What a joy it is to see families reuniting. With visitors returning more fully to our campuses, every day we see elders whose faces light up at the sight of a child or grandchild they have not seen in over a year except on a computer screen or through a window. Family members are often smiling through their tears, so relieved at the chance to be close to their loved ones again.

In our own lives, many of us are reconnecting with family and friends whom we’ve seen only virtually. The long isolation is beginning to feel as if it is at an end. These moments are like sunshine breaking through the dark clouds that have hovered over us for longer than any of us would have imagined possible.

And while we are lifting our faces to feel those rays of sun, we cannot forget all that has gone before. Someone recently shared their own visualization with me—that they felt as if they had to brush all of this COVID era away, figuratively sweeping it off themselves and their lives. But not to put it all in a dustpan and throw it away. Rather put it carefully into a box and place that box on a shelf, where we could put it aside but still be reminded.

For those of us who work with older adults, there is a lot to put into the box. It’s a container in which to tuck our fears, anxieties, and stresses. We need to add in all of the sleepless nights and the moments of wondering how we were going to get through. Worrying about testing and about PPE layers into our box along with the struggles to keep staff well and to keep care needs met. We pile in the family concerns, questions, and pressures and the constant communication that never felt like quite enough. And on the top we place our grief, grief for the many elders we lost, grief for the staff and friends and family members whose lives were sacrificed to this pandemic.

There are also things we don’t put into that box, things that we hold onto as we go forward into the future. We hold tightly to the lessons we have learned, to the strength we have found, to the courage that enabled us to survive. We grasp the hope that we never lost, even on the darkest days, and we direct that hope to a brighter future.