Life as we knew it has changed drastically

Folks, I'm a loner.  Always have been.  But I'm not enough of an introvert, apparently, to enjoy this season of my life when everybody is quarantined.  Do you know what I miss the most?  The freedom to grocery-shop.  Since we don't get out a lot, we have made grocery-shopping our recreation.  Sad, isn't it?  Especially considering Cliff has hated shopping all his life, with the exception of Harbor Freight.  Some weeks we make it a marathon day, going to Aldi, Costco, Walmart, and sometimes to a Price Chopper to pick up bargains from their ad.  This often means we are out shopping at lunch time, so we'll eat out... often at Burger King, because we both like Whopper meals.  Now our relatives do our shopping for us.  

Yes, I hate it, although I love them for doing it.

You see, I'm big on fresh vegetables and fruit, and I like to choose my own produce.  I want grapes and grapefruits and oranges; I want broccoli, spinach, lettuce, carrots, and cabbage (actually, I have a nice head of cabbage I may butcher today for unstuffed cabbage roll).  My relatives aren't really into vegetables, and I don't know if they even inspect them.  Will they taste that one grape in the store, like I do, to make sure the grapes are sweet and good?  I always do that!  I like the Aldi experience, where you hardly ever have to use a quarter to get a shopping cart because somebody will flag you down and give you theirs; then when you're done, you give it away to somebody else.  Aldi shoppers are friendly.  If you see someone picking out a ham, you can ask her if she's bought that particular ham before and whether she thinks it's good.  I don't always enjoy the attitude of many Walmart shoppers, but I still enjoy the shopping experience.  

I do, however, appreciate my relatives who want me and Cliff to be safe, and are willing to work all day and then stop on the way home to enter a mostly-empty grocery store and look for some item I'm craving that probably isn't there.  

Now I'm hearing this lockdown may last for three months:  I try to imagine what three months of this kind of living will be like, and I cringe, but then I remember spring is officially here.  It won't be so bad when the weather is spring-like.  I want to try a small raised-bed garden in addition to my tiny tomato/pepper plot.  I worry about Cliff, who is now barred from the shop, where all the projects happen that keep him moving.  The grandson has a project going on now that Cliff was helping him with, but the grandson goes to and from work every day and could transmit the virus.  So Cliff sleeps.  A lot.  I don't fault him for it, by the way.  He's bored and discouraged.  Pray for him!  He's stuck in isolation with ME!  I imagine him sitting in a lawn chair outside the shop when the weather gets nicer, watching Arick from six feet away and yelling instructions at him, but I'm not sure Cliff can get that picture into his head.    

We're having rainy days now, having received almost twice as much precipitation as normal.  As long as there's no danger of being caught in a rainstorm, though, Gabe and I walk in the woods, wet or dry, muddy or dusty.  That helps.  And when I get my raised-bed garden going, that'll be fun, unless or until the project fails.  

I've been sitting imagining what I'll do with my share of the money the president says we will be getting from "the government", but it may be awhile, since the politicians can't agree on the bill.  In our case, it will be extra money, since we live quite well on our Social Security benefits.  But for working people, it seems like only a bandaid:  If you're used to bringing home $1,000 weekly, a benefit that gives you an amount equal to one week's pay isn't going to help anybody that much... although it would buy quite a bit of toilet paper, if you're a TP hoarder.  

I have a Facebook friend I've never met in person.  We are friends because long ago, we both played Farmville; we became friends so we could help one another with our "farms".  I don't know if she still plays that game, but I got bored with it long ago.  We have played Words with Friends a few times, but she is far better at it than I am.  Anyhow... when I stopped playing FarmVille, I got rid of some of the friends who were only there for the games, but I kept a couple of ladies out in Kansas because I felt like I knew them.  One lady had the cutest little girl, so beautiful she could easily be a child model.  We'd comment on one another's timelines once in awhile.  Two or three years ago, she decided to become a nurse.  She's middle-aged, and I thought at the time what a bold step she was taking.  My admiration for her increased.  Now she is a nurse, working at a hospital way out in the wilds of Kansas, not far from where my sister used to live.  Here's something she posted this morning.  Excuse the language, but this is real!  

Tonight I asked my mentor, my brilliant friend, with vast ER experience, both in rural settings and large city Emergency Departments this question... “What is your opinion on the pandemic...is the media over hyping it or is it serious?” She responded to me with two words.. “We’re fucked!” 

Not eloquent... but I trust her judgment. I know she will be on the front line, working to save as many lives as she can, but the forecast is probably way worse than we realize. And she tells me she is afraid, that there isn’t enough PPE, and that it’s just the beginning... she had ONE N95 mask to use for 7 shifts.... one mask for almost 100 emergency hours. We’re Fucked!

For anyone thinking this isn’t us... she works in an ER in KANSAS. So yes, this is OUR reality."

Then I wondered whether she has to separate herself from her husband and beautiful daughter in order to keep working, or maybe will have to in the future.  Think about all the nurses, all over the world, trying to control a villain we never dreamed would be set loose on civilization, risking their lives while doing it.  

When this is over, those of us who remain had better NEVER take freedom for granted.  We should appreciate good health if we have it.  Instead of complaining because we can't afford the latest gadget, maybe we'll be thankful for life itself.  People who went through the depression never forgot it, coming out of it wiser, and with the knowledge they had been strong enough to make it through hard times.  Their motto was, "Use it up, wear it out.  Make it do, or do without."  

We are living through a story right now that we'll tell the rest of our lives.

But I always did love a good story.