I have only left my home a handful of times in the last four months due to Covid-19. Being 62 years old, and having asthma and COPD, I’ve felt staying at home was the safest thing for myself and my family. And since my area, St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana has been on lockdown, and now under a mandatory face mask mandate, most local businesses have been closed or doing limited take out.
Even prior to the novel coronavirus outbreak, I had not been as active as a Google Local Guide. When I became one of the lucky 200 chosen to go to Connect Live 2019, I was so excited and honored! But I let anxiety and negative influences overshadow that experience and I pulled out, and didn’t go. I missed out on my last chance, burning bridges that can’t be repaired. I lost enthusiasm for what I used to love. I really felt what I had been doing in the Local Guide Program for accessibility was useless.
But I have begun walking around my neighborhood again, and taking photos, and it made me remember why I became a Local Guide in the first place! To share my area with others, so they can use Google Maps to find the culture and beauty that is uniquely ours.
So I am back, taking photos, making edits, doing reviews that include detailed accessibility information. I will probably never again be invited to a Connect Live event (Connect Live Attendee of the Week Lynne Campo) or be featured on Google’s Instagram again (Disability Awareness Month: Thank You GOOGLE LG For Featuring Me! ) but that’s not why I became a Local Guide. I’m just a nice, elderly lady who takes pictures in her little country town in Louisiana, and I love it.
