining I pull from this experience is the time I have gotten with my wife and kids. It has taught me what really matters: That if I have my girls by my side, we can face anything.