On March 6, 2020, we made the difficult decision to close the Bar Center for the safety of our staff and our members. That same week, I pulled my son out of day care with the intent to keep him home for two weeks to flatten the curve. Our Bar Center remains closed, and my son’s daycare permanently closed in the summer.
This morning, the realization that it has been a year — a year!! — since this pandemic started to change our lives hit hard. I have never cooked at home like I did in the last year. My appliances may be even more tired than I am given the number of dishes and the sheer volume of laundry it seems that I do. I miss hugging people. I miss walking downtown in the sunlight and hearing the guy on the corner playing the sax. I miss being able to walk out of the house and come back without obsessing that I may be bringing something into the house that could kill my grandmother. Across the spectrum, our lives have changed.
With the end in sight, sometimes the continued journey seems a little harder. So, as we start a new month, I want to focus on the wins:
Our courts have re-started jury trials and jurors are showing up!
Civil lawyers can use MS Teams now and don’t have to pay for Court Call! (#sorrynotsorry, CourtCall … and yes, you can still use CourtCall if you like it better, don’t worry.)
SDCBA member Stephen Hogan won the free upgrade to an SDCBA Patron Membership for filling out the Membership Survey. (And I absolutely want to thank everyone who took the time to give us guidance for this year).
The Awards Committee met and selected the 2021 award recipients, who will be announced shortly — spoiler alert: They are ah-mazing!
Join me today in thinking of four things that are a win for you. It doesn’t matter if they are big or small; take the time to be grateful. It changes everything.
As SDCBA Honorary Member, City of Carlsbad Council Member Teresa Acosta said today when I was meeting with her, “Choose positivity and optimism!”
If you are struggling with choosing positivity, you aren’t alone. Visit our SDCBA Wellness page for some ideas that might help, like free meditation from UCSD. If you are struggling more than that, (800)273-8255 is the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. It is available 24 hours, in English and in Spanish. They also have coping tips for emotional distress related to COVID-19.
Yours,
Renée N.G. Stackhouse
2021 SDCBA President
Reading now: The Gifts of Imperfection by Brené Brown
Listening to: “Rent” Soundtrack
What are you reading or listening to? Tag us #sdlaw #sdcba