Just before our statewide lockdown was announced, I drove to Michael’s to pick up a framing job. I was anticipating the stay-home order and figured if I didn’t take it home right away, it might be there for months. The framing job was my teenage son’s third-degree black belt certificate for taekwondo.
While I waited for the framer to find the job in the workroom, I thought about how much the world had changed in the few weeks since I’d dropped it off there. At that time, coronavirus was something happening in China. We were keeping an eye on it and preparing for the onslaught, but it hadn’t significantly affected our lives in the U.S. yet.
And a week before that, Jon Morgan had received the certificate at a belt test at his dojang. As a black belt and teacher, he was helping administer the tests to the lower belts. I have photos of him shaking the hand of every student. That would be almost shocking today, now that handshaking is off the table.
The world has changed so quickly, and so much worse is yet to come.
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