Keep Calm, Stay Positive and Ration the TP!
As I sit down to write my monthly message, in search of an appropriate topic, I gaze out of my new office window, which is also my kitchen window, and the window of my children’s classroom, and the window of our spring break hotel room, and the window for just about every other location and life occurrence for the next (who knows how many) weeks or months. All I can say is Wow! what an incredible change of events over the past weeks that has impacted the entire globe in a similar way. The COVID-19 pandemic has flipped the world on its head.
These are scary and uncertain times. With people worried about their family, friends, health, jobs, income and future in general. The uncertainty of how long the pandemic will last, and how long we will need to shelter-in-place is probably the hardest part for me. And I can honestly say that I never thought I would have to give my kids a seminar on how to ration the TP.
We (my wife and I), have come to terms with the likelihood our kids will finish out the school year at home. And we’ve dealt with the disappointment that our spring break ski trip and summer cruise to Alaska are cancelled… or as we well tell the kids, they are just postponed. I’m sure every single one of you has faced similar challenges and similar disappointments. But we have to put things in perspective. We are healthy, our friends and family are healthy, we have not lost our jobs, and our kids are doing just fine.
As I sit to write this message, I find myself trying to focus on the positives that will come out of these times. This pandemic has given me a profound appreciation of the underappreciated professions, namely teachers, teacher aides, school administrators, health care workers, farmers, grocery store employees, and the greater food service industry (to name a few). And although we are not in fore-front as much, I am very appreciative of our industry, the engineering and survey professionals. I was pleased that Governor Newsom recognized many sectors of our industry as essential, such as housing, infrastructure and construction activities, which keeps many of our projects moving forward and our industry stable.
On the personal front, I am appreciative of Netflix, Amazon and that they continue to bottle and distribute our great local craft beer. I am appreciative that I have kids that are capable and adaptable and keeping our house full of energy and laughter. I am appreciative of my wife, who through all of this has kept us together. Not only does she continue to run the household, but she now navigates the on-line learning schedule for four elementary school children at home (which I am in no way capable of doing).
Normally, we are running around constantly, from school, to soccer, to ballet, to basketball, to whatever else is on the schedule that day. And although we miss the games and performances, taking a break from the “rat race,” has been kind of nice. We eat dinner as a family, we play games, we talk more and we are generally getting to know each other better.
It’s spring time, and while I miss March Madness and MLB Opening Day, I am sure thankful that the weather is beautiful and we can get outside to play. The biggest winner in all of this is our new puppy. She is getting more attention than we ever could have imagined.
As for our profession, I truly believe we will emerge from this crisis stronger. We are learning to communicate differently and function in a new environment. We are learning tools and discovering new ways to complete our projects, which will only make us more flexible in the future. It is after all, during times of crisis, that we come together, get the best of people and innovate.
I have been incredibly impressed with how quickly and efficiently the companies within our industry have reacted and adapted to the “Work from Home” environment. It seems that most companies have barely skipped a beat, including my own. However, that could not have happened without the tireless efforts of the IT, operations and administrative personnel that work behind the scenes to make sure we can we can our work. We own them all a huge Thank You!
We will get through this together. Soon enough this pandemic will end, and our lives will slowly return to normal. In the meantime, I’m taking this as an opportunity to re-calibrate myself.
As I sure you all have figured out by now, our local ACEC events are on hiatus until further notice. We look forward to the day we can get back together in person, and share our experiences and stories. Until then, stay safe and focus on the positives out there… there are many.
