Day 23 of quarantine. Before then, we were being careful and very restrictive in our activities out and about. So, our household has been pretty much under wraps for close to a month, now. Looking back, what has it been like?
I write this for kicks. I’m not sure anyone will be interested in my meanderings on this topic. But maybe someone will. After all, this is a once in a lifetime event. Not just odd, but eerie with a cloud of doubt hanging over our heads that maybe we won’t get out of this emergency alive. Just maybe.
That might sound melodramatic, but it truly isn’t.
Rocky is 76 and a recent cancer survivor. He is a laryngectomy survivor, too, meaning he has no voice box and breathes through the front of his neck, permanently. He is also diabetic. Age and underlying medical conditions matter in the age of Covid-19. He remains healthy but is taking extraordinary precautions for obvious reasons.
I’m almost 77 and am overweight, have emphysema, apnea and A-Fib. I’m on oxygen and CPAP equipment at night and a lot of pills. I’m in good health basically but compromised in several ways. So, I take precautions, too.
We pretty much stay in the apartment. Very occasionally we drive to the drug store, grocery store and restaurants for pick-up orders. Most of the time we order our groceries on-line and they deliver them. Some take-out food orders we have delivered as well.
We keep our bathrooms clean, and our laundry. The kitchen gets attention, but it is not pristine. And tidiness is not a thing with one of us, so the place looks like a hurricane visited!
The car is fairly clean inside and out. It gets driven about 30 miles a week. Maybe less. Gas tank is half full. Keeping an eye on gas prices to catch the lowest price! You, too?
Work routines are variable. Blog posting before 6 am, usually by 5:30. Internet and email processing and scan done by 7. Writing future blog posts off and on during the day. I post them seven days per week now since time is much available.
SCORE client business continues but interaction is very slow. Still getting new clients but they are slow to respond to follow up action. We continue training in SCORE for all sorts of things, mostly new communication technology so we can keep in touch with clients and colleagues remotely. The SBA and banks are on the front line for helping with Covid-19 relief programs for small business. We learn more on the programs daily. Zoom meetings and webinars are frequent at times like this.
Church duties continue but remotely and mostly via Zoom. We write our assignments, share via email and Dropbox, and then discuss all via Zoom meetings. And church services are remote via Facebook streaming live.
That leaves a lot of time for small personal tasks and reading. I have rekindled reading a broad range of literature. This hones the vocabulary, especially among young writers. New terms and words; new thoughts in new language morphs. Finding the younger generations are dealing with the same things we did at the same age, only they are dealing with them at a faster pace. The pandemic heightens the drama and emotions on top of all that angst.
The sun shines more in recent days. The sky is a bluer blue. Recent thunderstorms have greatly greened lawns. The hint of budding trees and shrubs adds an ever so slight hint of color. The view out my office window has gone from gray, to sepia, to washed out technicolor, to a budding color. Another week may encounter full on spring.
One can hope! Not just for spring, but an end to the isolation. And then some hugs!
Happy Easter, everyone.
April 13, 2020
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