Cautiously optimistic as I am about the arrival of spring and the last gasp of winter after a couple of days when it didn't make it out of the 40's this week, I have to feel comfortable that the tulips and daffodils sprouting around my house must know something that I don't.
The school calendar isn't lying as the kids are off for the next week, right? And I saw today that the US reached just short of 4 million vaccines, so there has to be joy, right?
And, c'mon - it's baseball season.
A year ago last month, the United States came to a stop, something that nobody in air cargo needs to be reminded of. After all, when the flights were cancelled, the planes were grounded and images like this filled our feeds, we knew it was bad, but nobody really had an appreciation for how long it would remain, nor for how many of our fellow Americans would be lost to the virus.
As if we weren't busy enough thanks to port congestion and delays, all your friends who have no idea what you do for a living became supply chain experts with the escapades of the Ever Given in the Suez Canal.
But if you're in the business like we are - you know that an already constrained air freight market was about to get a whooollllee lot tighter as The Loadstar wrote about this week.
For us at the IACAC, we've been head-down in our own businesses - and kudos and thanks to all of those who have kept the lights on and the doors open to ensure that commerce continues to flow. Overflowing with optimism late last year, I gave our perennial luncheon host Adam Rod a list of dates for 2021 and sadly, we've not been able to avail ourselves of CDOA's usual excellent hospitality.
But...and I cautiously say but...we're getting closer to being together again than needing to remain apart.
We've got webinars planned for this month and next and - honestly - probably still June considering that the time for maximum vaccine efficacy ranges from five to six weeks depending upon which one you get.
July, though? We're thinking...baseball game. Our friends at the Chicago Dogs remain constantly in touch, and we're going to be in touch with them when the time is right.
We can promise for certain that the golf outing is happening as is the raffle - the kids deserve a banner year of scholarships after what we've all been through - but the luncheon is too far away to know what we will be allowed to do. Sponsors of 2019 should be hearing from us this month to gauge their interest in sponsoring a hole again in 2021 and we hope to pick up where we left off with the same smiling faces - masked or unmasked.
For now, I'm going to make sure we've got enough eggs and candy for the kids on Sunday because 70's this weekend portends a wonderful holiday weekend.