Although the daily visits in the fall of 2019 (the orange line) dwarf the stats from 2010 (the blue line), you can still see the spike (in the green circle) that occurred on October 7, 2010 when my daughter had surgery.

Many people have emailed, called, or messaged me to ask how I’m doing – especially since I am living outside of the US where the infrastructure and medical care may be perceived by some to be less reliable.  The recent questions about my wellbeing made me think about October 7th, 2010.  That was the day that my 4-year-old (now 13) had surgery to remove her thyroid because she had Graves Disease.  It was a time of crisis for me and for the rest of my family.

After my daughter’s surgery was over and she woke up from the anesthesia and asked for pancakes, I spent a very long night at her bedside.  At some point I checked on iDigHardware, and was stunned to see a huge spike in visitors that day.  I couldn’t believe it – people came to the site to see if there was any news about my daughter, or just because they were thinking of me.

That’s when I realized that this is more than just me “creating content” – it’s a community of real people who share information, and who support each other and the industry.  I’m a connector – I love to meet people and find out what they’re all about, and to connect someone who has a need with someone who might be able to fill it.  The role that I’ve created is really a dream job for me – I have a purpose and I feel like I make a difference.  By sharing information through iDigHardware, we all make positive contributions to the industry and to public safety.

I know that for many of us, our world today looks a lot different than it did a couple of weeks ago.  Schools are closed here, and my daughter is home from the University of Tennessee.  The current advice is to stay in the house and/or away from other people as much as possible, so we’ve been doing that.  Fortunately, we have access to food and other supplies, and I have been working at home for years, so we’re ok.

I also know that many people are struggling, for various reasons.  I won’t list them – we all know what difficulties and worries we have personally.  I don’t know how long the current situation will last or what things will look like when we come out on the other side.  BUT – what I do know is that staying connected to each other will help.  Yesterday I noticed that when I talked to someone on the phone or via video conferencing, I felt less isolated, less stressed.

For many of us, work has slowed down – to a dull roar as my mother would say.  This gives us a chance to catch up and maybe even work on some projects that we haven’t had time for.  I have seen SO MANY online opportunities – classes on exercise, dance, language, art, tours of museums and zoos, authors reading kids’ books, and teachers leading science experiments.  We have the technology to stay connected and yes – even productive.

So my question is this…what can I do to help you?

You may be thinking that codes and door hardware are the last things you want to think about when you’re facing weeks in the house and toilet paper is in short supply, but let’s give it a try!  I have the panic hardware webinar coming up on April 16th, and the recorded one about classroom security already available on the webinars page.  We are working on other ways to move training that would normally be done in person, online.

What else would be helpful?  I need some ideas!

Stay safe and healthy, people.  And if it helps to just connect with other iDH readers by writing in the reply box and telling us how you’re doing or what you’re up to, that would be great too.  I’d love to hear from you.

You need to login or register to bookmark/favorite this content.