Hey there guys!  It has…been a while.

Though I’ve gradually adapted to the new normal that is life during the Coronavirus pandemic, I’ll admit that it was kind of difficult for me personally to muster any inspiration during those first couple months of lockdown. A good deal of my writing on this blog pertains to international travel—a subject that is very much off the table at the moment—and it felt both futile and trivial to publish anything on the subject, considering the steadily escalating discordance and more pressing issues of the world at large over the last six months.  Aside from a dearth of motivation, I was working 60+ hour weeks at a summer camp this season, a rigorous schedule that didn’t really leave much spare time for blog upkeep and maintenance.

Crazy that it’s been half a year since all this started, right?  And to think that three months in, 2020 was still looking fairly bright.  Shakespeare once said that expectation is the root of all heartache, which feels like a good tagline for this year based on my experiences in the first half of it.

Trump announced the European travel ban 10 days before my flight to Prague, just as I’d been all set to skip around overseas for a few months.  The world came to a grinding halt within two short weeks, and I found myself again marooned at my parents’ home in the Midwest, my wings clipped right before takeoff. 

So I read some Mark Twain, journaled, kept up on the news, picked up guitar again, did some minor clothing alterations, decided I was going to finally watch The Office front to back for the first time in its entirety, and cooked up a storm.  You know, all those extravagant, time-consuming dishes with a tedious prep schedule that you put on some back burner to-do list and plan to get to in the intangible future—when you “finally have the time.”  My waistline suffered on account of this period of culinary indulgence, but I’m proud to say I’ve mastered the art of the crepe and can make a roux with the perfect consistency.  Small victories, folks.

If there’s one upside to the pandemic, I’d say it’s that prolonged quarantine drove a lot of people into the vast and abundant arms of the outdoors.  I went on lots of wooded walks early on, with the blooming wildflowers, budding trees and clean, verdant air of springtime acting as a spiritual buoy during a time of intense isolation and uncertainty. 

I’d had a summer gig in Sequoia National Park lined up since February, but it was an opportunity which hung in the balance given the strict and far reaching social limitations imposed by the pandemic. In June, less than a week before its start, I was notified that the camp was going ahead; while I was a bit dubious as to whether or not it would remain open for the entirety of the season, in terms of ways to spend the summer it was the best option available to me at that point.  Without festivals, concerts, parties, cookouts, etc. to attend, being up in the Sierras surrounded by prehistoric rocks and redwoods and away from the drama of 2020 didn’t seem like the worst thing in the world.

Fortunately the camp was able to proceed in some modified form of its normal operation this summer, though most major organized events elsewhere around the world were cancelled.  And while I was bummed about having to sideline my own travel and festival-going plans, for others the loss was more acute, with once-in-a-lifetime celebrations like weddings, graduations, and even funerals being cancelled or postponed until further notice.

The first night that I arrived to camp in mid-June, I met two guests while enjoying an introductory IPA at the onsite bar.  Their daughters had come up the mountain with them, two recent high school grads who had to miss out on their double-header milestones of senior prom and high school graduation.  While we stood chatting around the rustic wooden bartop, the two ladies mentioned that their daughters had brought their dresses up with them, hoping to take some belated prom pictures in the national park.

I’ll admit that my own proms weren’t something I looked forward to in particular. Both times I didn’t decide until the last minute that I would go, and only after caving to pleas from friends. As most ‘adults’ will tell you, they were, in retrospect, very much overhyped.  But at the same time, at least I had the option to choose whether or not I wanted to attend rather than a singular event like a global pandemic removing the option altogether.

I guess that sort of put things in perspective for me, as far as my own pouting in regards to the pandemic; I’d had to postpone a trip abroad while these girls had had to sacrifice two of the more significant events in their high school experience. These girls were missing out on celebratory hallmarks of young adulthood, while I was merely missing out on a fun excursion. My sentimentality may have been increased after a bev or two at 7,500 feet, but I offered my photography services to the girls’ mothers on the spot. 

I did a handful of non-camp related photo shoots upon request during my time there, namely family portraits for various guests and their children (aka Christmas card fodder).  The prom shoot, however, was far and away my favorite shoot of the summer.  I mean, taking your prom pictures in a national park? Waaaaay more epic than the driveway outside of your high school friend’s suburban McMansion, following the same boring tradition of everyone since the 90s.  While John Krasinski’s virtual prom on Some Good News was a solid attempt to bring the joy of this particular rite of passage to the class of 2020, I think the girls and I had a lot more fun in the park.

Pleased to share with you some of of my favorite shots!

Wishing you abundance during these strange and unsettling times.

– Meg