I’m listening to WYEP (local radio station) and they’re playing the lockdown countdown music list. I think that has a ring to it – don’t you? Lockdown Countdown…we should use that to mean coming out of Lockdown..although we don’t know what that actual countdown is. Do you think we’ll be back to going to work May 1? I don’t. I’m seeing more June in my crystal ball head of mine. If I’m honest, which I usually am, I’m not ready for it to be over. I’m ready for no one to die, but the whole stay at home thing, well I don’t think we’re ready to move on from this lesson in life. I can’t watch the news without crying about all the goodness in people. I love how it’s uniting the world. THE WORLD. When I think about how this affects every single person in the world, well it’s uniting isn’t it? I’m afraid if it’s over too soon the “goodness” side of this quarantine won’t have lasting effects. Of course the sadness of this situation with all of the unemployment and deaths is the heartbreaking side. I wish I could do more.
I guess the main thing we can do is try the stay at home thing. There are a lot of people that still think it’s a “hoax” or maybe hoax is not the right word, maybe the right word is overkill? Or over reaction? But will it kill us to stay at home just incase it’s not a hoax? The alternate reality, if it’s not a hoax, is it could kill us if we don’t stay home. We don’t really know the truth do we? I mean none of us really know. I am not home all the time. I go grocery shopping. And I don’t want to admit other indiscretions. I went out on Friday to pick up a prescription, then some Easter stuff since I was out. I wore two sets of gloves and a face mask. Have a bottle of antibacterial hand sanitizer gel in the car and disinfectant wipes in my purse. So I’m at the prescription counter, I attempted to use the ATM machine with gloves on. The gloves are too big, I hit the wrong buttons, my glasses fogged up, I couldn’t see. I took off all my gloves, pulled my face mask down and used my bare hands on the key pad that countless people touch all day long. Left the mask off so I could breathe and see my way out of the store and threw the gloves out into the garbage on the way out of the store. I can’t count the number of times I touched my face. But when I got in the car I used my hand sanitizer. It is not easy.
I guess when I ask myself, what more can I do? the answer is “just stay home.” Don’t fight with the mask and gloves, just stay home. I have one errand to do today, dropping off food, then I’ll stay home for 14 days. Except I won’t because I’ll need food again. See?
There are those (myself included at first) who thought that the flu kills many more people. And the numbers may suggest that, but personally I have never known anyone to die from the flu. And I know the hospitals aren’t lining up bodies in the ER during flu season. And I know that there aren’t people with the flu who are healthy one minute and 3 hours later on a ventilator and then die. So even though many are comparing this illness similar to the flu, or even less deadly than the flu, is it really comparable? Is it? I don’t know. It doesn’t feel like the same thing. I think it’s like the plagues in biblical times. If we don’t have lambs’ blood above our door will it come for us?
These are the questions that are swirling in that ever-active head of mine. Trying to stay calm, stay sane, and do the right thing.
Here are some other questions swirling around my head?
- Do we really not use 2 spaces after a period? Do people check? And who are these people checking? I can’t possibly retrain my typing skill to go one space after a period. I can’t do it.
- How long will it take my body to get back into shape after not exercising for a month? Not that it was “in shape” before but it was better than this.
- How many baked goods can I make and eat without going into a diabetic coma?
- Is it worth buying a desk for only one more month of this work at home thing?
- What’s the real story on facemasks? Are they or aren’t they effective?
- How do people keep vermin out of their gardens? I thought about maybe putting a couple of tomato plants or herbs on my deck but I already have more wildlife than a nature preserve. Do I want to feed them too?
All that aside, it’s my Jimmy’s (youngest son) bday. It is a good day. He is 29. Life goes on. I wonder what his 30th will be like. Indeed what will the world be like one year from now.
xoxox