I understand that nothing in this blog is regular, and I do apologize for that. However, I can not ignore what is happening all around me, this Country, and this World.
Right now we are all dealing together with something that many of us have no idea how to comprehend. A virus that is spreading all across the World. There are varied symptoms and they are often confused with the common flu. I was myself quite ill with these symptoms about a month ago, and I believe that I may have survived the CoronaVirus. There are groups of people that are more in danger than others. There are many ways that this virus can affect you and your health. I urge anyone reading this to please follow the advice of your local law and health officials.
In the beginning of this, it seemed to me that it was pretty well contained, and maybe it was not something that would affect me that greatly. I saw that it was happening terribly overseas, and much like other things in History; we silently pray for those affected, and be thankful for our lives. I remember someone that is related to me saying this about 9/11. They felt so terrible for those that lost a loved one, but were also so thankful that I lived that day. Soon enough there were more and more cases here in the States, and then right here in Florida. I also remember the moment that I heard there was a case here in Jacksonville, and then one on the Naval Installation that I work on.
Coronavirus soon had a newer name, Covid19. It was now being labelled as a Pandemic. The things that quickly followed are something that I have never seen before in my life. I watched as stores were taken over by droves of people. I saw that things were being hoarded. Toilet paper right now is still being seen as a commodity. I cannot even believe that something so common place would now be what folks were fighting over. Toilet paper is off of most shelves across the country. I knew that we had six mega rolls at home, and that this would blow over. And then it didn’t. It got worse, much worse.
Here we are today. Restaurants and Bars are closed. They cancelled schools until further notice. We are being encouraged to stay inside and not be within six feet of one another. Ya’ll Listen….Brunch Fest was cancelled, and I was super upset. People judged me because I was so sad about this, but I had gotten tickets and looked forward to it for a long while. The same thing goes for things like going to the movies, going to happy hour with my friends, trying a new restaurant that I have heard about. I love to be out in the Foodie scene and now, it’s all been taken away from me. Each one of us has something that we are missing during this time. Maybe also you are the parent of a child not in school and its affecting your life. There is no reason to judge during an already difficult time, yet so many are. Along with the fact that my toilet paper supply was dwindling with no relief in sight.
It’s called social distancing. Stay away (six feet or more) from everyone, you can not gather in groups of larger than ten. There is no more dine in anywhere. Places have upped their game on delivery, and also started to offer curbside pickup so that they could still stay in business. I have many friends that own and run local businesses and they are dependant on the eaters and drinkers to come and enjoy. We are no longer able to. We miss each other. We miss the food and the Family that we have created while gathering. We are not good at social distance.
As someone who is essential personnel as an Emergency Dispatcher, I still have to go to work each day and pretend that this isn’t happening. All while taking calls of potential patients and telling responders to use “Universal Precautions”. This is something that not many people think about probably. The First Responders of the World still have to..respond. Myself included. I can’t speak many positive things about my place of work, but that I am still earning a check. I have long said that my purpose there is to pay the rent and buy the dog food, and I thankfully still am able to do so.
As it stands the toilet paper here has been replenished, thanks to a huge score by my- Husband! I know that this skips in the story and some of you may be wondering who this Man is, but..he came home with a pack of toilet paper and that’s all that matters right now. We did, over this weekend install a bidet and maybe I will talk about that later; other than to say that it’s pretty interesting and we like it so far.
The other pretty important thing that I will add before I sign off again, is to take care of one another. We are all very stuck in the day to day. We don’t really notice the things that other people need, until it is pointed out to us that they don’t have them. Something that we ALL can do to come together, is to please support LOCAL places. I know for us here, it’s great because there are so many great local restaurants to order food from! I know that during this time, many delivery services are offering you no fee delivery, and don’t forget that you can also pick up curbside. I DID forget to mention that to go cocktails are now being offered for pick up and delivery as well!
Next time, I do want to touch on how some of this has made me think about things a little bit differently. People are losing their minds. People are starting to seem like they are addicted to things; and the luxuries of the lives that we all live. Seeing this greedy behavior is difficult, and causing some self reflection on things and people that I allow in my life as well. During this time and always Friends, stay well. XOXO
Diaries of Suzy Doozer 