Finding Community and Joy in the Midst of Isolation and Loss Mere months ago, who would have imagined the utterly devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on life, livelihood, and simply on living? I recently lost a position I held for nearly 22 years, part of a career that has spanned considerably longer, if you factor in the years of undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral training that set me on my career path. The ending was abrupt, like a punch in the gut, even with indications that it might be coming. I felt I lost my identity, the essence of who I am – who I’d always wanted to be since my earliest memories, when I knew that I wanted to become an astronomer. One day after being laid off, I experienced a personal revelation that left me with a profound, though fleeting, sense of peace, even joy, akin to the giddiness Ebenezer Scrooge feels at the end of A Christmas Carol , after being gifted with the Divine Grace that enables him to see the world through new eyes. I still ...