Memoir Monday: What Do You Miss About the Pre-Pandemic World?

[nancybriti1]

_{Image from my personal gallery}

What Do You Miss About the Pre-Pandemic World?

People who know me know that I had planned to leave my country, Venezuela, before the pandemic arrived. They also know the transformation I underwent as a result of living through those days.

By the year 2020, Venezuela was experiencing terrible shortages and being starving was not a metaphor for us. The whole country was a dark room where goodbyes were our daily bread and to be honest, a part of us was leaving with every friend or family member who left the country. Personally, although my body remained in Venezuela, I was not here, my heart was far away from these seafaring lands: Venezuela, for me, was an empty ship dragged by the waves.

So one day I decided to leave. The little I had gathered would be to pay for airfare and food: in another country friends and a job awaited me that would help me to maintain my lifestyle and to send money to my family. But a few months before I left, the pandemic arrived and with it came chaos.

At home, my elderly mother and my sick sister, clung to me, like one who holds on to a branch to save himself, before the avalanche of things that began to happen and in that fear, I had no choice but to be strong, to be brave. So Nancy, who used to go to work in heels, with dresses and suits, in a cab or her own car, had to put on her tennis shoes, a flannel and pants, and get together with people, get on trucks or walk long distances looking for something to eat for the three of us.

In the odyssey I lived in search of food, dragging my 21 grams of soul, like an animal, I had to face other people who were also like me: looking for survival. Several times I cried on the way home because I did not understand how a person like me, who had studied, who had prepared myself, should be fighting for a chicken, for milk, for toilet paper.

However, when I got home, I dried those tears of impotence, took off my clothes and took a bath so as not to contaminate my people, and I told my mother and my sister, with real courage, everything I had experienced that day.

They closed another supermarket. Now there are only three left. Here there is milk and I also got coffee. Today we will finally have coffee with milk. I expressed with real joy before the happy eyes of my sister and my mother: for me at that moment their well-being was above my own.

Locked in the house we learned of the death of friends we could not say goodbye to because it was forbidden. The mixture of sadness, fear, uncertainty was a monster that threatened us if we opened the door. Only I could get out: only I could face that monster even though inside I was also frightened.

So, looking back:

I miss the Nancy oblivious to all the calamities of the world. I miss the feeling of being immortal, the one that made me go through life lightly, with an empty backpack, crossing the street without looking sideways.

I miss those friends who died and that I could not say goodbye to: Julio, Alberto, Dana, Francisco, Guillermo.

I miss the “normal” world, the one where science fiction did not exist: where no one talked about vaccines, viruses or masks. Where it was unthinkable that a kiss and a hug would be frowned upon and a cough or a sneeze would make us change sidewalks.

I miss the Nancy who wanted to leave, the one who didn't know that if she was far from home, she would want to go back to take care of her own.

The images are from my personal gallery and the text was translated with Deepl

the link to the invitation postThis is my participation this week for our great friend @ericvancewalton's initiative: Memoir monday. If you want to participate, here's

Thank you for reading and commenting. Until a future reading, friends

Comments

[ligayagardener]

Beautiful,sad post.

[nancybriti1]

Sometimes life is like that: sad and beautiful! Thanks for commenting

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[nancybriti1]

Thank you for the information

[hivebuzz]

Awesome work @nancybriti1! You're truly dedicated to Hive and making an impact with your daily posts.

[hive-106316]

Hello @nancybriti1

Silver Bloggers’ Community Team.This is @tengolotodo and I'm part of the

Thank you for sharing your excellent post in the Silver Bloggers community! As a special "token" of appreciation for this contribution to our community, it has been upvoted, reblogged and curated.

[nancybriti1]

Many thanks to the entire @silverbloggers team for the support, especially to friend @tengolotodo. Many successes

[tengolotodo]

The pleasure is mine

[cetb2008]

They were days of great anguish, and great fear at seeing the number of people who died, thank God it was a stage passed, greetings friend.

[nancybriti1]

For me, to be honest, I was left with the bad taste of a poorly told movie. One of those that “have cats locked up”. But yes, I'm glad it's over and hopefully “never again”, as Poe's raven says. Greetings and thanks for your comment

[tengolotodo]

Tough times indeed. And I am sorry to hear about the suited Nancy that didn't get to go overseas... Maybe now? And you look so elegant in those masks. A big hug from overseas to Venezuela my friend.

[nancybriti1]

I love to travel, to go out, even if it's only a half hour drive, to a nearby town. I don't know how it was in your country, but in Venezuela the pandemic served as a pretext for the government to “normalize shortages” and do many barbarities. There was also a shortage of gasoline, so transportation did not work. A total disaster. The important thing is that I survived and here I am, sending you a big hug from this shore.

[tengolotodo]

You survived and yes I did too, so that is what matters. Well there were shortages and it is over. But many people didn't survive and that was a tragedy.
Big double hugs to make you feel alive my friend! Where was my hug .. is someone naughty already? Oh no you did, it was me being naughty!

[nancybriti1]

Hahahaha. It doesn't matter that I already sent you a hug, Ed. I send you many hugs that shorten the distance between Venezuela and Scotland.

[tengolotodo]

Hehe I love your thinking! Here is one hug to match yours Nancy.

[asiaymalay]

What a hard time it was😐. Lucky it's over.

[nancybriti1]

Yes, I think it was a borderline experience for everyone. Greetings and thanks for commenting, friend

[ericvancewalton]

Wow, Nancy. This was so powerful! I'm so sorry you all had to deal with so much struggle. I can't even imagine going through the horrors of the pandemic and also dealing with those kinds of severe food shortages at the same time. You are one amazingly strong woman!

[nancybriti1]

I'm not strong, Eric, it's been my turn to be strong, which is different. With the pandemic we had to learn and unlearn many things, but here we are: perhaps older, but with the certainty that it is not why, but for what, that is the question we must ask the universe. A big hug, my friend