A beautiful morning in Florida, even here in tropical climates there is seasonal change, however small compared to the northern/southern extremes. The sun feels stronger, warmer, the sky a lighter blue than the thicker, deeper sky of winter. The windows are open, I have a vase filled with a generous bouquet of daffodils. I’ve always welcomed spring, time for rebirth and newness.
It’s been a year since the COVID-19 pandemic uprooted our lives. On March 11 2020 the World Health Organization declared it a global pandemic. At work I was in a weeks of uncertainty about working remotely, there was a company-wide email from the CEO a few days earlier about this, some team managers interpreted this as an immediate directive, other teams (like mine) met to discuss options and preferences.
All of us were thinking this would be a matter of weeks or a couple of months; we all expected to be back in the office by May. We quickly threw together shared “checkout” spreadsheets for office items taken home (monitors, chairs, docking stations…), work schedules since some parents now had to balance their children’s at-home school, and guidelines on remote tools (like chat), meeting protocols and daily team standup meetings.
In any case, March 12 2020 was the last day in the office for everyone at Illumina — worldwide. I packed my bags for the bike ride home with as many of my personal items that would fit in my backpack. I made a trip by car the next morning to get my electronics and belongings from by bike locker (shoes, belts, workout clothes).
It was all very sudden and a bit surreal — in January there were scattered news reports of a new virus in Asia of the SARS and Ebola strains. But those past epidemics, while severe in localities where it struck, didn’t travel. Soon there were reports of cases in France, a surge in Italy, next Iran. But the “problem” seemed so far away — until it wasn’t. Soon there were cases in the Pacific Northwest as it spread like wildfire through retirement homes and the first U.S. death was reported in Seattle. It was upon us, and it felt different.
I recall reading the email from our CEO at Illumina saying all offices would imminently close, all of a sudden it seemed very real — not just some news story in a faraway land. Idiot Trump was continuously downplaying the threat, saying it would disappear quickly and there was no danger to Americans. But my savvy CEO with strong connections to Silicon Valley and the medical science community took it seriously and took action.
Yesterday, President Biden signed the $1.9-trillion stimulus package with massive government financial and logistical assistance to move the country quickly through and past the pandemic. It focuses on those most at need, pledging to redouble efforts at vaccine distribution in underserved communities, help those who have lost jobs, and cut child poverty in half. Great Britain did this under Tony Blair and the Labour Party.
It’s about time this country takes wealth distribution seriously and actively promote more economic equality. The past decades since the Reagan Revolution has resulted in far more wealth for corporations and the superrich, while working Americans have slipped far behind. It’s a significant threat to our democracy, as the confused populism of Trumpism so frighteningly demonstrates. I’m glad Biden is being bold and progressive now in this critical moment. We need a little bit of FDR’s New Deal as our country is broken politically and damaged and dying from the pandemic.
Not a single Republican voted for Biden’s relief bill in either the House or Senate, despite widespread popularity (over 70% of all Americans support it, and — amazingly — Republicans are nearly evenly split). So they aren’t (yet?) actively campaigning against it, they’ve kept mostly mum while they blather on about what they see as the real national crisis: so-called cancel culture‘s latest victims — Dr. Seuss and Mr. Potato Head — for which they implausibly blame liberals.
The Grand Old Party is wallowing and fractured, between those nutheads who support Trump and the traditional “big money” conservatives. Five moderate GOP Senators announced their retirement in 2022. This deep division in the party is expected to continue for years. Hopefully Biden’s pragmatic progressivism will win over working America again. Republicans can’t win without them.
Biden’s been in office 50 days. And so far so good — he’s underpromised and overdelivered. He now says he will direct states to open vaccine eligibility to everyone by May 1, months ahead of schedule. This means America may have a somewhat-normal Fourth of July.
That still feels like a long time from now… four months. Well, I suppose it’s not. It’s just that we’re all greatly fatigued by this pandemic and the toll it’s taken on our lives — collectively and individually. The job losses, the shuttering of businesses, the estrangement from loved ones and friends, the inability to travel . The polarization between the maskers and anti-maskers. Between those who trust in science and those who claim this is all a hoax. Now between those who wait patiently for a vaccine and anti-vaxxers. The 2020 presidential election took a toll with all its nastiness, and the resulting lies and insurrection. America is weary, tired of waiting, fed up with all the division. I deeply hope Biden will soon help return us to a more regular sanity.
So I continue to wait. I can’t complain about my working situation — it continues to pay me and I have fewer stresses now having a team to share the workload. I am in a comfortable home in Florida, with Paul and helping his mother transition to assisted care, which is taking longer than anyone wants due to her petulance.
Meanwhile, I try to remain upbeat, exercise, eat well, enjoy time with family. And I dream of a time when I will have more freedom to travel, openness and opportunity for creativity, and new life journeys. I dream of writing, visiting family, walking and bicycling long distances, speaking Castilian and Portuguese, living in Spain, hitting the road towards something great…