/pərˈsist/

Time has been moving differently these days,

slower and yet somehow much faster,

but maybe we remember time moving differently

because we all took it for granted before.

I know I did.

This year I have watched people lose their dream jobs,

lose their houses,

miss births and funerals,

postpone big milestones;

I have seen the strongest of people

start to slowly unravel.

I have watched friends die,

experience trauma, grieve loved ones,

lose loves and fights, and pieces of themselves;

I have watched the struggle to live in this new reality

take away life-sustaining supports.

But I have also been lucky enough to

watch two people I care about very much get married,

make new friends and strengthen relationships,

learn what it really means to disconnect and unwind,

and most of all, yet again, I’ve seen how resilient the human spirit is.

I have witnessed first-hand people reach rock bottom

and then find their footing again,

there has been innovation from places I least expected it, and

I have seen people pick up the pieces, thread them together,

and march on. Stronger.

And in the end,

despite everything we have learned and

everything we have been through,

against all sense,

we persist.