Moving Home in a Strange Year

Anna Bromberger, 21, is taking a gap year from UW-Milwaukee. She is currently a daycare teacher in Hartland, Wisconsin. With the break in her college education, a move home and a change in jobs, the pandemic has influenced her life in many ways. However, her main focus has been appreciating her loved ones and making every moment count.

Q-Brady Jager: What has been the hardest thing about living through a pandemic?

A-Anna Bromberger: How quickly everything shifted. It went from us hearing about it in the news to “It’s in New York and L.A., it’s in Chicago, it’s in Milwaukee,” and then everything shut down. My birthday was the day after everything closed. That was a minor problem in the grand scheme of things, but at that moment it was disappointing.

Then, moving out and moving back in with my parents. I was already two years into college and pretty used to living on my own. Having to move back home and losing my job happened so quickly. There was no time to even process it. A whole year later, I still don’t think I have processed it. I have learned how everything can change in a moment.

Q: Are there any moments that you have processed where you realized the severity of the situation?

A: The first moment that I realized how serious this whole thing is was around May of 2020. My mom is in the medical field seeing it first hand and she told me it was awful and it would not be done soon.

I could not go back to my job because it wouldn’t be safe. I knew my family was at risk. Both my parents were very high risk and if they got it, they were going to die. I recognized that and I realized that it was not going back to normal anytime soon.

Q: What was the main fear that led through your decision processes?

A: Losing family was the scariest part of all of this. I had multiple people in my life, where if they got Covid, they were not going to survive. Thankfully, no one super close to me got it.

Also, the fear that this was never going to be over. I think I still have that fear. People do not want the vaccine, so it is still going to be going on. And how effective is this vaccine? I just got it, but it is still new. Will it ever actually go back to normal? Will I ever feel safe not wearing a mask?

Q: What have you learned about your family through these fears, experiences, and all that you have endured together?

A: You have to appreciate the time with them while you have it. I saw my grandma twice this past year. I did not see my other grandma a single time. FaceTime, while its great technology, can only do so much. My family and I have talked about trips we need to make and people we need to see because we took them for granted.

Q: Do you think that this fear will impact the rest of your life?

A: I live in the moment more than I did before Covid in little ways that I would not have realized. Every time I get to see someone I love, I think “at least I got this time”. Another spike could happen tomorrow and everything could shut down again.

Q: Through seeing the community around you, do you think this is an example of a universal experience or a personal experience?

A: I think it is how you look at it. I think that was the biggest thing, people couldn’t look at it as a universal experience. If you look at the U.S., no one was looking at it in a universal aspect. Everyone was like, “it’s fake, my freedoms are being taken away”. The whole world was going through it, it was a global pandemic. I think that showed our nation’s colors. It was so disappointing and embarrassing to witness. They didn’t care because it wasn’t them.

I get worked up over it because that was a time to come together. There were a lot of other things that came up in the past year that were unrelated to Covid that people came together on, which was beautiful to witness. But as a whole nation, it was very disappointing and embarrassing. People needed to look outside of themselves and see the bigger picture, but they just couldn’t.

Q: Do you think that you will ever be able to let this embarrassment go? Is this going to affect the way that you view these people for the rest of your life?

A: It already has. Friends I had before Covid, I have completely taken out of my life. I don’t want to be associated with anyone who can’t think outside themselves. It is embarrassing and sad to see that they cared more about going to a party than the greater well-being of the people around them.

Q: Do you feel that there are people that you have gained more respect for during this time?

A: Not in my personal life, but those pockets of people coming together really did shine a light. I went to a Black Lives Matter march, and that was one of those moments. Everyone was united, had a mask on, and giving each other space. Everyone was there for multiple causes. Moments like that were one of the few times in the past year where I have felt that there was hope.

I got my vaccination and I am starting to feel safer. I am starting to feel the tension release and people are finally starting to breathe a little.