I usually love to celebrate anniversaries. I celebrate June 6th D-Day by watching Saving Private Ryan and staring at my collection of unbuilt tank models.

I celebrate the day I met the boys with a special present for them. I try to do something amazing for The-Prettiest-Girl-in-the-World on her birthday. And on the day we met. And on the day we got engaged. Aaaand, on the day we got married (which, being old, I often get confused with the day we got engaged – due to them being 2 days apart).

Seems she’s a pretty important part of my life.

But anniversaries are important. They are a reminder of life-changing events.

Some dates, though, I don’t so much celebrate as honor: Aug 4th, 2003, the day Firefly was canceled. Nov 11th, Remembrance Day. Dec 14th, the day my wife died.

But right around now, a whole bunch of pandemic anniversaries begin. If you ask the officials, it’s officially official, the date the pandemic started on March 11^th. We had over 100 cases at that point.

But is that the best date to remember?

On March 8th, our first Covid death occurred. Is that a better day to remember? Or when we reached 1,000,000 deaths world-wide on Sept 29th, 2020? Or when I decided to grow my hair to hippy length, April 15th, 2020 (spoiler alert, I can nearly make a man-bun now, how attractive is that?)

Or should we mark our personal pandemic party on March 13th – a year from when we had to quarantine?

I’m not sure.

So, instead, let’s take a speed run through the last year.

Winter early 2020: Epidemic. Pandemic. Scary warnings. Panic buying. Empty shelves. Quarantine. Lockdown. Travel restrictions. Flattening the curve. Stock market crashing. Gas at 78 cents. No sanitizers. No TP. Riots in the States.

No Ukrainian Easter.

Society collapsing?

Seemed like it.

Spring 2020: Social distancing. Masking up. Banging pots for brave front-line workers. Binge eating. Binge buying. Binge watching rom-coms. Numbers getting better. Bonnie Henry becomes a superstar. Spring break turns into summer break. F…ing murder hornets arrive. The-Oldest graduates – virtually.

Summer 2020: Visits with family. Small gatherings allowed. Good weather brings bad behavior – big parties, no masks, no care. Clusters. Community spread. Numbers rising. Eating at home. Isolation. Doom-scrolling. Zoom sessions.

The-Prettiest-Girl-in-the-World’s friends make a happy birthday video for her 50^th.

Fall 2020: Schools reopen. Churches remain closed. Retirement homes locked down. Some sports being played. Hockey for The-Youngest has no games. The-Prettiest-Girl-in-the-World returns to the library. The-Oldest starts college – online. Markets back up. Unneeded BC election. Gas price at $1.36. Biden elected.

Winter late 2020 early 2021: Hope. 90% effective vaccinations coming online. Numbers rising again. No big family Christmas. No family New Years. No Ukrainian Christmas. Gretsky’s dad dies. UK bans the word breast-feeding (it’s now chest-feeding? And what I am supposed to cook for supper now, skiness, bonesless chicken chest???)

Everyone’s getting fed up, like people waiting in line too long for a milk shake at the drive thru.

But I feel like it won’t be long until we’re past all this so if we celebrate anything, let’s celebrate surviving a damn tough year. Let’s thank the front-line workers, teachers, and everyone who had to work – for being heroes. Let’s remember those beloved moments we lost (the hug from a Baba, the drink with a friend, the laughter of family) as well as the people we lost during this pandemic.

And let’s celebrate like hell when we can all finally be together, again, no matter what date it is.