This past week, I spoke with my 95-year old grandmother. She lives in assisted living. I have not seen her since President's Day weekend 2020. She told me last week during our talk, "You know, life has to go on." She lived through the Depression, WWII, many other events, and this. I can't imagine what the last year has been like for her and her fellow residents.

It made me think of the recovery we have ahead of us. I speak with my family daily, my co-workers each work day (I have been going into the office 90-95%), and friends a few times a week. This is not going to be everyone get a vaccine and back to normal. It's going to take a long time.

What I have heard through family, friends, and work: Certainly people have lost income over the last year. In my office, folks have kept their jobs, but lost a lot of those second jobs that supplemented the income. Parents are very concerned about their kids with depression and poor academic performance. Relationships and marriages on the rocks with heavy alcohol use as an issue. I have heard of two of these marriages within the past five days. One involved a husband's drinking, the other a wife's drinking. 

We have heard about the virus. It does seem like there could be light at the end of the tunnel. There are other issues from the last year which will take longer to fix. What are you all seeing from the effects of the last year amongst your groups?