Two years.

Silent playgrounds, community centers. Students sent home for a couple of weeks, we thought. Parks closed. Images of downtown city cores in something like an episode of “Life After People.” Shuttered shops, dark and desolate. Just like we felt.

“You’re on mute” became one of the most uttered phrases of the past two years. Jobs lost. Businesses closed for good. Family and friends communicating only over the phone or facetime. Seniors in their homes confined to their apartments, unable to connect with other residents or their families. Tragedy. Hearing about people – so many people – dying from this thing. It couldn’t be real. Until, horribly, it became real for you.

Our daughter, healthy and young, sick, and now struggling with long COVID. Friends and family dying. Hearing about death every day. Numb. You heard last night about your neighbor being rushed to the hospital. Godspeed. The fear. Wiping down your dog food bag, your toilet paper purchase — if you were lucky enough to find toilet paper. Empty shelves. Homemade hand sanitizer recipes on Tik Tok and Pinterest. Young families doing their best to keep their children focused on zoom school while trying to themselves work full time. No Strawberry Festival. Follow the science. What does science say today? Netflix and a bottle of wine. That’s all I need. Babies born during the pandemic many of whom have never seen an unmasked face. How can this get worse?

George Floyd. Nine minutes and 29 seconds.

Days melted into weeks and weeks to years. What day is it anyway? Tired of science. The day the West Seattle Bridge closed. Really?? The first spike, the second. The third? The fourth?? Why? Please just go away. I want to just go away. The country divided. Frontline workers exhausted. Profound isolation. These years we will never get back.

Two years.

The Emergency Operations Center activated on March 12, 2020. The sound of children laughing in their backyards. Birds singing. Those daffodils came up in an explosion of sunny yellow. Vashon Mask Makers sewing their fingers to the bone and delivering to every islander. Walks in nature. Thankful to breathe. Islanders on Facebook sending messages of love, so many, many people coming together to support each other, to care for each other. To pick up and drop off food and supplies to the most vulnerable. Smile and virtual hugs to loved ones through Facetime, Zoom and Skype. Meeting out in the front yard with a glass of wine, physically distanced to cheers and say hello to your friends. Drive-by birthday celebrations. Zoom weddings. Follow the science and guidelines. Yes, it changes, it evolves as we discover new information about this new virus. Chin up. We can do this. The VHS graduation parade and July 4 pop-up parade. Smiles on our faces.

The vaccine!!

The hot vax summer is here! Er – scratch that. Delta. Then Omicron. Chin up.

The country still divided. The birds still singing.

A little life, a little local Strawberry Festival. A little local paper, The Beachcomber, pumping out the pandemic situation reports from VashonBePrepared. A little local radio station, Voice of Vashon, pumping out Emergency Alerts and COVID information, to inform and disperse accurate information in this ever-changing world. Radio programming to keep those smiles from fading. Vashon Screams! We all needed a good scream for heaven’s sake. Stiff “quarantinies” during quarantine. Doing what is right to keep our community safe. We’ll do it. Schools reopening. Kids hanging with their friends again. Testing. And more testing.

So many heroes. MRC volunteers, our medical centers and professionals, CERT and VBP and VIFR, our front-line workers. The Vashon Pharmacy! Restaurants building structures for safety and a wee bit of socialization. And then open again! Theater and music live again! I can cross the border again! And still, our community forges ahead. Together.

The sun is always behind the clouds.

Two years.

Continue to love each other, support each other, and stay safe Vashon.

So proud to be your island connection.

Kate Dowling is the executive director of Voice of Vashon.