These are weird days, March - April 2020. Did I just state the obviously obvious? Can I get a collective "Duh?" I remember the Cuban Missile Crisis and shortly thereafter the Kennedy assassination. Also weird times. Through the lens of a child, beyond weird and right into frightening. But we survived. As an adult the Vietnam war coming into my living room every night was strange but surreal. It was in a place far away and we seemed safe. We survived. Though we all had friends who didn't. 9/11 came a little closer. As I was leaving Newark Airport that clear crisp morning the smoke from the towers appeared in my rear view mirror. We survived. Though we all had friends who didn't.
But the "Covid - 19." Wow. In a month's time life on planet Earth has taken a backflip. Wait a minute. You mean we're not so smart and technologically advanced that these things can no longer happen? We're actually....not in charge? Well shut my mouth. I remember hearing there was some kind of odd contagion moving through China and then...bam.....Times Square is a ghost town, people are dying and I'm....we're.... homebound. As of now, Apr 17th, 2020, we're hearing the virus is flattening and like a weak flashlight the end of the tunnel is slowly starting to illuminate. That doesn't help the homeless in mass graves. Or the bodies in cooler trucks. Or the people who may or may not get off ventilators. And it doesn't mean you or I or the front liners are in the clear. I've been to the food store three or four times in the last month. Am I a carrier? Are you? Time will tell. But we've adapted amazingly well to the new normal and everything that implies. And again...we'll survive. The dinosaurs didn't. The cockroaches did.
On a personal note life has been coming at me rapid fire for the last couple of months. I started collecting Social Security (What?!?!), unemployment insurance (thanks Corona), and in mid March lost my brother John. He was in Hospice and faded away to a morphine drip. There was always three of us and now there are two. A personal loss like the death of a parent, sibling or friend takes some adjustment. I had my first dream about Johnny a few nights ago. No big revelation but he was happy and healthy. I've already had that slap in the face when I went to call him and realized he wouldn't be picking up. Ouch. I believe at this moment he's doing better than ever. I really do.
I...you....we....Earth.... have survived countless challenges; more, I'm sure, than we're even aware. This one's a kick in the teeth. We'll get braces. Maybe we were getting a little too complacent, too comfortable. I've heard the words "comfort zone" thrown around a lot lately. We ain't in it now. And maybe we'll never get back there. It'll be interesting to see how the virus of 2020 is remembered. Or what normal will be a year from now; what our new realities and priorities will be. Politicians and pundits will politicize it. The medical and scientific communities will learn from it. The economy will slowly return. And life will go on. But I think from here on out we may be looking over our shoulders, just to see if anything's back there. And at some point....there will be. But...ya know what? We'll survive......and come out stronger. And anyone who tries to steal my rose colored glasses is walkin' on the fightin' side of me. Peace.
