Greetings fellow house sitters. The virus rolls on with our death toll passing by the Viet Nam conflict. New York is stable and tending down, at last. My family and I are fine. We attempt to keep our social distancing but like many of us, sometimes life reaches in to mess up the best intentions. Since we began our separation from society we have found increasing issues continue to pop up to remind us that we are not really in charge of anything. My mother and I share our social separation between two households. My mother is 95 and is doing great for being that age but there are a lot of little things in life, like opening food containers and repairing broken items that can't be easily done by her anymore. Beyond that we find that her air conditioner went on the fritz as did her pool vacuum. All of these things require a deviation from the kind of social distancing we hope to achieve. I know my mother misses her hairdresser and getting her weekly wash and maintenance from her trusted hairdresser. I am the substitute hair washer (she can't raise one arm high enough to do the task alone). She also needs assistance getting in and out of her pool. We have a couple of meals a week and I try and bring the Yorkie by to visit her. One day a week we take the long way between my home and hers so she can visit the other granddogs. All of these help her deal with the isolation. She and her friends have taken to extended phone visits.
I was born to be a bit of a hermit, so I'm not feeling a pinch here. Basically I get out in the wee hours to walk dogs when no one is awake but me and the vampires. Then I have the three mile ride to and from our two homes. I have worked out how to have food delivered and have set up a routine for handling of mail and other deliveries. Today the mailman threw me a curve by dropping off packages addressed to my address but for a neighbor about a block away. I had to go out in the sunlight and drop the packages off on the neighbor's porch, ring the bell and run just like I left a burning paper bag on the porch on Halloween.
Some of my neighbors had a 13th birthday party (oh no another teenager) for a child. The new norm is that celebratory signs were put on the front lawn and a caravan of well-wishers drove by, honked their horns, and shouted out good wishes as they drove by. This is an example of how this pandemic is changing us after two months. So many of our customary interactions will require adjustments until they have a cure available to all. My neighbors figured out a way to save the joy of the day and not endanger the people they care for. All this isolation is a huge labor of love. We have to give up many of life's simple pleasures so that we can maintain the health and lives of our fellows. There is a chance that if the state reopens soon that I will not be able to see my beloved wife and daughter for many months to a year. If that what it takes to keep my mother and other people safe, that is the hand we've been dealt.
When you are feeling down... reach out to a friend. If you're bored... you really don't understand what books and the internet have to occupy your mind. Reach out to the knowledge of the world... it's there for you. Be gentle with one another. Think of those who are sick and support those who find themselves grieving through loss.
I was born to be a bit of a hermit, so I'm not feeling a pinch here. Basically I get out in the wee hours to walk dogs when no one is awake but me and the vampires. Then I have the three mile ride to and from our two homes. I have worked out how to have food delivered and have set up a routine for handling of mail and other deliveries. Today the mailman threw me a curve by dropping off packages addressed to my address but for a neighbor about a block away. I had to go out in the sunlight and drop the packages off on the neighbor's porch, ring the bell and run just like I left a burning paper bag on the porch on Halloween.
Some of my neighbors had a 13th birthday party (oh no another teenager) for a child. The new norm is that celebratory signs were put on the front lawn and a caravan of well-wishers drove by, honked their horns, and shouted out good wishes as they drove by. This is an example of how this pandemic is changing us after two months. So many of our customary interactions will require adjustments until they have a cure available to all. My neighbors figured out a way to save the joy of the day and not endanger the people they care for. All this isolation is a huge labor of love. We have to give up many of life's simple pleasures so that we can maintain the health and lives of our fellows. There is a chance that if the state reopens soon that I will not be able to see my beloved wife and daughter for many months to a year. If that what it takes to keep my mother and other people safe, that is the hand we've been dealt.
When you are feeling down... reach out to a friend. If you're bored... you really don't understand what books and the internet have to occupy your mind. Reach out to the knowledge of the world... it's there for you. Be gentle with one another. Think of those who are sick and support those who find themselves grieving through loss.
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