Hey, friends. You hanging in there? Unlike any other time in my life, the last few weeks have been the great equalizer. We’re all in this together. While we still have some tough times to get through, I hope you are staying safe and strong. And when you can’t be strong, I hope there are people in your life who can either pick you up or let you know that it’s OK. And when the strength returns, I hope you are there for them.
I know that we wonder if we will ever get back to any sense of normalcy. And we will. But it will be a different normal. Things are going to be different at the end of this.
But don’t let that bring you down. Rather, let’s think of the good things that are going to come out of this. For example:
- We may be done with paper receipts forever. I have never liked paper receipts, and I love it when a store has the option to email it to me. Not having to be handed a small piece of paper every time you go shopping which will then go straight to the trash will no longer be necessary. Also, this should save CVS roughly $500 billion a year.
- A lot of us may come out of this healthier. I have seen more folks walking or biking in my neighborhood than I ever have. And it’s great. Some fresh air, a little sun and some exercise? Good for all of us.
- Hopefully, those tape marks six feet apart at stores will stick around. I have always been a big personal space kinda fella, and this is one of the huge upsides to this for me. I didn’t ever need to feel a shopper’s breath behind me before, and I’m a-ok with it being like this after.
- We could be looking at the greatest weekend of sports ever. Yes, I know that there is a chance of this dragging out longer. But hear me out people: If everyone will just listen to what the experts are saying and stay home as much as possible, we could, maybe, see a weekend in the fall that looks like this: Saturday: College Gameday in the morning. College football at noon. NBA finals in the afternoon. World Series on Saturday night. Sunday: A full slate of NFL games. Sunday afternoon – back nine at Augusta National for The Masters. Sunday night – we all just lie there, staring at the ceiling grinning at the Greatest. Sports. Weekend. Ever.
- Oh, man. Teachers – are you gonna get some amazing back to school gifts to start the year. Yes, I know we don’t usually do back to school gifts. But trust me – assuming kids don’t get back into school until August, parents are going to be sending them with wheelbarrows of thanks and notes that read things such as, “We never took you for granted. We promise! But please enjoy this case of wine as a small token of our appreciation of just how much we absolutely don’t take you for granted now.”
- We might all kinda realize a lot of us have way more stuff than we actually need. I’m not anti-consumer or anything. And I think stuff that brings you happiness is great. But most of us have gone two weeks or more without just, you know, buying random stuff and we’re none the worse for that. There are plenty of times when I go to a nearby big box store for a couple of items and end up buying said items and then some socks, a shirt, maybe a pair of shoes, and, I don’t know, maybe a fishing rod. Maybe I don’t need all of this stuff? Maybe I should make sure everything in my house is being used before I bring in new additions?
Look, I don’t know how any of this is going to shake out. I hope it ends sooner than later like we all do. But I just hope that when we find this thing in our rearview mirrors, we remember where we were during these times, and remember that a lot of us have it pretty good with everything we have right at our homes.
Mike Gibbons was born and raised in Aiken, S.C. A graduate of the University of Alabama, you can e-mail him at scmgibbons@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @StandardMike.