The End of the Before-Times

Amused by this Guardian article, which draws from this tweet, which is inspired by this BBC piece, here is the last picture on my phone that represents normal life, or as we’ll soon know it: the before-time.

This is sunrise in Joshua Tree, California on March 8. We had met some friends for a one-nighter camping trip. The virus was in the news a lot by then, and we greeted each other by kicking boots. It was mostly for laughs though, we hugged too and the kids played together. Social distancing was not yet a thing.

Soon after, we moved into our freshly remodeled new home, just squeezing by as California and LA County announced lockdown measures. We got all our stuff into the house, shut the door, and haven’t been very far since.

Here’s another photo, this one is the sunset of the previous evening.

There is plenty of room to social-distance in the desert, but huddling by the campfire is better with friends. I hope we’ll get to do this again soon.

PS: I’m kidding about this “before-times” stuff. I think we’ll work our way out of this. Just last week the cycling trails and beaches of Los Angeles have reopened. While we’re still social-distancing, it feels nice to get out of the house.

This was day 18 of the #100DaysToOffload challenge.