I was thinking about this today.
I was thinking about this yesterday. And probably will tomorrow, too. So, maybe this is more for posterity and catharsis than anything else, but a year from now I’ll want to look back and not just remember that I was thinking about it, but what I was thinking.
About a week ago my wife had to remind me to shave. And to change out of my pajamas. It was a bit annoying, but the point was clear. Right now it’s important to maintain a sense of normalcy in a world that is anything but.
As I write this we are still climbing the COVID-19 hill here in the US. Only South Korea and Singapore seem to have gotten it right. People are doing the “social distancing” dance and most are starting to wear masks. We are still in Wyoming after a wonderful winter of snow, skiing, friends, dinners and so much that now seems so far away.
In about 10 days we will being heading home. It will be three of us. My wife and I brought our NY based daughter here about 3 weeks ago. We hit two home runs with that move: we got her out of New York, which is the hot spot of the country, and we significantly upped our cook-at-home-very-night menu as she is an amazing addition to our kitchen!
Heading home will entail a new form of transportation: an RV. (I keep wanting his to watch the movie but nobody will…yet.). Yes indeed, our own personal, traveling isolation unit. We will have antiseptic wipes, masks, beds, a bathroom, running water and separation from the world. Except for getting gas. But we think it will work.
We did have to relocate three weeks ago as our winter rental ended and we couldn’t stay there. So we found a nice condo that we have been calling home since then. Our days consist of being on a zoom meeting for an exercise class (them not me). being on the computer looking at the latest daily coronavirus statistics, often talking a private walk or cross-country ski and being on Facebook.
I have noticed something about Facebook. The number of my ‘friends’ that are online at any given moment in time has about doubled. There are lots of serious post, funny posts, political posts and scared posts. People have a lot to say without often saying much at all. I guess that’s pretty normal!
It has been important, and helpful, to stay connected with real friends. Phone calls, texts, emails, zoom meeting (who ever heard of zoom before this?) are all ways that we have been able to stay in touch. I had a nice call with a friend this morning back east and it will be good to see them when we get back, even if it is from across the street.
How have you been? What experiences are you having? If you are willing, please leave a note in the comments that we can all share and look back on.
Someone posted a list of things that we could be doing during our collective quarantines. One of those it to find projects. So last week I found a project to travel the world and see all the famous places that we all know, that are now empty. The finished project, a short video, has been viewed over 60,000 times, I just checked.
Just click here to see it.
And since you are used to seeing photographs on this blog, here is one I took right out the back door a few weeks ago.
The moon will rise every day. The sun will rise every day. We will get through this together. Stay safe. Stay healthy. Stay together. Stay home. Stay in touch.