The Pandemic Diaries

I recently purchased a new iPhone and, while I was checking to make sure all of the right apps, photos and files were still intact, I came across a "Notes" file that I began in March of 2020.

I wasn't sure what I hoped to accomplish by keeping these notes, nor did I really update it with any real purpose. In the back of my mind, though, this was such an interesting period that I felt as though documenting it may serve some benefit down the road.

Today -- just over four years later -- I've decided to share a handful of entries from that period, completely unedited and unfiltered. I've also added a handful of social media posts to round things out.

Today's tally: 622 emails. 32 instant messages. 26 phone calls (mostly from media). Nine meetings and I'm about to attend one more tonight. Holy shit! I'm used to long, tireless days, but this is something else. We're definitely witnessing a unique period in history right now, and I'm happy to be part of the team solving for the communications challenge. - March 17, 2020

I've been trying to inspire my team remotely by wearing a different silly hat to each morning's standup call. At the very least, it seems to be getting a laugh. - March 31, 2020

Facebook Portal hosted our Passover seder tonight. It was cool to have the whole family together... but I'm really hoping this won't become the norm for holidays. - April 8, 2020

Me at the Tim Horton’s Drive-Through last night, paraphrasing Ron Swanson: “Just give me all the Dark Roast K Cups you have. Wait. I worry what you just heard was, ‘give me a lot of Dark Roast K Cups.’ What I said was ‘give me all the Dark Roast K Cups you have.’” - April 22, 2020

Another couple of weeks. Another round of pictures with silly hats. This remote working lifestyle is becoming the new normal now, and I don't love it. - April 27, 2020

Have probably ordered more stuff from Amazon Prime in the past six weeks than I have in the three years prior. - April 27, 2020

This is the first time since I joined Manulife seven years ago that we haven't assembled the team in person to proofread tomorrow's quarterly results. It's become something of a tradition for the group of us to hunker down and, page by page, line by line, table by table, go over the News Release with a critical eye. We're of course still doing that, but just remotely, and it feels a bit off. Very much missing the camaraderie of #teamsean. - May 5, 2020

I'm kind of worried I'm going to run out of hats pretty soon. - May 11, 2020

I really thought we'd be back to the office by now. Everyone else has said we wouldn't be back for a while, so it was just optimistic thinking on my part. And I completely get why this is being done.... but this is starting to get to me. I miss seeing my son and other members of my family in person. My poor grandmother has been stuck in her retirement home for months without so much as seeing any of us. And while waiting in line for groceries had a certain novelty to it at first, I'm officially reached my limit. How much longer can this go on? - May 26, 2020

We finally got to see my grandmother today, although in a socially-distanced way. I'll take what I can get. - June 11, 2020

I've been watching the front page of The Globe with interest every evening to see whether the day's data shows that new cases are being offset by new recoveries. We're not quite there yet... but one can hope. I think I've been patient, but it's time to return to normalcy. - June 15, 2020

Not my favourite birthday to date, mostly because we're still stuck in the world of coronavirus. I can only take so many walks, so many drives to nowhere, have socially-distanced visits, binge-watch so many shows. It feels like five years have happened in this one year. - September 12, 2020

2020 has been such an unusual year. By which I could only be referencing that THE BLUE JAYS HAVE JUST MADE THE PLAYOFFS! - September 24, 2020

Saying farewell to my beloved ultra-long pandemic beard, aka Sean Beard Pasternak, aka Jasper Beardly, aka Chester Q. Beardington III. We had some great times together, but ultimately I chose "staying married" over "maintaining scraggly facial hair growth." #RIPBeard - November 16, 2020

So it's come to this: I have now signed up for a frozen pizza subscription service. - December 14, 2020

Happy New Year? It's been a terrible year, thanks to COVID. We celebrated NYE last night gathered around the Facebook portal. Definitely hoping for a better year ahead. - January 1, 2021

Just received my first shot of the Moderna vaccine, and I've never been happier to have a needle in my arm! Simply put, this represents progress, and the hope that we'll be able to return to a normal way of living soon enough. - April 12, 2021

Fully vaccinated now, thanks to a drive-in vaccination clinic in Whitchurch-Stouffville. It was worth the drive to get one step closer to normalcy. - June 4, 2021

Earlier today, I ventured downtown for the first time since the pandemic began and (gasp) actually got to do some in-person work! I also got the chance to meet my colleague Cheryl for the time since hiring her, which is just a weird reality of this new way of working. Still, it felt great to not be working in front of a computer all day. - June 30, 2021

Just spent the past week with most of my immediate family at a cottage up north. While cottage life isn't necessarily my thing, spending time with the family definitely is. Hoping this is a sign of better things to come. - July 13, 2021.

Jodi and I finally took a vacation for the first time since the pandemic began, driving to Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec City. It was honestly one of the best trips we've ever had, at least partially because the world felt real again. - August 24, 2001

The sign behind us says "YES!!!" and I can't think of a better possible caption. Last night, members of the Global External Communications team got together (including many of us who had never met in person before, because they had onboarded virtually!) - September 9, 2021.

I stopped writing entries around the end of 2021 but looking back now, I wish I had kept more precise notes and just done more to capture the big moments. But still, I think it does provide a decent time capsule.

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