“Remember when all we had to worry about was entitlement spending, dealing with millennials and where to go for dinner?” said Paul. On Zoom, natch. “Look at us now. We’re seriously f—ed.”

“Don’t worry bro,” I said in that reassuring voice I reserve for close friends contemplating suicide, ” It’ll get worse.”

No joke. I was just looking back over countless columns and blog posts I’ve written over the past 13 years, and what seemed like heavy duty controversy back then is pretty lightweight by today’s standards. And you know me. I’m not shy about covering third rail issues. I live for the stuff.

Things have gone seriously downhill. And not in a good way.

Today, waking up with the a hangover, finding your kids still in one piece and taking a walk or going out for some groceries with a mask on is a good day. Actually getting to work and doing your job, now that’s a great day.

Funny how much difference a little sense of purpose and fulfillment makes.

Who’d have thought it’d take so little to make us happy?

Who’d have thought we’d take so much for granted?

We all just want to get back to normal. And if we can just hold onto this moment, we just might realize that we never needed very much to make us happy in the first place. That it’s the simple things in life that matter.

If we can do that, then some good may come of this pandemic.

Image credit Tim Dennell / Flickr