Musings from a window overlooking downtown Cape

It has been a half-year since COVID-19 upended our way of life.

The stretch of time between March and now somehow feels both like an eternity and an instant, but as we attempt to understand the situation and move forward with life. In hindsight, those early days of the pandemic seem drastically different.

During the spring, it felt like only two words were used to described the times -- uncertain and unprecedented.

As students were sent home for what felt like the longest summer break of all time, many adults converted to working remotely from whatever space they had available.

A cloudy sunset hangs above a deserted parking lot at the corner of Broadway and Main streets as seen from the second-story window of an apartment Wednesday, April 8, 2020, in Cape Girardeau.BEN MATTHEWS ~ bmatthews@semissourian.com

From my makeshift workspace in the living room of my second-story downtown apartment near the intersection of Broadway and Main Street, I found myself frequently gazing outside as if I were James Stewart's character in the Alfred Hitchcock film "Rear Window," sitting with my camera at the ready in the hopes of witnessing something spectacular.

The city's bustling atmosphere slowly began to resemble a ghost town as stay-at-home orders took hold. As businesses temporarily closed and local residents gained their grasps on the situation, the noisy downtown environment was replaced with a quieter, almost serene feeling.

Over the course of about eight weeks spanning mid-March to early May, the area's remaining occupants soon became familiar faces outside my window.

Regular vehicular traffic was replaced with dog walkers and cyclists. A previously-crowded parking lot began to serve as one of the few remaining outdoor exercise areas in town. The decongested sidewalks became an alluring option for skateboarders after the city's skatepark was closed due to COVID-19.

Amidst the stress and disorientation of the early days of the pandemic, these everyday events took on an entirely new feeling. Witnessing physical interaction between two individuals was suddenly uplifting, and seeing two people kiss on the street suddenly felt like seeing a UFO.

A skater performs a trick at the intersection of Broadway and Main streets Tuesday, April 14, 2020, in Cape Girardeau.BEN MATTHEWS ~ bmatthews@semissourian.com

Although being forced indoors permeated our lives with feelings of being cramped and isolated, it still felt like there was a brief window during those weeks where our entire community stopped in its tracks and focused on one singular issue.

In those early weeks, seeing people together took on an extra meaning. It taught us new ways to value the people in our households, and it reminded us of the importance of human connection.

During this pause there were undeniable feelings of fear, frustration and loneliness. However, those same feelings helped provide new insights on how important even the smallest everyday interactions can be -- almost as if they were a desperate breath of life during the suffocating circumstances we find ourselves in.