Well, reality has sat in. It’s nearly July, and I’ve been sequestered at home since March, leaving the house only when I’ve had to… grocery stores and take out, plus the occasional ice cream in the car runs. My wife and I had our date night this past Friday by driving through the drive-thru at Wendy’s. We ate in the car, then drove to the Dairy Queen and got ice cream to eat i the car. We actually drove to the park across the street and parked in the shade. That was our best Friday night date night since the beginning of March. That’s pretty different from going to a restaurant, being waited on. Eating in a comforting environment with good food, and desert if we wanted it! In Massachusetts, they opened up outdoor dining, but with my seasonal allergies, I cannot do that. This week they’re opening up for eating inside. We’ll probably not do that. I’m experiencing my usual seasonal asthma. That’s bad enough, certainly don’t want the virus. I’ve had pneumonia…COVID19 is definitely worse. People are ending up on ventilators.
Things are opening up, but we still have people getting sick and dying. One of my friends is a PCP doctor. A good week is one in which one of her patients did not die. And this is supposed to be at the getting better point!
I’ve been immersing myself into art since day one! It keeps my head going to those deep, dark places. I’ve been there a couple of times. My youngest daughter lives with us. She was sick for 10 weeks, but all her COVID19 tests were negative. She has her own space in the basement, but she shares kitchen and bathrooms with us. My daughter was super cautious. She cleaned everything she touched. She went down to using one set of dishes and glasses, washing them after using. She sanitized everything. Actually, she still does.
Our routine with groceries are to wipe everything off with Lysol wipes or with a squirt or two on paper towels.
The hard part has been keeping the right cleaning supplies in the house. Along with toilet paper and paper towels, cleaning supplies have been in short supply. I really don’t quite understand why these items are in such short supply. Shelves are empty in the grocery store. Among shortages are meat. You can only buy two packages of meat.
Once I realized that the farm store is open, I quit worrying about the food supply. The farm store is quite well-stocked on all the veggies and some fruit. Mostly, fruit isn’t ready to pick in Massachussets, but they’ve made arrangements with other farms to get their produce. I like shopping there. Only four people can be in the store at once. I still wear mask and gloves.
We’re planning our July 4th celebration. It’ll be inside. The outdoors is still not my friend. It’s too bad, because things are opening up more and more. But the pollen is high. I only go into a store when I have to do so and I always wear mask and gloves.
When will this all be over? I think it’ll be Spring 2021 before it’s run its course or we have a vaccine. That’s a long time. Try to stay positive, which I know is difficult. Find something to take you out of the house each week. This does not have to be somewhere where you come into contact with anyone. That reminds me that we took a short drive to find a place where we could go and be outside. You might be able to do that by going into your own back yard, but we clearly needed an outing and we found a place that had a lot of trails. We knew we couldn’t do the trails, but we found a nice park bench near a river. It was nice to be there and be quiet with each other. We also found that our church yard offers a quiet, peaceful place with a park bench. No river, but quiet rustling leaves and shade. shade is important. I have very fair skin and burn easily. I also am allergic to sun block. Sometimes it’s tough to have allergies!
Find ways to make your days special, especially if you have kids. There are lots of ways to make your lives feel special. My daughter went to the Drive-In Movies. There are also Pop-Up Drive-In Movies, as well. Find something safe, and different. Get creative!