2020 is a year we all want to forget. However, to grow stronger, to improve, to be a better athlete, a better friend, a better human, we must Remember.
The unrecognizable colleague, donned in masks, shields, gowns, and gloves. Outwardly focused, eyes on the next buoy, anchoring our communities, lost little ships in a stormy sea. Underneath, trying to breathe, wading through waves of fear, riding the storm like everyone else.
Garages converted into decontamination stations and guest rooms now personal isolation wards. Bathing in Lysol, but never knowing if you’ve already been invaded.
And, so, I swam. To wash the day from my mind, to feel clean again, to refresh my soul.
Remember.
Birthdays, graduations, and holidays celebrated alone. Newborns immediately isolated and wheeled away from their Covid positive mothers. An increasingly divisive country shredding at the seams as the world spins chaotically out of control. Trying to grip the handlebars, but exhaustion and depression make their grips tighter.
And, so, I rode. As fast and as far as I could to leave it all behind. I rode for control, to fill my lungs with air again, to stop the world from spinning so fast.
Remember.
Patients wailing in anguish, begging to see their spouse, don’t let me die alone. There I stood, wanting to run away, knowing I am not enough to fill that void. But I stayed, held their hand, told them I care, and gave them medicine to help them forget.
And, so, I ran. To feel the pain, to experience the isolation, to imagine not being able to ever go home again.