Last weekend, I went to Syracuse to see Elton John in concert at The Dome. It was an absolutely amazing show and an experience I will not forget anytime soon. 

However, one thing I could not help notice was the lack of COVID-19 guidelines. We did not need to show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test to get in and there was no mention of mask wearing. The only announcement related to the pandemic was heard from the speakers as you entered the event that said if you showed symptoms of COVID-19 to stay home. 

In a world two and a half years after the start of the pandemic, the term ‘post-COVID’ has started circulating. Though I do not think that the world will ever truly be past COVID-19, I thought it would be fun to think back over the strangest thing that I did due to the pandemic.

I have been teaching swim lessons every summer for upwards of seven years, and the summer of 2021 was no exception. The deal, as I understood it, was that we were allowed to have swim lessons as long as we, the lifeguards and volunteers, wore face shields the entire time, the kids wore masks on the pool deck before and after their lessons, and anyone who was watching wore masks the entire time. 

The first and only time I ever wore a face shield was during these three weeks. Picture this: instructors wearing flimsy, plastic face shields in the pool while teaching elementary school age children how to go underwater and backfloat. As you might imagine, said face shields did not stay on very well and came off every time we went underwater. 

The only good thing about wearing them was that the kids could not get water in our eyes when they splashed us. 

As mentioned before, the students had to wear masks while on the pool deck and in the stands while waiting for their lessons to start. When their block started, like usual, everyone would file down to the pool but they had to then take off their masks and hang them on a clothing line. Lessons would commence, mask free, then they would have to find their mask after class and put it on as they went and found whoever brought them. 

In theory, this makes some sense, but when you consider that young children do not often pay attention to what they are wearing and that masks tend to look alike, it was very common for people to go home with a different mask to the one they came in with. Kids are also fairly forgetful, so it was normal for them to just run back to their parent or guardian without grabbing a mask at all. 

Despite the chaos that those three weeks were, it was the most unique experience I had during the pandemic. The very idea of being in water while wearing a face shield is silly to me, but I lived it. 

Just over a year ago we had these strict guidelines that, to me, made little sense because in the end, they did not actually lessen our face–to-face contact. Now I do not even carry my vaccine card with me. As we talk less and less about COVID-19, the more I think back on what life was like during those two weird years. 

Out of all the negative that was caused by COVID-19, I encourage you to think of the strange and positive things you may have experienced during that time. We lived through an abnormal time that made us do abnormal things, and it is OK to look back and laugh.

Photo provided by Annika Wickham