Two Summers in One
For some odd reason, I read a market projection report from Frito Lay this past spring (I sometimes read random stuff online) and they were saying that they expected sales of their snacks to be robust because of the “two summers in one” approach that many would be taking this year. Their thought was that because most people were on lockdown last summer, that they would be more anxious to be out and about this year.
The assumptions are a bit of an overgeneralization of course, but it gave me some food for thought.
We definitely did not do much last summer. We mostly stayed home and just did our own outdoor activities. Truth be told, we are still doing a lot of that this year as well. But we have started to do more socializing. We are fully vaccinated and we have felt comfortable in gathering with others who are also fully vaccinated. However, with Utah’s rising case count - that may not last. Nobody can say for sure what is going to happen and I think we are all holding our breath a bit and hoping there are no new variants and that the current variants won’t take over.
I will admit that I feel a bit of pressure and even some urgency to get some visits and summer activities in while we can. There is a sense of needing to make up for lost time combined with a “do stuff while we can” feeling. This probably caused me to overbook our social calendar last week. We had 2 dinner parties with friends and my son had 2 social events with friends. My husband had 2 business lunches, a business dinner, and a full day inside the office. I also spent a day with my longtime friend and college roommate. I’m so glad we got to do all of that! It felt like finding water after a long journey in the desert. It was also a bit exhausting (in a good way) because we just haven’t been used to so much social interaction. Isn’t that crazy? We used to have SO much on our calendar all the time! I have found that I like the idea of a midway point from where we used to be (super busy) and where we ended up during the pandemic. In our house, we all agree that we don’t want to go back to pre-pandemic levels of busy.
The idea of two summers in one also has a different meaning to me. We are living many different realities right now.
The pandemic is not over, but everyone around here is acting like it is. We are vaccinated, but many are not. Our daily average numbers in Utah are now the highest they’ve been since March 2nd. Almost all the cases are among the unvaccinated, but there are some breakthroughs.
We have widespread vaccination in the United States, while most of the world is still waiting. There is also a divide within the United States over the vaccinations.
The Olympics will soon be happening, but without any spectators.
The western United States is having a massive drought and tons of fires. The eastern United States has had flooding, not to mention the terrible flooding in Europe.
Those are just a few of the ways people are having different summers right now. As humans, we deal with happiness and pain all at the same time. We have many experiences simultaneously. We live a multitude of summers each year. I have to admit that this one feels extra strange though.
Hope you are staying safe and happy this summer!
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