“It was the best of times and the worst of times.”  

TIME! Lives have been dictated by time for a short time or a long time.  By moments in time and by things that stopped time. By musical timing and production timing. In March 2020, time, as we knew it, stood still.  

We knew (hoped?) this episode would be over in a short time. We would soon go back to normal times.  Now, when we refer to things in the past of our Sweet Adelines experience we have to stop to add almost 2 years of time that seemed to stand still.  

Now, as we begin to look at our Sweet Adeline world in a different light, we prepare for 2022 Competition and Virtual Convention, we pause to wonder what did we do during this time? 

Luckily for us, in Region 26, Zoom was already a “thing”! In a short time we embraced the technology, got everyone up to speed and we were on our Virtual way to Coaching nirvana.  Every week we joined up with an education session from some corner of the Sweet Adelines world we had never been to before.  We started learning songs virtually with our new best friend Jen and that meant the relationship with our recording devices was one like we had never had before.  Then it was time to bring out the Virtual Video Program!! Well, that could have finished us but perseverance prevailed. With full support for all the mates who saw a way to make it happen, we all became a proud group of virtual participants, in time for contest 2021.  

The weeks morphed into months and the months soon approached more than a year.  The isolation continued but we found that spending time together for any reason was very good for our psyche! We loved coming to events online, in our own home, without the need to battle traffic or weather.

We heard it was very challenging for Directors who had to sort out all the details of Zoom rehearsals but we only saw a remarkably clean finished product and we took it for granted our Director was a super star.  In the meantime we were cheerfully singing in the privacy of our own home! We worked on what??  Our own vocal skills!  Did it stick after 22 months?  Only time will tell! 

We do know this long standing 65-year chorus tackled life in the time of pandemic and came out on the other side with a more positive outlook than when we started. Our best takeaway from this time: we had to work hard at staying alive, literally, figuratively, virtually.  

We can’t wait to see Region 26 at our “celebration of singing together again” on the risers.  

Susan McLean