The COVID-19-induced isolation has provided plenty of time for reflection.

I look to history for parallels and inspiration. My grandparents lived through the 1918 flu epidemic, they and my parents all lived through both the 1930’s Great Depression and WW II; my father fought in the Battle of the Bulge. Most of us lived through 9/11. By comparison, the changes that my wife and I have had to make in our lives at this time are almost insignificant.

Our sacrifices are dwarfed by those made everyday by front line health care workers and other essential employees.

Look 150 miles south to New York City and its huge death count. Look at the 40 million made unemployed by COVID-19. Look at the 70,000 families who have lost loved ones who cannot even be properly mourned. My heart bleeds for these families and for our country. Me, no restaurant meals, no haircuts, limited social contact, no big deal. I do miss Yankee baseball, but no whining here.

This pandemic is disempowering, how does one help?

Donate $$ to food banks, to food pantries, help the needy. Be grateful. Follow the rules on social distancing and face mask wearing. Thank the front line workers. Show a largeness of spirit.  Be productive. History will assign blame. Be kind to one another.

We live in fear every day of one of us becoming sick. My husband has breathing issues, because of a lifetime with asthma. We are so fearful that if we did catch this virus, that he may not survive it. We start our day with this thought every morning. We struggle mentally to get past this thought and on to other thoughts of what we will do with our day. We have never woken up in fear before.

We are Retired, so how we spend our day is up to us.

Pre-pandemic, we spent most days volunteering somewhere. We would spend most of each day out doing something for someone else and return at supper time happy and tired.  This is our 7th week at home and we are loving it!  We have realized that we had our life out of balance. We have learned that we need to put doing for ourselves just as important as doing for others. Lesson learned.

Going to the market for us was a social, enjoyable outing that we looked forward to on a weekly basis.

We more often then not ran into a friend that we hadn’t spoken with in quite sometime.  We usually would chat for 5 to 10 minute and catch up with each other’s lives and then leisurely walk away feeling happy & connected, to continue on with our food shopping until we ran into someone else along the way. Now we get panicky just entering the market. By the time we get suited up to go into a shop, we are soaked in nervous sweat with a mask sucked into our mouths.  Without speaking to anyone we go with our food list in hand and shop as quickly as we can. Then head to get back into the car to wipe it, ourselves & our purchases down with disinfectant. Gone is the joy begotten from such a simple outing.