The waterlogged, wrist-thick cedar branch probably came to rest on the gravel bar as the tide retreated. It’s a big tide on Alaska’s Prince of Wales Island — 15-foot fluctuations between high and low aren’t unheard of. But there it sat, this salt-soaked branch coated in sea slime and a few barnacles. It was heavy and sturdy. Just what I needed. I lifted the branch—about the size of a police baton—and brought it down swiftly on the head of the silver salmon I’d spent the last 20 minutes fighting, killing the fish instantly.

Dinner.

Remember when 2020 came to a close? When most of us eagerly put that pandemic-spiked year into the rearview mirror with zeal, assuming that 2021 would mark a return to all things normal? When we'd gather with friends, return to traveling the country and the globe, and work and play just as we had before a novel coronavirus showed up and turned life upside down? Well, that didn't exactly go to plan. But, at the same time, it didn't entirely not go to plan, either. Life did begin to return to normal—even if it happened more gradually than most of us would have liked or expected.