Pandemic silver linings after one year of COVID-19 in Minnesota

Saturday marks one year since the first COVID-19 case was confirmed here in Minnesota.

• We asked you to share some good things from a year of lockdowns, grief and uncertainty. Here are some of your responses:

🤝 Family and Friends:

• "I feel like I've had a stolen year with my young teen daughter."
• "Our family [gets] together bi-weekly via Zoom — 4 generations, 3 continents, and multiple U.S. states. ... We have also had a reading call when the youngest generation read story books."
• "After years of debate, my wife and I decided to finally have a baby."

💻 Work and career:

• "Applying and getting accepted to graduate school to pursue a Master in Social Work ... This pandemic has made me realize that social justice advocacy is fluid and will require lifetime advocates."
• "I’m a high school track coach. I wasn’t sure, a year ago, if I still had the desire ... After it was taken away from me ... I realized how terribly much I missed the kids, staff and coaching."
• "Made meetings more efficient."

🔨 Hacks and habits:

• "As of next week, I will have listened to every one of my 745 vinyl records."
• "I decided for a Covid summer project I would walk across Minnesota — both ways. I completed it mid-September. Stillwater Marina to the South Dakota border."

• "I replaced a weekly wine box with a weekly produce box."
• "EVERY SINGLE MAINTENANCE ITEM IN MY HOUSE IS COMPLETE."

🙏 And one deep — and moving — thought to go:

• "The pandemic has forced me to think about, evaluate and strengthen my basic values. Who I am now is better than before."

This story first appeared in the Axios Twin Cities newsletter, designed to help readers get smarter, faster on the most consequential news unfolding in their own backyard.

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