Mar 7, 2021 3 min read

The clock is hopefully ticking.

Too many people have suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the past year, many of our friends and neighbors have been sickened and the fabric of a wide swath of area families has been irrevocably altered by the deaths of cherished loved ones.

Through all that suffering, however, there are beginning to be signs that time is running out on this worldwide phenomenon.

After partying too heartily around the holidays, we suffered through a surge in coronavirus cases this winter. As we took a step back and reinvested ourselves in the utilization of proven mitigation techniques, in conjunction with the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccines, we finally seem to be beating back the disease.

With that in mind, and this doesn’t mean we should be letting our guard down in relation to the coronavirus, it has only been natural that many people have begun to view this spring and summer with a renewed sense of optimism.

Even if we still have many months ahead of us before we get back to normal, there are lessons learned from living through the pandemic last year that should provide plenty of fun – and safe – activities once again a year later.

The first of which is just staying in.

There’s no doubt we all went a little bit stir crazy over the past year while sheltering in place. There’s also little doubt that many of us got to spend quality time connecting with loved ones in a way that wouldn’t have been possible before the pandemic.

It’s hard to imagine that years from now I, for one, won’t look back fondly on the major amount of time I got to spend bonding with my wife and toddler that otherwise would have been interrupted by my life getting in the way.

Of course I missed socializing with friends and doing things like going to concerts, working out at my gym and riding my motorcycle, but it’s difficult to fully express how amazing the time was that I got to spend one-on-one with the two most important people in my life.

Hopefully you also got to experience that silver lining in the noteworthy mess of the past year.

I’m also looking forward to getting back to improving the inside and outside appearances of my Scott Township home.

Much of sheltering in place during the pandemic for me and my wife, Jill, meant hustling to spring clean, paint rooms, tear up shrubbery, plant new trees and flowers, and lay down new mulch during nap times and after our son, Jack, went to bed each night.

The ticking time bomb that is his often erratic sleep schedule brought about plenty of stress and laughs as we went about achieving each of the chores we put in front of ourselves.

I’m looking forward to more of that over these next few months.

This “Home and Garden” themed edition of South Hills Living should provide plenty of assistance for those of us who are looking to do more work around the house.

This magazine contains stories and tips for gardening and home improvement from several local authorities on the subjects, whose guidance and expertise has me raring to get back out there and improve my surroundings.

It is my sincere hope we all continue to escape the tragedies of life in a pandemic, cherish the memories we made and sap at least a little more joy out of spending time safely and responsibly working and playing with our most cherish friends and family.

Again, the clock is ticking.