The CovId 19 virus has been a wake-up call for all of us. A mask has been a necessary accessory in our wardrobe and a pocket-size hand sanitizer too. For me, an added face shield completes my attire. It changed our lifestyle and led to career changes. It made inequities more pronounced. Jeff Bezos of Amazon just got richer. For others, it led to lining up in churches that provided hot meals. And, worries whether or not they will be living in the same dwelling in the coming months.

Those who were able to keep their jobs had to work from home and do virtual meetings. Those whose jobs required rendering essential service like healthcare providers, operators of public transportation and factory workers relied on a wing and a prayer every time they left their homes and came back at the end of their shifts. Some became a statistic in the number of positive cases. Others got lucky. But only for the time being. As we enter the 13th month of the official pandemic, we are in another stay-at-home order here in Ontario, drained after a year of COVID. It hasn’t been easy but there’s now a silver lining on the horizon. Vaccines have arrived and are being administered by demographics. Depending on whether or not your area code belongs to a hot spot in Toronto, you are eligible for vaccination if you’re 18 years of age or over.

Not all is bad news about this virus. People have become gentler, kinder and considerate. Canadians are known for their politeness. Add to this the traits just mentioned. Zoom has flourished in the past 12 months. Not just for official gatherings but also for family and friendly gatherings as well. Sadly, it has also been used to express “sorrow of distance”. My brother in the Philippines died shortly after my return to Toronto and all I could do was watch the requiem mass for him in Zoom. On the other hand, I know of a family whose members are in the Philippines, San Francisco, California and here in Toronto and they meet by Zoom every two weeks, telling each other anecdotes about the cities where they live and reminiscing the times when they were all growing up in one household. In one of these zoom gatherings, they all agreed to do the Camino de Santiago virtual challenge. And everyone joined with the starting point at Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela.

This pandemic has tapped talents which some of us never imagined we have. A homemaker started baking and has become good at making bread, cakes, and scones. Something that really surprised her. A young woman who was working from home learned to work on looms during her break and came up with fascinating figures. In the evening, she studied languages and can converse now in Italian and German. A septuagenarian family member of the zoom gatherings earlier mentioned surprised herself by doing the Camino de Santiago virtual challenge of 773.9 km in 57 days. Impressive.

One unexpected thing that has been happening here in Canada and in the US is that there have been UFO sightings during the past 12 months. Ufology Research in Winnipeg posted a survey that stated that there has been a rise in UFO sightings in Canada in 2020 – a total of 1,243. I wouldn’t be that quick to pass judgment on these sightings. But I observe that with the skies clearer these days, less traffic in the air, less factory pollution and more time spent at home, maybe, just maybe, these unidentified flying objects have always been in the skies all this time. We just never noticed them