What do you miss the most?

[russiamommy]

And what have you missed out on?

Following on the “partying” thread, while we all may not miss “partying” we all miss something about “normal” life. And we’ve all missed out on a lot of life’s moments this year. Here are mine, what are yours?

Traveling - I have worked from home for several years, but used to travel regularly for work and pleasure. I used to joke that it kept my sanity. I had two personal trips cancelled and a lot of work trips. I miss it.

Socializing - While I’m not a “partier” I do miss our weekly dinner parties with a close group of friends. I also miss going out to eat. I’m getting tired of my own cooking.

My kids - I haven’t seen my son in almost a year. He’s away at school. In addition to missing him, I just feel so bad for these kids that are missing out on so much. My daughter is pregnant. She lives with us, so we see her all the time, but she’s missed out on so much - baby shower, birthing classes, shopping for clothes. And she can only have one person with her when the baby comes.

We don’t have much to complain about. We haven’t lost jobs, we’ve stayed healthy and we have a baby coming. We have friends that have lost a whole lot more. But it still hasn’t been fun and I’m ready to get back to something that resembles “normal”.

What’s your list?

[Chainfire]

1. I miss eating out

I am getting damn sick of my own cooking.

[SharonClark]

2. I miss theatre, dinner parties, and concerts.

I retired 2 years ago and don’t miss working for a huge company.

[Turin_C3PO]

3. Travel.

Going to concerts, movies, and theatre. Restaurants.

[Siwsan]

4. Traveling. Absolutely traveling

And visiting some of the nice, brew houses in Flint.

My niece wants to go to the Detroit Institute of Arts for her birthday. Honestly, I'm afraid to even consider going.

[johnp3907]

5. Live music.

[russiamommy]

13. Yes - I forgot that one...

On top of the local venues we had tickets for two major concerts that were cancelled.

[RazzleCat]

6. Travel so much

I am very lucky, a big goal in my life was "to see the world". Well lucky to retire early, starting in on that bucket list, loved it so much, now just stuck at home.

[LakeArenal]

7. Where we live there are driving restrictions...

Miss joy rides on Sundays. Miss people watching.

[luvs2sing]

8. I miss smiles.

I miss eating out.
I miss the monthly friends dinner parties
I miss not having to distance from everyone I encounter on my morning walk.
I miss going to a store and browsing.
I miss not having to plan every trip out of the house to the nth degree.
I miss alone time. Hubster has transitioned from working at home to retirement
I miss my old routine..
I miss feeling relatively safe.
I miss spontaneity.
I miss live music.
I miss festivals.

I could go on..last week, I filled three pages..

[LakeArenal]

12. Yes...spontaneity. Exactly right.

We have to think out everything.

[ColoradoBlue]

9. I miss...

traveling, eating out, going to movies, getting together with friends, the theatre - both performing in and attending, and really, just how EASY everything was before. I don't mind wearing a mask but can't tell you how many times I've gotten out of my car and gotten halfway to where I was going but then had to turn around because I left my mask in the car. Ha!

Most of all, I will miss having Christmas with my extended family for the first time in my life and that breaks my heart.

[MyOwnPeace]

10. Dining out,

concerts, live music, church (oops, maybe I should have put that first ), and brew pubs.

[pnwest]

11. Not "partying" per se, but def miss

hanging with my homegirls drinking wine and laughing. Also miss live music.

[Boomerproud]

14. Everything.

Not really getting anything accomplished. What a wasted year and it's neverending.

[a la izquierda]

15. Travelling...

Seeing my friends. I didn’t get to hug my parents before I moved to Europe.

Also not having panic attacks in the supermarket.

[SamKnause]

16. Nothing.

I am a recluse.

It is not stressful or upsetting for me to stay home.

It is my favorite place on the planet.

It is very stressful and upsetting for me to venture out and about.

I love being alone.

[BusyBeingBest]

17. Eating out, traveling to visit far-away family.

[cry baby]

18. Hugging! Taking my grown kids out to eat.

Going to movies in the theater.

[frazzled]

19. Miss having people over for dinners

and conversation. Miss having my granddaughters come to spend the night. Miss wearing "real" clothes.

[onecaliberal]

20. Traveling with my husband, seeing and hugging grandkids and parents

College football tailgates on game day and being on the field with marching band.

[lpbk2713]

21. Dining out.

Some of my favorite restaurants are in danger of shutting down due
to lack of business. I have been eating at most of them for years and
consider a lot of the people who have been there a while as friends. I
would hate to see them close their doors because of the asshole's
apathy to the pandemic.

[Ferrets are Cool]

22. My 20's

Oh, you meant since the pandemic began? My bad.

Inviting friends over. Going out with friends. Shaking hands. Hugs...

[beveeheart]

23. Hugs, seeing smiles,

not having to constantly wonder if it's safe to go where I want to go.



Missed out on: annual visit to East coast to see family and friends, volunteer job (past 10 years) at food bank since March because of safety concerns for us older folks, vacation to see old friend who can no longer leave her house.

[Dial H For Hero]

24. #1: Being able to visit my father in his nursing home. #2: Travel.

I still talk to him every day on the phone, but it's not the same. As for travel, I used to fly to Thailand at the drop of a hat. Now, not so much.....

[lucca18]

25. Travel

In the last ten years my husband and I have been very fortunate to travel to other countries.
We would usually go twice a year.
People all over the world are amazing.

My favorite places have been Sydney Australia and Lisbon Portugal.

That being said, all the pain, suffering and death is overwhelming.
I am so thankful for Joe Biden.
As president, he will do everything in his power to fight COVID-19.

[Runningdawg]

26. My once a week visit to the library

a walk around downtown and finishing with a cup of coffee and people watching. Now I take a thermos of coffee, drive to a big parking lot to watch how few people actually give a damn.

[Bettie]

27. I miss a lot of things

going to movies is the big one. Weirdly enough, I LOVE to go to a movie by myself, but I enjoy the experience so much and miss it terribly.

Eating out. I am a great cook, but at this point, fast food is a treat on the few occasions I go anywhere, because "food I didn't cook" is nice sometimes.

Going to the store just to poke around and look at stuff to kill some time.

Calling a friend and going over for coffee or just to hang out.

Finally, just going ANYWHERE!

My DH is an essential worker, so he's out "going outside" point person.

MY big kids are at college, my small kid (12, so no so small) is doing online learning.

Oh, that's another thing I miss....those few hours alone in the house daily. I haven't been alone for more than fifteen minutes since March.

[peacebuzzard]

28. miss feeling safe; miss my home

I have a home out of the US. My normal life is a US citizen living/working overseas.
All that has stopped.

I took a work leave, I don"t feel safe traveling or taking shared rides, mass transportation or sitting on an aircraft for 10 hours. I don't feel comfortable with using public or shared bathrooms. Anyway, my normal flight route is gone, taken off schedule. I would have to take multiple legs through other cities/airports to get to my other home and workplace.

I have a refuge with a stateside rural home in TN. But I worry about the refrigerator I left on in my overseas home.

I also miss a lap swimming routine. I am out of shape. I do not feel safe with another swimmer in the next lane at the enclosed pool in the YMCA or sports club doing laps and heavy exhale/inhale. I miss the pool I went to overseas, it is tropical there &the pool is an outdoors olympic salt pool. I really miss that. I would feel safer swimming outdoors.

[bluestarone]

29. I miss the PRE Covid-19 America!

How ONE man( i know it was more than one) did this is beyond me.

[Retrograde]

30. Taking the train to San Francisco

and then taking Muni to one of the museums. They're technically re-opened, but I don't want to expose myself to that many people.

My weekly sewing circle at the local senior center: it's been closed since March. One of my other sewing groups has a weekly Zoom session but it's not quite the same as getting together in person to admire each other's work.

Theater and live music. Making a big pot of chili to share with the gaming group.

[Leith]

31. I miss spontaneous outings

Not that I did that so much but it was such a luxury to go to the grocery store 2 days in a row because I forgot something the first time. Sometimes, if I was bored, I would go to a casino to play some nickel video poker for an hour or 2.

Now 3 months can go by before I get gas for the car.

On the plus side, it's kind of nice to get back in my jammies after showering. The only days I get dressed in regular clothes is when we go to our in-laws (our safe pod mates). That made a nice reduction in laundry and gas usage.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

32. Geeks Who Drink tops my list of things I miss.

Next is the various s-f things I normally attend. Back in April there was to have been one in Seattle called Norwescon. I was going to take the train from New Mexico, via Chicago, spend a few days doing standard tourist stuff, then do the con, then fly home. Would have been a great trip! The 2021 Norwescon is going to be virtual. I'm hoping to attend in person the next time that's possible.

I miss other travel in general. I was on a cruise March 1-18, to Hawaii, and it was wonderful. I will cruise again some day.

I last saw my son, who lives on the east coast, last year in October when he visited me. I have no idea when I'll see him again.

Same with family in the Kansas City area, and Tucson.

I do miss eating out, but fortunately I tend to like my own cooking. Plus I can still get carryout when I want it.

Being able to browse the shelves of my local library. They do curbside pick-up, and have the drop box for returns, but I miss being able to chat with the librarians, read the magazines, and just browse the shelves and come across some interesting book that way.

I am one of the lucky ones in that since I was already retired, my day-to-day life is not particularly impacted. My income is the same, and I'm saving a lot of money because of hardly ever eating out and so much less travel. I will do some serious splurging when this is eventually over.

[russiamommy]

39. I was supposed to go on a tramsatlantic/European cruise in April last year

It was a major bucket list item. Obviously it didn’t happen. Hopefully some day. 😒

[Vinca]

33. The only thing I've really missed is treasure hunting. It's been my routine since the late 1990's

to frequent yard sales and bazaars every Saturday morning looking for antiques for resale and the occasional real treasure. For years I've usually found one great thing at the beginning of summer and another great thing in the fall with a whole lot of interesting stuff in between. This year was different. No sales. No nothing. No pottery finds, no art I don't want to part with and add to my stash, no signed first editions. Nothing. I gave up my booths at a local antique store a couple of months ago because it just wasn't profitable anymore and I didn't like being exposed to other people since I'm older. I hope someday to pick up where I left off, but I guess we just don't know what will happen.

[Thyla]

34. Not much to be honest, or quite a bit, not sure lets see how this post plays out

There are a few simple things like certain restaurants or even just a normal weekly shop but what I have come to realize is that any of these little ´normal´ things are really not all that important anyway.

What I miss is a lifestyle that we don´t have, I miss having a connection with nature and being honest to oneself in the way we do things. I´ve realized that while we live comfortably and are very lucky in that respect but we are trapped in a routine of our own creation and if being totally honest it doesn´t have to be that way.
Not that I´m not happy, we are but it could be different. Possibly better and taking more self responsibility.
I don´t know, it´s vague but suburban living, working for the man and living week to week to please others... well the shine has worn off. I´d rather make less money doing something I belive in.

And on that I guess I miss a normal world where one can make these changes easily. I´d like to see airfares back home get back to normal. I´d rather not have to pay for a quarantine. I want a normal world where I can sell our house at a fair price. Have contractors in and not worry for my families health.

[MustLoveBeagles]

35. I miss normalcy

My husband and I started working for the state in 2017 and 2018 respectively He works remotely from home and rarely goes into the office. I go to office on Monday and Friday for the work that can't be done remotely. Everything else I do at home. We got these jobs just in time. If we were in the same position we were jobwise even three years ago this would've destroyed us financially and we'd be homeless. So we don't have the financial stress that many have. However there are things we can't do now or had to postpone because of this.

We'd planned to go to Germany to visit his daughter and her family in June. Needless to say that didn't happen. I'd been banking vacation days for over a year to make that happen. We haven't met our youngest granddaughter yet;only seen her in pictures. She's turned 4 in July. We haven't seen the others in 5 years.

I have fertility issues and had seen a doctor about it. With the pandemic I put those plans on hold. I just can't bring a baby into this nightmare. Time isn't on my side. I've since gone into the early stages of menopause. Thanks to the irresponsible and selfish fuckwits that didn't take this pandemic seriously this crisis will be dragged out far longer than it otherwise would've been. I see this continuing well into 2021 and possibly 2022 even with the vaccine. By then it will probably be to late for me and I'm pissed about that.

I'm an introvert but I occasionally liked to go out to dinner with friends or to my favorite sushi place with my husband. We do carry out but it's not the same. I miss being able to go where I wanted, when I wanted without having to worry or risk death. I miss going to the movies.

Even though we're luckier that many others the whole situation has made me depressed and anxious. So many people have died needlessly or will have life long health problems because of Typhoid Donnie's mismanagement and neglect of the pandemic. I hate that the future seems so uncertain. I don't like feeling out of control.

[Dem2]

36. Chicken wings and a drink at the bar

After my workout at planet fitness.

That little routine was kind of fun. You do something good for you, and then you do something bad for you. Fun!

[Iggo]

37. Tons.

For starters:

Buses.
Trains.
Uber.
Movies on the big screen.
Taking the 4 year old to the park. Hell, dropping him off and picking him up from pre-school whenever I got the chance, now that I think about it.
Visiting family.
Being visited by family.
Enjoying a good steak at my favorite restaurants.
Live music in all the standard venues: bars, clubs, palladiums, amphitheaters, arenas, and stadiums.
Crowded malls and shopping centers.

Shit like that.

[BannonsLiver]

38. Travel

Have had to reschedule a trip to Hawaii twice. Had planned on going to France this fall when the year began. Now it’s looking like 2022 (if we’re lucky) for any outside the US travel.

[Tink41]

40. Hugging

I haven't hugged,kissed my adult child since March. I have kissed and facial rubbed the back of my first grandchild newborn head.
I know that newborn smell is fleeting, and I'm in tears now thinking about it. I decided that if I got it from that I could deal with the consequences. I had totally quarantined myself for a month before the birth. It would be worth it. My Mom, and Grandmother are gone this whole thing is especially difficult to deal with. I'd live like this the rest of my days if that was the one thing we could do.

[raccoon]

41. Travel. Plays. I'd like to travel more before I get too old to enjoy it. Nt