Today I got rid of all our cloth face masks. Our abundant supply of masks saw us through the craziness of the past 2.5 years. The pile of masks encompassed all the various styles and types we purchased or had made for us to find the most comfortable, cutest, best fitting, most stylish accessory to pair with our every outfit. We always grabbed one as we headed out the door for school, the store, appointments, vacations, and community outings. There were always extras stored in the car, my purse, backpacks, and coat pockets for the inevitable times that we'd forget. Of course, this pile does not include the many that were lost or left any number of different places or those that were tossed when they were past their prime. It seems almost surreal to bag them up and remove them from the house.
For almost two full school years, our masks were prominently stored in the mud room by the shoes and backpacks and mask lanyards, easy to grab as we left the house each morning. Once masks were no longer required at school (in about February of this year), they were moved to a less prominent area in the laundry room, still easily accessible for those activities and places that still required them. And although we do still keep a small supply of disposable masks in the car for doctor's appointments and for me to wear into work, our endless supply of cloth masks is no longer needed. It was such a strange period of time as we navigated the novel world of covid. The masks are a reminder of that time. And as life returns to pre-covid normalcy, we still have all the memories and pictures and stories and blog posts about that time when our "new normal" was anything but. We can never forget all that happened in our world and in our family during that time, but it's nice to finally be talking about it in the past tense...and to clear one more piece of it out of our home.
