It is a horrible subject though. I know someone over 90 and someone nearly 90. Both have said they've never seen anything like this in their lives. At their age, they were born in the depression, saw Pearl Harbor and World War II, Vietnam, political assassinations, 9/11.... but this.... shaking their heads.
Because of my son's job, we started to see the writing on the wall in late February. Panic took over a bit for me. When I say panic, I had visions of me in future weeks, handing over one last can of green beans to my family so they could share that one little can for their whole day's meals. Grocery stores would be bare. Thankfully, that hasn't been the case. And... I had toilet paper! But, the first time I went to the store when we could see what was coming, I stocked up on a few canned goods, meat that I could put in the freezer, and cheap paper towels just in case the t.p. did run out. It hasn't. And as you know, it's back on the shelves. And thankfully, the grocery stores have things. Not always just the exact thing, but that's getting better. In my daily prayers, I thank God for the people who have kept this country running and pray for their health.
After my panic settled a bit, I, like most people started cleaning. Although that actually started for me in January. Before all this, AJ and Abby had bought a house. They moved in early January and because of that, I decided I could dismantle the basement a bit. It was the sports collectibles museum in the house and now AJ could take some of this things to his own home. After that, I put a fresh coat of paint on the walls. In the middle of that, Jack's work shut down a bit and he came home for 2-1/2 months. We downsized the basement stock even more. He even cleaned out some of his stock pile of 40-50 year old newspapers and magazines. We took walks, we took the boat out a couple of times and he fished while I read. He became the "meal planner". Or, maybe the co-meal planner. We cancelled four vacations for this year, and I helped decide to cancel my class reunion that I was also helping to plan for September.
Jack has been back at work for almost 2 months now. I had the garage sale that I originally was hoping to do in early May. But, it was late June instead and was between Covid surges and successful. Lots of things cleaned out.
In between all that, I've had my mullygrub days. Many, many mullygrub days. The good days were when we'd see AJ and Abby. We did that a few times, here or there. Mother's Day, Father's Day and a couple of other times. That does a Mama's heart good. We've Zoomed with our Georgia friends a couple of times - decided together to cancel the one vacation that was with them.
I thank God everyday, that we have been healthy. That our family has stayed healthy and that all of them are able to continue in jobs. AJ and Abby have both been able to work from home. As they both did a lot of that anyway.
On Tuesdays, I still go to my mom's for lunch. My brother comes, too. She's stayed close to home. We decided it would be good for her to get out when she had mail to take as she could just drop it in the box outside the Post Office. She could pick up her own meds as her pharmacy has a drive thru. But, other than that, she's stayed in. When the weather was nicer, her 3 good friends would come and they'd sit out in the garage for a visit.
On my Tuesday visits, I get her Walmart list and my own and off I go. With my mask. When Jack was home he would go with me. He was very good at watching the arrows on the floor and made sure I went down the aisles in the right direction. Now, I'm on my own again.
On my Tuesday visits, I get her Walmart list and my own and off I go. With my mask. When Jack was home he would go with me. He was very good at watching the arrows on the floor and made sure I went down the aisles in the right direction. Now, I'm on my own again.
Jack has had 1 hair cut and I've had 2. My sister in law is the beautician. I'm glad I don't do color and can do good enough without a perm. I can do my own nails if I choose, pluck what needs to be plucked, and I've saved a ton of money on make up, hair spray and such. I guess I'm pretty low maintenance. Never have felt like I was overly vain about things.
Well, that's at least most of my story. Everyone has a story in all this. Everyone has a different set of circumstances, challenges, blessings. Everyone's reality of all this is different. So that's my facts. Or most of them. What about the feelings? I'm scared as everyone is. Mostly afraid of the unknown. I look at movies, TV, social media and see places that I wonder - will we ever be able to go again. I'm concerned that at any time someone I love or I, myself, could contract this virus and become very ill or just not recover. But, all I can do is try my best. We social distance, stay home a lot, wear our masks, wash our hands, do all the things we are supposed to do. That's all we can really do. And pray. I pray a lot. I follow a Bible study each day. And I try to only see the good things on TV and social media. I find that I feel better and have fewer mullygrubs if I don't watch the news and scroll past many things on social media. But, I still look enough to see the numbers sometimes. I avoid ALL political rants. ALL!!!!
In the beginning we heard a lot of concern for high school kids. The seniors especially. No prom for them. No real graduation ceremony. Everyone was concerned for them. I just wanted to scream... people are dying!!! These things are not the worse. Now I understand for these kids it was a great tragedy for them. If I was the parent of one of them, I'd feel that way, too. But, I want to tell them, if no prom and no graduation ceremony are the worse things that ever happen to you in your life.... then you will have a great life. But, sadly for most, this will not be the worse thing to happen to them.
Now I am concerned for the little ones. And their parents. A few of them are near and dear to my heart as you know. How will all this affect them going forward. How is it affecting them now? What will the school plan be? Again, everyone's situation is different. Everyone has real struggles or true blessings.
I prayed the same prayer over and over each morning and evening for many, many weeks. I still pray daily and often, just not all those same words. God knows what they are. He knows what's in my heart. Please let him know what's in yours.
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