It’s hard to imagine, but someday this pandemic will be over. Someday, the world will open back up and we’ll be deposited back in the busy stream of life. What do you hope we’ve collectively learned when that time comes?

I hope we’ve learned to take things slower. Do less, and think more. Cut out all but that which is essential to live, thrive, and be ourselves.

I hope we’ve learned to care for others. Care more deeply for those in our immediate household, and extend that sense of care to community members and strangers. Do what we can, and check in with those in need.

I hope we’ve learned our vital need to be outdoors in nature, and let the seasons change us as much as they change our landscape.

I hope we’ve learned to take care of our mental health and our physical bodies above all else.

I hope we’ve learned to live with less. Less clutter, less waste, less desire to consume.

I hope we’ve learned that Zoom can be useful for meetings, hobbies and informal events so that we can socialize even when we don’t have childcare.

I hope we’ve learned to make our voices heard. Our government’s actions and inactions have impacted us greatly. Apathy toward our government, apathy toward our communities, can no longer be excused.

I hope we’ve learned to listen. Listen to other points of view, worries and fears that aren’t our own, and above all, other stories. Stories of people whose experience of America is unlike our experience. I hope we let those stories change us.

I hope we’ve learned to find common ground in common feeling, if not common opinion.

I hope we’ve learned how to wash our hands thoroughly.

I hope we’ve learned to appreciate all the best things we’ve had to live without: hugs, high-fives, mask-less smiles, live music and theater.

I hope we’ve learned what we need to learn so that we come out of this stronger as individuals and united as a country.

And for those of you who don’t have hope right now, I’m sending you some of mine.