When do you think we will get back to normal? Is there such a thing as “normal” anymore? It is now September 2020 and, as we’ve moved closer to the end of the year, I have begun to resign myself to the notion that we need to accept a NEW normal.

One year ago, we took many things for granted and we managed our lives on auto-pilot. We went to restaurants with the anticipation of having a plethora of choices to select from the menu. We would, hopefully, run into a familiar face while eating lunch or walking into the restaurant. In the “good old days” we might even have to wait in line to get an open table because everybody else had the same idea of going out to eat. Oh, how I miss those days!

A year ago, we didn’t give a second thought to reaching out to a colleague to set up an appointment to meet or, as is the custom in Grant County, we would just stop by their office just to talk. We didn’t even know what the term “social distance” meant before it was added to our vernacular. I have always enjoyed “networking” with business associates and learning about their lives and their businesses. In the last 6 months we have changed “networking” to “NOT working” because it just can’t be done anymore.

Zoom has become a verb in our day-to-day activities this year in the same way that google is now a verb. It is a standard way of doing business and there will soon be a generation of workers who won’t know any different.

I went to eat at Village Inn in Las Cruces last week and it was almost a surreal experience. I had forgotten what it was like to have my order taken by a food server and wait for it to be brought out to my table, piping hot, on a ceramic plate. I was almost overwhelmed at the number of choices that I had because it has been so long since I had looked at a menu, I wasn’t really sure what to do! The coffee didn’t taste as good as I remembered! I did enjoy the meal and I was happy for the experience but I’m going to have to get back into the groove when it comes to dining out.

I ran into a friend at a local business last week and I realized that I have a habit that I never thought I would have to break. I tried to shake her hand! How do you break yourself of the habit of extending your hand to someone to shake their hand? My generation actually learned about and practiced the handshake! In many instances the quality of a handshake determined the first impression you got from that person. Nobody wanted to do business with a “dead fish” hand shaker! These days we can only fist bump the people we see in person, and even that is a questionable tactic. When I see someone, I know and don’t shake their hand I might as well just ignore them all together. Old habits die hard with people like me!

If you look back over time you will see that changes have been happening all our lives! Most changes have been for the better! HDMI connections took over where USB was the connection of choice. If you’re old enough you remember PS2 and Serial port connections but you don’t long for them to return. 8 track tapes became obsolete with the invention of cassette tapes which led to CDs and finally MP3s. Some people still own vinyl but for the most part, today we don’t even own the music anymore we just stream the content from the cloud server.

Yes, change has been a part of our world since the dawn of time but I think the drastic-ness of the changes we are experiencing today seem starker because of how fast we were forced to implement said changes. Creatures of habit like me have a hard time accepting changes but, eventually, we come around. I hope to have accepted all the changes we’ve been put through in due time. Hopefully before we get the order to reopen Grant County and go back to normal!

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