It’s been 21 months in the making. 600+ days of confusion, fear, doubt, and anger. You know. Reaction to the current condition of this crazy life we call pandemic. On the one hand, thankful. On the other hand, tired and ready to force some change. It’s been a while since you’ve seen some family, and everyone thinks it’s okay to drop off the edge of life into the abyss.
Not me…
Not Me. It’s in my nature, combined with my heritage – coming from Texas surely sets the stage. I’m ready to force some change in my world. But can I do it? Alone? In numbers too big to ignore, can we kick, scratch, fight, and yell – No More!
Thanksgiving was celebrated by us, and us alone. No family. No friends. No Facetime. Just a nearly felt frantic pace to get ready for vacation. Friday rolls around and the pieces come together. It’s time to hit the road! As we drove across half the country to enter our zone of R&R, I watched, listened, and learned. Many are tired of this current struggle, yet, mindful of how bad it can be. They are ready to get back to normal. If normal can even be defined.
Another variant rears its ugly head. Again, nations start their closure routines to save themselves from this new virus form. Borders close. Flights cancelled. New testing procedures. Another vaccine. More billionaires in the making while some sicken and die. Where’s the sand? It’s time to Ostrich.
You are tossed around like flotsam. Do this. Don’t do that. Do it, or else!
March 2020
We were on vacation to celebrate my brides recently foray into retirement. Visit the gravesites of recently departed. Connect with family and friends. Life happens when least expected or planned for. The shelves started emptying of necessary goods. States were threatening to close their borders. Entire towns put their hotels and restaurants on notice – CLOSE YOUR DOORS!
We headed home early. By Car. 2200 miles. Eight states. Three nights. One town closed and we had to drive 4 more hours to the next town and pray they were open so we could sleep. Restaurants were trying delivery and ‘to-go’ pickup orders only. Gas stations, and all other shops, ran out of essentials, including that magic elixir known as “Hand Sanitizer.”
From then till now, we have lived with restrictions. Different in every state. Some are hardliners. Others, well, let’s just say they are going to do what they want, and you can’t make them change. Was there a land of in-between? Sure. But ties and connections are severed and possibly never to be renewed as people draw their own lines of demarcation.
There’s no zones of safety. No Peace. Except what you could justify for yourself.
We’ve quit taking care of ourselves as we once did because of the fear of entering healing places where the virus was being fought. We changed how we shopped, mingled, and lived. Some would fly to faraway places for family or vacation, but then turn around and accuse others near to them of making life unsafe. They could make themselves safe enough to travel, but not safe enough to socialize at home.
My list of the past 21 months is lengthy. Kids and school. Playgrounds and shopping carts. Online, if available, did not satisfy all job requirements so some had to weather the real world and show up to collect their pay.
Throw in Chip problems, skyrocketing real estate perceived values, and all the rules of living? Is it any wonder we should be thankful to be where we are today?
Looking Back, Living Forward
We all know what it’s like moving ahead even with the weight of the past dragging us backwards. Will the familiar phrases of this pandemic world ever drop from our vocabulary? Social distancing should have been Physical Distancing. Because social died even when we close the ranks and stand just as close as before. Masks, no masks. Good masks, and worse. One, Two, Three – how many do we need? Vaccines from companies we were just trashing a year back for gouging and creating demands for products with advertising that should cause us to fear when we hear the side effects.
We are living like we never before considered,
and dragging the past through the present
to experience forever into the future.
Can we Live Forward with the restrictions of the past dragging us backwards? Maybe it’s time you consider dropping the past, living in the present, and moving forward.
From the past
Some will never survive
In the present
Their struggle is real
To the future?
Not without that ball and chain
We often label
The past.