BEYOND THE MARGIN By Joe Spear
February resilience and dining out(side) H
alfway through winter, February can test our resilience. The things we miss in our COVID-19 world have become all too clear nearly a year into the pandemic. And the losses can manifest themselves in sometimes extreme ways if we’re not careful. The American Psychological Association in a recent survey notes about 30% of Americans showed symptoms of depression a month or so into the pandemic — triple the usual number. But stoic Minnesotans mostly don’t make a visit to a therapist as the first line of defense. More likely the last. In between, there are behaviors we adopt as a way to ease into compensating for what has been lost. And, of course, columns like this can be one of those adaptations as long as you’re willing to wait for the silver lining at the end of the 800 words of depressing thoughts. But think of it like a winter sunset beyond barren trees that actually offers more of a view than a summer sunset. The leaves aren’t in the way, and you’re more likely to see more of the sun drop behind a prairie horizon. Over the last year, we’ve worked through our stayat-home orders and our shutdowns. We got used to
10 • FEBRUARY 2021 • MANKATO MAGAZINE
summer dining outdoors and 50% capacity indoors. We got used to COVID tests on every corner. The governor eventually told us not to invite friends over to watch the Vikings game but raised hope we could do the Twins opener in person. Maybe. We went to great lengths to study the numbers and not leave the house without knowing the seven-day moving average of COVID cases from Pipestone to Grand Marais. And the death counts were depressing with even the objective press calling them dreadful. Because, of course, they were. And just for good measure along the way, 2020 offered riots spurred by racial injustice and an election spurred by, well, how we think about racial injustice and a number of other things, not the least of which included the tripling of our annual budget deficit. When the election came, some 80 million or so cursed the devil of their choice in unison. ■■■■ Another shutdown came before the holidays hit, but the restaurants could still offer service outside. In January. February. So the thought of dining outdoors in February
