We all need to laugh

It is four days until Christmas 2022 has arrived.  I am not sure how everyone is feeling about that, but I am hopeful that you are in a good space.  If you are feeling overwhelmed maybe all you need is to laugh. 

During Covid, I developed a love for quotes.  They would show up on my Facebook feed and I would laugh like crazy as I knew they were written about me.  It was the moment of connection with other people that were sitting at home, eating way too many carbohydrates in their comfortable clothes or housecoat.  Looking back wasn't it a crazy time for the entire world.  We were all slammed into a pandemic that no one had a clue about.  Even the people that thought they did, were clueless.  Everyone organized their day around the daily announcement on TV of the latest covid positive count in our province.  Manitoba went from being one of the last provinces to get covid to having the highest covid positive count per capita in the entire world.  How on earth could that be, in the world, even above the third world over populated countries.  Sadly, by allowing each province to outline their own restrictions it pitted province against province.  Conversations were always about either the privilege's of a province or the restrictions.  They can do this in Saskatchewan, oh look at Quebec they are crazy with numbers. Ford has lost it in Ontario, yet Manitoba loved to do as Ontario did.  We in Manitoba, were even isolated in our own province for 7 months.  The rule followers were penalized for the non-rule followers.  I have a hard time believing this actually happened, but it did. Although, life as we knew it has changed,  I am so glad that portion of the epidemic is over and is in the past.     

I thought that I would share my many screenshots and quotes that I collected during covid just for a later date.  Well, that date has arrived and here are some of my favorites. Laughter is a powerful thing and for the next few minutes I hope you indulge.  

Let's start with cat and dog quotes.  Anyone, that has a cat totally understands a cat views their owners as part of their staff.  To be waited on with little affection in return. Those dog owners live everyday with one of the most devoted animal on earth.  

          

Doesn't your heart just melt when you see baby animals and small children.  Putting the two together is the cutest thing on earth.  I just love the three you are about to see.  There is nothing like an "awe" moment. 

Everyone felt their own level of stress during the isolation.  I think it was like a dream come true that turned into a nightmare.  Life was slowed right down, family time was alive and well.  Many people were now working from home, didn't have to get dressed up, zoom became the new normal way of meeting and some companies felt that productivity was up.  For those that had businesses in their homes like I did, you couldn't work from home.  Some how hairdressers, massage therapist or anyone that came within 6 feet of another person were the people that were targeted as a place to spread covid.  How does any of this even make sense now, that we actually lived like that. So many common sense quotes about stress arrived on my feed and spoke to me.  How can a silly quote be exactly how I felt?

How did those parents ever manage to homeschool their children. I can't imagine having more than one child going to school at home.  Many parents were trying to work and also teach their child or children subjects that had changed since they went to school. I do know if this was the Simpson House it would not have gone very well.  No one would have learned a thing, simple survival would have been the only accomplishment.  

The reality of covid hit me when they said it would be a year before the pandemic ended, I thought "you have got to be kidding me".  Well, that year came and went and was followed by another year that came and went.  The virus is still here, but we are becoming very adaptable to having it be part of our lives.  We read signs on the door before we enter a building, doing home tests for covid is something we all do, we get the latest shot or not.  Seeing a person wear a mask is a familiar sight even thought they don't have to wear a mask.  Presently, life goes on, covid style.  

 

It was exhausting to shop.  Making sure the carts were cleaned and disinfected was paramount.  Previous to that, if a cart got caught in the rain, it got cleaned.  Now there was a paid employee to make sure they were properly cleaned.  The number of people shopping was limited, so lines formed outside.  Then you had to follow the arrows around the store, keep 6 feet apart, don't touch anything you weren't going to buy and the list went on.  I was exhausted when I left the grocery store and felt like I needed a sleep, or Ativan, or both, when I got home.  We all remember how we felt when someone went rogue and went the wrong way in a well marked aisle with arrows.  That easily brought out the dark side of the rule followers, it almost created a situation on it's own.  Never ever as long as I live do I ever want to go back to living like that.   

As I close out this post on laughter, I am hoping that the time you took away from your busy schedule to read this post has helped to put you in a good space.  It seems strange that the seriousness of covid has now become something to laugh about. The holiday season is here, I hope along with enjoying all that it has to offer that you find time to laugh.