A year ago today, I walked into Arby’s for lunch, ordered my food, only to be told I would have to take it to go.
It was the final straw of what was a week leading up to something we never saw coming: A worldwide pandemic had shutdown the United States and halted life as we know it.
The date March 10 still rings out to me as the first big marker for COVID-19 closures. As I was covering the Horizon League Conference basketball tournament, news began to break that many colleges were taking extended spring breaks, elbow bumps were replacing handshakes, and by the weekend following the tournament, we learned that a coach and official that were present had tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
That Friday I was getting my haircut when the announcement came through that schools in the state of Indiana would close at the end of the day.
There is no doubt that COVID-19 changed all of our lives. It was the strangest spring of my lifetime. Nearly three months passed without any sports to speak of.
Locally, students missed traditional graduation, junior and senior proms, and all of spring sports. My heart still aches for those senior athletes that missed their final seasons.
And while we are still restricted by a simple face covering, I think we should all be blessed for how things have turned out.
We returned to in-person dining at restaurants in mid-May. High School sports returned in the fall while students returned to the classroom. Weddings, parties, and vacations all pressed on in the latter half of 2020 and have continued this year. The second wave of COVID-19 came and went, and while it was tough for many and continued to alter our lives — it was gone within the blink of an eye.
The worst is behind us, that I think we can all agree on. The vaccine gives us hope, and spring weather gives us inspiration.
I’m looking forward to spring sports, more than ever before. There will be storylines, truimph, and heartbreak that we would have never expected if it wasn’t for last year’s canceled seasons.
And looking back, I hope it’s a year that we can all reflect on and take some positivity away from. We have tragically lost more than 80 Montgomery County residents due to COVID-19. I’m not here to judge the lockdown or stay-at-home orders, because if there’s one thing I know for sure — I don’t want to know what the alternative might have been. My heart goes out to those who have lost love ones due to COVID-19. And I’m upset and frustrated about the other lives that have been affected by COVID-19 in other ways than sickness and death, but that’s a different type of sentiment — as it should be.
The reality is we have made it to the other side.
Now let’s get back to the smell of freshly cut grass, the feeling of warm sunshine on the first 70 degree day, and that sweet sweet sound of a baseball/softball tinging against a bat.
Jared McMurry was born and raised in Montgomery County and is the Sports Editor of the Journal Review. He can be reached by email at jmcmurry@jrpress.com and by phone at 765-918-8656. Follow him on Twitter @jaredmac26
