A to Z Challenge: My theme this year is NYC before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

TIMES SQUARE: It doesn’t take long to learn why New Yorkers avoid Times Square at all costs. It’s viewed as a necessary evil when seeing a show, or having out-of-town guests who have never experienced it. It’s a sea of slow-moving, awe-struck people taking photos. I can’t fault them, however, because that was me at one point, but not anymore. The luster is gone, although I will say, it’s fun to watch friends and family see it for the first time.

Right now must be the perfect time to visit Time Square. No crowd to get stuck behind; no one accosting you with flyers, CDs, or requests for anything; and no one to get mad at you because you accidentally got in their picture (it’s totally unavoidable given the amount of people). The other best time to see Times Square is when it’s raining. I caught a pic through my clear dome umbrella–which, by the way–is the best umbrella to have in NYC. You can see through it and it won’t get flipped inside out by the notorious wind.

Despite the annoying aspects of Times Square, it’s an iconic symbol of NYC and I can appreciate that. Like most monumental attractions, Times Square has accumulated a long list of fun facts. Here’s a few:

• About 340,000 pedestrians pass through Times Square each day, amounting to 50 million visitors a year.

• An estimated 2 million people packed into Time Square on August 14, 1945 to celebrate U.S. victory in WWII, making it the largest crowd in its history. It’s also when Alfred Eisenstaedt captured the photo of a sailor kissing a nurse.

• Times Square lights can be seen from outer space.

• The Times Square subway station has a mural painted by pop artist, Roy Lichtenstein.

• One Times Square (the building on which the ball drops) is mostly empty. Originally constructed in 1904 as the New York Times headquarters, the building was purchased by Lehman Brothers in 1995 and turned into a giant billboard. Jamestown Properties, who now owns the building, rents out the three bottom floors. The top floor houses the the New Year’s Eve ball. The billboards generate over $23 million per year.

TAKING STOCK: I don’t know about you, but for me, it’s hard to spend these days without thinking about the big picture and what’s truly important. What are we bringing with us when we reach the other side of this pandemic? Will it be back to status quo? Jeez, I hope not.

When cancer took both my father and my father-in-law in 2007, their deaths prompted the almost involuntary act of taking stock; what do I bring with me through this journey of grief? I took stock of my life and immediately, I could identify the unimportant crap not worthy of attention or even acknowledgement. I quit sweating the small stuff, weeded out the piddly junk, and focused on staying present. While occasionally I need a reminder, those lessons I learned thirteen years ago, have stayed with me.

With that said, there’s still way more adjustments and flat-out changes I need to make going forward. This has made mine and The Husband’s priorities evolve and shift over the last month or so and, frankly, it’s kinda cool. It’s been so easy to fall into the consumerism trap and not think about whose pockets we’re filling, and who is getting short changed. What is this pandemic teaching us about our country’s priorities and how we either consciously or unconsciously feed into them? Will this finally force voters and lawmakers to prioritize our broken healthcare system? Our environment? Our criminal justice system? The ridiculous disparity of wealth in this country? The list goes on. Fortunately, writer Julio Vincent Gambuto articulated this so beautifully in his article, Prepare for the Ultimate Gaslighting. I urge you to take a few minutes to read it.

Another “T” I felt worthy to ponder today is “temporal range,” as it pertains to humans. Author John Green gave a tee-riffic commentary on the subject on his podcast, The Anthropocene Reviewed. Check it out.