Just drive to work and back. Stay at home! It's as if everyone just got sentenced for first offense DWI!
Our nuclear family has done all we can to minimize risk of exposure to the virus. I limit shopping and try to shop when and where it is least crowded. Our little girl has pre-K sessions via Google Meet. I attend Toastmasters via Zoom. We are well stocked with masks and sanitizer and food staples.
We are somewhat exposed because one of us is an essential health care worker. She understands and follows precautions better than the rest of us though. Ever since that Norovirus of 2007, she has avoided work exposure. Extended family is far enough away that we are not tempted to visit them. The exception follows below. We had a Zoom call with family for Easter and a few family Facebook calls.
Music is one my passions. I've watched live shows on Facebook by Ralph Covert and Ralph's World (children's music). He does them daily. I saw a special "I Am A Building show" by Mark Mallman.. Bill Kirchen has Facebook shows on Friday nights. I also watched promoter KC Turner interview him. I found a 1992 Young Fresh Fellows set on a fan page.
Musicians have lost their livelihood as the live shows pay the bills. But, as a music fan, there seems to be plenty available at all levels-- the local band to the international performer. Yep Roc keeps sending me LPs. I found my cousin's pandemic themed kid music and a Scott McCaughey solo recording on Bandcamp-- both from and of these times. I don't get to walk to the Turf Club for shows. But, I am not deprived either.
Please believe me when I say that I am not suffering. Just as the mentally ill have their cigarettes and perhaps use nicotine to give them a sense of control, I may be over-consuming caffeine these days. If there is some "bad habit" that gives you a sense of normalcy, I wouldn't fault you. I'm not saying I like cancelling my vacations. It is just that I have so much more to be thankful for than I have to complain about.
My little girl is not suffering, either. She knows that for now there are things we can't do because of coronavirus. What does she miss? Friends at school. And, church. She loves church but doesn't care for live Facebook or Zoom alternatives. Her attitude is positive. She understands things are different. But, everything is new at her age and therefore her coping skills are off the charts compared to her parents, and most of us.
When I was younger, would I have suffered from pandemic restrictions? I am thinking I would have been okay. The worst case scenario I can imagine is too much TV-- that WOULD depress me. Being a teenager might have been seriously annoying. As an adult, I've always had a good music collection. Astronomy and pre-Internet computer activities quickly filled evenings. Working in Knoxville, Iowa as a young adult felt very close to self-isolation most of the time. College age years would have been hardest.
My father-in-law who is very social might be suffering, though. He was always at a dance or playing cards, even on days when we visited. He is in his 80s, is at high risk, and a best friend for fifty plus years died of COVID-19 a couple weeks ago. He was so close of a friend that pre-COVID, I was part of visits with him at a nursing home in St. Paul this year. My father-in-law misses people.
Against my judgment, we visited my father-in-law for a few days at his farm. We were careful about exposing ourselves to each other-- no hugs, no handshakes, separate bathrooms. We brought some food and cooked it ourselves so that we could avoid grocery stores. I told him over and over, he should stay with us and not be tempted by those of his friends who are crazy enough to play cards. I wasn't sure that he might not be crazy, too, or at least lonely enough. (I will have a few days at a cabin on Lake Superior as one enticement to wrest him away.)
He worries about others. He checks his temperature daily. (It has been normal.) His temperature checks are less about his well being than his genuine concern for others.
I take seriously that you may be suffering now. People are curious what is going on. Schedule a Zoom call with me on a Sunday or 3 pm on a Monday and let me relay your story. How are you coping? Let's talk! If you feel you just got sentenced for a crime you didn't commit, you have my sympathy.
Our nuclear family has done all we can to minimize risk of exposure to the virus. I limit shopping and try to shop when and where it is least crowded. Our little girl has pre-K sessions via Google Meet. I attend Toastmasters via Zoom. We are well stocked with masks and sanitizer and food staples.
We are somewhat exposed because one of us is an essential health care worker. She understands and follows precautions better than the rest of us though. Ever since that Norovirus of 2007, she has avoided work exposure. Extended family is far enough away that we are not tempted to visit them. The exception follows below. We had a Zoom call with family for Easter and a few family Facebook calls.
Music is one my passions. I've watched live shows on Facebook by Ralph Covert and Ralph's World (children's music). He does them daily. I saw a special "I Am A Building show" by Mark Mallman.. Bill Kirchen has Facebook shows on Friday nights. I also watched promoter KC Turner interview him. I found a 1992 Young Fresh Fellows set on a fan page.
Musicians have lost their livelihood as the live shows pay the bills. But, as a music fan, there seems to be plenty available at all levels-- the local band to the international performer. Yep Roc keeps sending me LPs. I found my cousin's pandemic themed kid music and a Scott McCaughey solo recording on Bandcamp-- both from and of these times. I don't get to walk to the Turf Club for shows. But, I am not deprived either.
Please believe me when I say that I am not suffering. Just as the mentally ill have their cigarettes and perhaps use nicotine to give them a sense of control, I may be over-consuming caffeine these days. If there is some "bad habit" that gives you a sense of normalcy, I wouldn't fault you. I'm not saying I like cancelling my vacations. It is just that I have so much more to be thankful for than I have to complain about.
My little girl is not suffering, either. She knows that for now there are things we can't do because of coronavirus. What does she miss? Friends at school. And, church. She loves church but doesn't care for live Facebook or Zoom alternatives. Her attitude is positive. She understands things are different. But, everything is new at her age and therefore her coping skills are off the charts compared to her parents, and most of us.
When I was younger, would I have suffered from pandemic restrictions? I am thinking I would have been okay. The worst case scenario I can imagine is too much TV-- that WOULD depress me. Being a teenager might have been seriously annoying. As an adult, I've always had a good music collection. Astronomy and pre-Internet computer activities quickly filled evenings. Working in Knoxville, Iowa as a young adult felt very close to self-isolation most of the time. College age years would have been hardest.
My father-in-law who is very social might be suffering, though. He was always at a dance or playing cards, even on days when we visited. He is in his 80s, is at high risk, and a best friend for fifty plus years died of COVID-19 a couple weeks ago. He was so close of a friend that pre-COVID, I was part of visits with him at a nursing home in St. Paul this year. My father-in-law misses people.
Against my judgment, we visited my father-in-law for a few days at his farm. We were careful about exposing ourselves to each other-- no hugs, no handshakes, separate bathrooms. We brought some food and cooked it ourselves so that we could avoid grocery stores. I told him over and over, he should stay with us and not be tempted by those of his friends who are crazy enough to play cards. I wasn't sure that he might not be crazy, too, or at least lonely enough. (I will have a few days at a cabin on Lake Superior as one enticement to wrest him away.)
He worries about others. He checks his temperature daily. (It has been normal.) His temperature checks are less about his well being than his genuine concern for others.
I take seriously that you may be suffering now. People are curious what is going on. Schedule a Zoom call with me on a Sunday or 3 pm on a Monday and let me relay your story. How are you coping? Let's talk! If you feel you just got sentenced for a crime you didn't commit, you have my sympathy.
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