Ever so slowly, we’re feeling some semblance of normal again.
Which begs the question. Are we ever going to remember what “normal” was to begin with?
Over the past three weeks, I’ve returned back to a normal rhythm to my week — starting out relatively calm on Saturday, going crazy on Sunday with a nine- to 10-hour day, chasing a million games from Saturday, making arrangements much of Monday for that week’s coverage and picking up the few games we didn’t get to over the weekend, then working part-time days Tuesday and Wednesday to wrap up the week.
Normal has changed so many times now. For weeks, it was four days a week off and seven nights a week of streaming old Game of Thrones episodes, then catching up on Westworld, then Watchmen, then the Umbrella Academy. I think I watched more TV last spring and early summer than I had watched in the past 10 years. Frankly, if the TV was ever on at my home, it was simply on to some sporting event somewhere until last year.
Then normal became spending the majority of my week up at Hurricane Ridge or the beach hiking.
Now, like a cicada, I’m remembering what my old normal used to be. A hell of a lot of energy drinks on the weekend, then a lot of trying to get organized, then winding off slowly into two or three days off, depending on how many hours I built up.
It’s feeling normal to see the six-man football kids racking up insane statistics — Wyatt Lee of Crescent rushing for 330 yards Saturday. Normal old rivalries between Sequim and Port Angeles being renewed.
It’s feeling normal to bump into sports coaches at the Barhop and tell them, “Yes, Kanyon, you really should read ‘The Real All-Americans’ by Sally Jenkins. Greatests sports book ever written.”
Not all the way back
Yet, we’re not 100 percent of the way back. I keep remembering we’re going to have a very limited postseason for these fall sports being played in March. Neah Bay hasn’t started playing football yet. Port Townsend and Chimacum have joined forces for the year — and some kids aren’t eager to go back to battling each other according to East Jefferson football coach Patrick Gaffney.
Even though I’m a Canadian citizen, I can’t visit Canada, not without going into quarantine for 10 days or so. I find of all the craziness over the past year, I miss being able to quickly jump over to Canada for a few days perhaps more than anything.
And still no concerts or sporting events for a year now. I was literally at the final concert in the Pacific Northwest, a Tool show in Portland, Ore. Everything went into full lockdown a couple of days after that show. I really thought I would be able to go to shows I had tickets to last June and August. I’m hoping that, by October, we will be able to attend a Kraken game in Seattle.
This lack of being 100 percent back to normal is a reminder that we’re not out of the woods yet. Lots of people are getting vaccinated, but it takes several weeks to get fully inoculated. And lots and lots of people still need to get shots. Personally, I might not be eligible for a shot until April and there’s plenty of people in line behind me.
The virus is still around and it’s not only stubbornly not going anywhere, it’s mutating into other forms that can spread more easily. It’s maddening to think how much better we could have all handled it a year ago, but we can’t do anything about that now. We just have to move ahead as best we can, having learned to take the virus seriously and having learned — hopefully — how stubborn it is.
I never thought I would ever miss the old normal this much.
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Sports Editor Pierre LaBossiere can be contacted at plabossiere@peninsuladailynews.com.
