LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — It's been two years since the pandemic started here in Arkansas. For many of us, it's felt as if time has flown by.
For Chip Meadows, co-owner of Scallions in the Heights in Little Rock, he's felt every day.
"Some days it feels like it's the longest day of, you know eternity, and in other ways, it's like life is going faster than you think it's going to," Meadows said. "To look back on it now, doesn't even do it justice, just the uncertainty."
Now it's two years into the pandemic and Meadows is looking back at some of the most difficult years for his business he's ever had.
"Frustratingly uncertain is how I would remember those days," Meadows said.
He's not alone. Candy Wilkerson owns Capitol Smokehouse and Grill in downtown Little Rock.
She was also in a tough spot. Wilkerson says if she hadn't owned the property, she might not be speaking to us about her business today.
"Probably not, to be honest, it was a struggle," she said. "Like I said, we were closed for seven weeks."
Thankfully, they're still here greeting customers for lunch like they were before the pandemic.
"Just all of a sudden, we're back," Wilkerson said. "We're full-tilt and going strong."
Getting here wasn't easy. Wilkerson says they probably lost half the revenue they would have gotten had the pandemic not happened.
They're counting themselves lucky after so many others were forced to close.
"Catastrophic," she said. "So many of my friends in the restaurant business are gone now and they're not coming back."
There are still issues to work through, though.
"Availability is a big question mark, and it's wildly unpredictable," Meadows said. "It's still frustrating and uncertain."
While it may seem as if everything is going back to normal two years on, Meadows knows they still have a long road ahead.
"Pray for everybody, that's, you know, in business and trying to serve the public, because it's every bit as challenging today as it has been throughout the pandemic," Meadows said.