This month, we passed our pandemicversary, or as I like to think of it, our annivirusary. This occurs on a different day for different people. For me, it’s when March Meeting, the largest physics conference in the world, was cancelled on March 2nd. The pandemic caused major changes in many of our lives, often not for the better. But, I’d like to reflect back on the lighter and more positive aspects.

1. I started exercising. At first, it was because my husband could no longer use the gym, so he bought some home gym equipment. Later, my mother started teaching Zumba online.

2. I refined the California roll. We make lunch for ourselves every day, and since I desired a bit more variety, I started making California rolls. It’s tricky to get the rolls to stay together, but I now make these faster and neater than ever.

3. Naptime! My husband had a running joke where he demanded Universal Paid Naptime Now! When the pandemic began and we both started working from home, he said “Dear literalistic genie, that’s not what I meant!” All the same, having the flexibility for naptime is a blessing.

4. No more public performance of emotion. I’ve talked about this before, but I don’t really have the emotional range that is generally expected of people, and often feel like I’m performing for other people. I didn’t think this was much of an issue just going about town, yet I found it comforting knowing that nobody can see my expression.

5. I reconnected with my brothers. Not that we were distant before, but we live in different cities. Now we have gaming hangouts. Minecraft was a particular hit, because it supports many different playstyles. Then one of my brothers became a Twitch affiliate. So, that’s a thing.

6. I stopped matching socks. Why did I ever match socks? Who cares if they match?

As things open up this year, I hope things get better, but I also hope that we can hold onto the good.