The last day of normal. It seems much longer since Normal ended.
I had a dental appointment. Coronavirus-19 was being mentioned. The governor was announcing "quarantine", "social distancing", "wearing masks", "closing businesses", closing schools.
It all happened.
Restaurants are closed, except for drive-throughs and curb service. Many won't reopen.
Churches are closed. We now worship online.
We wear masks when away from our home. Thanks to a kind neighbor across the street we have masks.
Our son is shopping for groceries and delivering to our home. There are shortages of various products.
Heroes are everywhere.
The most vulnerable are afflicted with "the virus". We find ourselves keeping up with number of cases reported, numbers recovering, and most awful, number of deaths.
ZOOM is now used to keep in touch with family and friends.
Sports, from amateur to professional, has been cancelled.
High school and college graduations are cancelled or postponed. Brady, our college senior, has finished his final year "online". Suddenly the future for him has changed. There are no job interviews, no place to "work on a Master's degree".
There is much to be thankful for.
Communications that allow us to "see" one another through Zoom or FaceTime.
We, and our close family, are well. But...yes, we have friends that have lost loved ones because of the Virus.
We have a home with lots of space in which to wait out the "stay at home" orders. We are not in a large city on the 44th floor with no yard or birds to watch, or walk around.
Glen had a first "tele-medicine" FaceTime event: discussed symptoms with a nurse, "yes, it is gout", "show me your ankle", and "I will call in medicine for you." (Yes, the gout is gone)
We have enjoyed some "mental health" days: a drive to three wildlife refuges, a drive to a local azalea garden which was in full bloom.
Glen is keeping the bird feeders full. We watched Mr. and Mrs. Bluebird hatch five eggs, feed countless caterpillars, grubs, flies to those five babies. Those five babies have now flown and Mr. and Mrs. are now constructing a new nest.
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| When will we be able to get a haircut? |
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| Bald Eagle nest |
Above are a few pictures from our day trips.
Looking to the future.
We have tickets to "Hamilton" at the Fox Theater in St. Louis in June. Will we be able to attend?
Will the campgrounds on state and federal lands be reopened. Will there be a family reunion in July?
When will it be safe to shop for our own groceries?
At this point we don't know.
