Live, laugh, learn

As soon as lockdown happened, I knew I was going to miss people in a way that was going to hurt my heart. I lost my job in April and a lot of the regular connectivity I had access to was quickly dwindling. Before the pandemic, I learned about people having in person PowerPoint parties. This seemed the perfect activity and way to connect that wasn’t both fun and low stress (zooms with more than two people felt overwhelming initially but if everyone’s taking turns talking, not so much!)

We met for the first time in May and have been meeting monthly ever since. Attendees span the entire US. Sometimes people show up and don’t have a presentation. We recently did a care package exchange to celebrate a year of staying home. It’s brought us all a lot of joy and comfort. We have a slack channel and various offline communications to keep our spirits up. We celebrate our good news and lift each other up through the unexpected hardships. Forever Friendships have formed. A community that we’ll continue well into whatever awaits us as things continue to improve.