A Case for the Mundane
By Amaia Catan
Moving to an assisted living home in the midst of a global pandemic might seem like a controversial choice, but for Ilona Lund (“Noni”) and her husband, the decision was simple. “The isolation and not knowing how the pandemic was going to end, played a large role in our decision to move.”
Prior to the outbreak of COVID-19, Noni lived with her husband in an apartment in Silver Spring, Maryland. “There were a lot of young people in Silver Spring, so they were working from home,” she said. “You never saw anybody.” Isolation affected Noni immensely, but surprisingly, it was seemingly boring, everyday interactions that she missed most. For Noni and countless others, the pandemic reshaped daily life. A turning point came when Noni saw her sister-in-law die over FaceTime. “My niece visited her, but her two other children couldn’t; they lived in Colorado,” she said. “They saw their mother pass over FaceTime. That was really hard.”
The more Noni thought about it, the more she wanted to be around her peer group, people who understood what she was experiencing. She made the move and hasn’t looked back. I asked Noni about the differences between pre- and post-pandemic life. “I think people are now more conscious of others.” She explained that people today are now more likely to take precautions if they become sick, like wearing masks or staying home.
“One thing that I don’t care for so much is that we became very dependent on technology,” she said. “It’s not always a bad thing, but I think we have lost a lot of interpersonal relationships between you and your physician or even your pastor.”
It was the loss of normal everyday interactions that affected Noni the most. She said that, especially for seniors, small interactions make up the bulk of their social life. As much as Noni suffered from isolation, she equally mourned the loss of the mundane. “It’s the random stuff you don’t think much about. Until you have to.”