It has been more than a year since this COVID-19 pandemic turned everyone’s life around. If you are a reader who happens to be from the Philippines, you are surely well-aware that we have been dealing with this lockdown situation for 394 days. 

A year and 29 days of living an unexpectedly overturned life.

Despite trying to adjust to the situation and embrace the so-called “new normal” routine, I will not hide it, I do miss a few things from my old life. This year would have marked as my 109th month in my career as a legal administrative assistant if the pandemic and lockdown did not happen. And yes, there would be times when such longing would hit me -- hard. Especially whenever I would come across those Facebook “On This Day” photos from years back, or even current photos of former colleagues in places we often frequent would appear on Instagram.

It has been a “sa throwback na lang muna ang lahat” kind of life for more than a year now. And while I have somehow adapted to a rather different life because of the pandemic, I admit that there are times when I still long for this:

The Routines- I must say that the lockdown changed some of my routines, but there also are some that remained the same. For one, I miss those early-morning arrivals at work. Being the team’s early bird at times earned me the silly title of “Diwatang Ilaw” (or the Light Fairy), coined by our accountant, Lyn simply because switching the lights on is my first order of business when I arrive every morning. Another thing that I miss from my old life was this habit of consuming iced coffee every morning (and that’s despite the 18-degree temperature inside the office) which drives one of my officemates worried. But the longing part though is just partial, since I still embraced that iced coffee habit despite being locked at home the past year.

People- Given that I have worked in different offices and accomplished a number of different job titles in the last 14 years, I’ve also come across people with different types of personalities. Some of them I was able to build a positive rapport with, but there are also some that ended up the other way around. But for the last 8 years, this bunch was among the ones that I consider to be a group that I enjoyed being with. My former team in the firm was a group where you can find a good mix of interesting personalities. From a hands-on boss (who acts like everyone’s father at times),  a comedian, a cat dad, a math whiz who, despite being tone-deaf, says with conviction that she’s a songbird, to a living, breathing version of  the character Miss Minchin  from the book “A Little Princess”, my former workmates and our day-to-day antics and misadventures were among those that somehow “saved” my sanity especially on days when workdays tend to be at its harshest. 

The Shindig. Next to having found a job that allowed me to work in a location I highly preferred and with an ideal work schedule, the opportunity to be part of a group with creative minds was one of the things that I am grateful for. While the last eight years I spent with this team was not all about sunny days, their creativity in coming up and conceptualizing fun activities to compensate the busy and sometimes difficult schedules made my work days a thing worth reminiscing especially in this tough period. That despite going through this difficult time, I have something to look back to and say "we were this happy once" -- and there is a chance that we will, in time, get to be this exuberant again. 

My former boss once sent me an email with a subject that's so appropriate with today's situation: Brand new year, same old shit. And while I have a few things from my old life that I still yearn for, I am still hopeful that one day will come and things, while may not be the same anymore, will come out better that what and how it once was.