It seems like a decade has passed in the last year. Living alone has been a blessing and a curse. I went to Florida in January and found it lonely, although my good friends and I were able to visit. I walked four miles a day on the beach and never found it boring. My return trip was stressful because I realized I had forgotten my “tech” bag in the hotel. God bless Hilam Patel for returning everything to me intact. 1
I stocked up on groceries and waited two weeks for my tech, then rested a bit from the trip and the worries. By the beginning of March, our leaders were telling us to stay home because of COVID-19. When I had to go get groceries, I would notice everything I touched. I sanitized and washed my hands at every opportunity, although items for sanitizing disappeared from the shelves. Of all things, toilet paper and yeast were scarce, too. I quilted most days and read a lot, walked a couple of miles a day and called loved ones. Without human contact, I struggled to find a reason for living. Overnight, I realized that I could not control when I lived or died, I could only control how I lived, and that would be in service to others.
Summer came, and we were able to get together on our decks and at some restaurants. We felt in touch with nature again, when the heat didn’t drive us indoors. In the city, riots broke out. In my opinion, the heat and the stress from “Rona” were the triggers, as well as the high cost in lives in minority neighborhoods.
By fall, people were openly ignoring the mask requirement and the disease spread throughout the suburbs as well as the city. I experienced the illness as a migraine-like headache, nauseau, diarrhea, lack of smell, taste distortions, muscle pains, fatigue, and a foggy brain. The initial symptoms lasted just a few days, but it was a full 7 weeks before I was free of fatigue and muscle pain. To keep busy, I found a renewed interest in genealogy.
A few weeks later, my son experienced symptoms and tested positive. He was ill for about a week, I believe. (Long-distance runner, stair-climber, marathoner) Luckily, his symptoms cleared up and he doesn’t seem to have any long-term damage.
November was another lonely month, and I tried to busy myself with sewing and reading and writing. Thanksgiving dinner was canceled and I got a cold. Such joy! Just a cold! In a week, it was gone. Good news in the form of a vaccine has come along and now the fighting begins to see who gets it. It looks like the greedy, wealthy countries are once again shoving to the front of the line. Will human nature never change?
December is upon us and the plague rages on worse than ever. We are social animals. So social, we will die rather than miss our loved ones. Once again, I turn to my sewing machine, genealogy, books, and writing. One of the lucky ones.
1Americas Best Value Inn Kimball, TN
