On This Thanksgiving 2020, I’m Thankful.. For A Global Pandemic

I want to say Happy Thanksgiving to all of you, and I want to say I am happy for the coronavirus pandemic.

But hold up, don’t get it twisted.

I know so many people are suffering. Deaths, sickness, unemployment, evictions, food insecurity, missed holidays, missed family and friends, the inability to have those relaxing, recharging vacations.

I know so many people are dealing with illness and sickness that’s not even Covid-19 related, with friends and family having loved ones who have cancer or Alzheimer’s Disease.

I am thankful because it brought me back to life.

My own mom died of a massive stroke in 2016, but that was after years of suffering from Alzheimer’s.

I was laid off from my web design job in 2013, then later I got fired from another web design job where I kept on clashing with management and had major creative differences on the web design and development process. Those two experiences destroyed my self-esteem.

I tried enrolling in a Master’s degree program at DePaul University in Human Computer Interaction. I actually was excellent at it, and got straight A’s until it got till the mandatory statistics class that you need a B in to move forward in the course. Needless to say my still-count-on-my-fingers self crashed and burned, and I had to withdraw from the program. Another failure.