Where were you on September 11^th, 2001?

Likely anyone above age five at the time can remember, and every September 11^th people share their ‘where were you’ stories across the internet. I was 13 and had just started 8^th grade at Infant Jesus of Prague in Flossmoor, Ill. Typically, if students arrived before the bell rang, we had to stand outside in our respective grade level line before entering the building, but this morning was different. We were immediately called inside to our classrooms, and as a naïve kid I remember joking with my friends it was “because some idiot drove a plane into a building in New York.”

Later, I remember my second period social studies teacher had the live news up on a big tube television on one of those rolling carts; she told us that this would be our lesson today, and so, we watched. I also remember that we were not allowed to go outside for recess that day because we were on “lockdown.” What a different meaning that now takes on in March 2020.

As the first month of COVID-19 in the U.S. draws to a close, I’m sure in a year (or less than a year as we get past this) we’ll all be sharing our ‘where were you when’ stories about the pandemic that shook the world. For me it was the first week of March that I stopped to pay attention that the virus was spreading through community transmission across the U.S.; but to be honest, I didn’t think it was that big of a deal. By Wednesday March 15^th of the next week, my husband was out at grocery stores stocking up (but not hoarding) on canned goods, dried pasta and meat. I had just been to the grocery store for my regular biweekly trip that previous weekend, so I laughed and said, “I think we’re going to be fine, but sure a few extra groceries couldn’t hurt.”

The next day we got the call; school was going to be out starting Monday, but no mention of how long. On Friday March 17^th we were informed there would be a three-week school break with the first week being our re-assigned spring break since we were supposed to be on spring break the week after Easter.

That Saturday, like many Americans, we went out to the grocery store again to get just a few more essentials. Much to my surprise, we were too late. By Saturday the grocery shelves were empty, and suddenly I was grateful for my husband’s preparedness shopping on Wednesday. On Sunday I spent three hours preparing to homeschool my first grader for the next three weeks, since I knew I would still need to maintain some sense of normalcy working from home. We can’t predict when this will be over, so I’ll go ahead and ask now: Where were you when you first heard about the pandemic in the U.S.?

P.S. I would be remiss if I didn’t take the time through this Meatingplace blog to thank all of you meat processors and retailers working tirelessly to continue to supply U.S. consumers with meat and poultry. THANK YOU.

Where were you when …

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