The COVID-19 pandemic has brought with it plenty of negatives in the forms of lives lost, an economic downturn, and our way of life upended in many respects. It’s important, however, to find the silver linings in even the darkest of clouds.

Amsterdam Cares for Rehabilitation and Nursing would like to share an opinion piece written by longtime writer and University of Amsterdam educator Howard Wolf.

Wolf describes scenes around town this summer that were born from things we can no longer do (albeit temporarily) due to fears of spreading the novel coronavirus.

In order to escape the monotony of being quarantined in the house, people are turning to the great outdoors perhaps more than they have in a generation or two. Have you taken out the lawn chairs to enjoy the summer weather and converse with neighbors across driveways or perhaps gather around a fire pit? Face-to-face connection sure beats Facetime and Skype!

While socializing with friends in Delaware Park, Wolf notices all sorts of outdoor activities people are reconnecting with now that there isn’t a game to watch, a bar to visit, or a movie to go see. Family bike rides, friends off to fish in Hoyt Lake, seniors out for strolls, and bird-watchers are commonplace in Amsterdam this summer – right out of a Norman Rockwell painting. It would seem more pleasant if there wasn’t the realities of the virus looming.

Wolf’s hope is that once this pandemic is behind us – whether that’s when a vaccine is introduced or at some other period of time – people don’t forget these simple pleasures that they’ve rediscovered out of necessity.

To learn more about Amsterdam Cares for Rehabilitation and Nursing and all of the services they offer, visit https://amsterdamcares.org/.