due to the COVID-19 pandemic for this month are increasing.
My massage on March 3 was canceled due to my recent Norovirus, but I missed a birthday party for a nurse I work with on Friday because of COVID concerns. I changed my Pediatric Advanced Life Support class to a smaller one. The Allman Betts Band concert we were going to go to Saturday is canceled, and this was my Christmas present from Tom. His uncle’s celebration of life on Sunday is off. And my planned 4 day birthday trip to Oregon is done too. So far the equipment auction on Saturday has not been canceled so Tom may try to carefully go to that with appropriate distancing and hygiene. And at this moment we will have sheep shearing on Friday provided nobody gets ill. I have canceled my long planned British breakfast though.
These changes are minor compared to the chaos, hardships and pain that this virus has caused, but I still would like to briefly mourn what we have had to give up.
We missed you at that celebration. Hopefully the Cranberry Tonics some of us enjoyed killed some viruses because we sat close together and there were some hugs going around too.
I feel the same way. It feels sort of like 9/11 did. The everyday normal is gone (for now) and that’s hard for a creature of habit like me. We must weigh each decision; is it worth going to the store for that? Do I need to visit that friend? What do I do with A, B or C? What about my beloved trips to the library? What about my 87 year old mother-in-law who lives in Seattle? She insists on taking the bus to the grocery store and doctor appointments. Although she is healthy, she is 87. Accckkkk!!
I was excited for a WSNA conference in Chelan where our team was being presented an award. That was to be followed by a long-anticipated week of trail work at Kalaloch. Both cancelled. Mine is purely selfish; I wanted that time away, to myself, to refresh, to learn some new things, etc. Instantly upon hearing the news of cancellations I thought “Excellent, I’ll head out by myself and camp, hike, read, knit, geocache for a few days”. Then came school closures and the need to assist with more childcare (and homeschooling) than I normally do as those of us in healthcare, my daughter, you, me and millions of others, don’t stay home because of COVID-19. That brings a whole new worry. Getting sick.
Mourn those losses. They are losses. I am sorry for your losses. Are they big losses? Could be, that’s a personal thing. I know they could be bigger or even the biggest of losses, as they have been for some.
I’ll still mourn the losses, but for now, I’m calling them a change of plans.
Well put Liz. Thanks!
I thought of the parallels to 9/11 this morning as well. But the disruptions to “normal” are far broader this time. I am a “realist” (rather than an optimist or pessimist) so it is what it is, but do feel a wee bit of loss on my son’s part for missing key events of his senior year of high school. After all, at this point, graduation as we’ve always done it may not happen! Small potatoes in the big picture, though.
But I think we need to be able to mourn our losses even if it is not life and limb. I have been worrying about graduations for a few weeks now. I sure hope they can happen still.