CHAMBER NEWS & VIEWS
Let’s just keep moving forward
Lynne Conlan is executive director of the South Hillsborough Chamber of Commerce. Call her at 813-634-5111, or email lynne@southhillschamber.com/.
As we move forward and start getting our lives back to a “new” normal, we should all be thrilled and do our happy dances. At the chamber, we are holding events in person again. I’ve even snuck in a couple of quick hugs. I’ve missed faces, all those beautiful faces, in the past fifteen or so months. It’s pure joy, but….
I cannot believe I’m saying this, but there are things about the lockdown that we may miss now that we are moving forward. Like what, you ask? Like masks. Seriously. OK ladies, go with me here. It’s Saturday morning, and you need to go to the grocery store. Throw on your mask, shades and a baseball cap, and you’re ready. No makeup or hair styling needed. You’re totally incognito. This is a true time and effort saver. Then, for the ladies again – sorry guys, I will get to you: High heels. I have worn heels once in the past fifteen months. Dresses? Same deal: just once, and that was the same day as the heels day. My board of directors should not freak out. I am not wearing jeans and sweats to work. I’m nicely dressed, just not dressy. And I will miss that not dressy look going forward.
For those of you who worked or still work from home, I think you may miss the kids and pets: maybe not during Zoom calls, but other times, sure. They may not miss you, but we’re not talking about them. You’ll probably miss the money you saved, at least the money saved by not going out to dinner. But you probably shopped a lot more on line for other stuff. So no savings there. I’m now looking around my living room, and I can clearly see all my regrets. I don’t shop at work, so it is safe and less expensive there.
And for some strange reason, we’ll miss making sour dough bread. How did that even happen? Totally out of the blue everyone was learning how to make sour dough bread, and I have no clue why. And I never joined in on the “fun.” And I’ll probably never get another DYI project completed. Those were done in the first month out of pure boredom.
This one is probably for me only. I will miss Zoom calls, and I refuse to be stopped. Our chamber members are totally Zoomed out. But I have realized I can participate in about four to five important calls per day without leaving my desk. If I had to run all over town to get to those same meetings, it just couldn’t happen, even with my fast car and lead foot. So, I remain a committed Zoomster although I’m not sure that is even a real word. It is a state of mind.
Let’s just keep moving forward, regrets and all!
