A Hitchhikers Guide to COVID: When Will We Get
the Whole Story?

So here we are, you and I and the world, nearly seven months since the weirdest illness in centuries has changed how we live in mega-ways.
How are you dealing with all this, sports fans?
As I write this, I realize that my occasional smart-mouth tone might need to be toned down a bit. And that is because many people have been negatively affected by this plague, many have died, or become dangerously sick, and some are experiencing serious after-effects from having had the virus. If you have been so touched by this, my sympathies and prayers are extended to you. Unfortunately, it looks like we are in for more of the chaos that this strange and unpredictable disease can put us through.
Remembering how this all began back in March, it is hard to believe what has happened. The experts were winging it, with respect to recommendations. Close the borders, no travel, no stores, no church. No, wait, go ahead and get out there, this is just a different strain of the flu. Oops, just found out… IT’S NOT LIKE THE FLU!!!
So now stay home, don’t visit people. Cover your face like a bandit, watch what you touch. Then we went into hiding. It was a lock-down, which almost put the world into a whirling economic depression.
Decades from now, there will be studies of how well governmental entities did with this start-up plan. Did we ‘flatten the curve,’ as was hoped? Did millions upon millions not die as opposed to thousands and thousands
because of what was done? Time and study will evaluate this. I hope I’m alive to read the reports.

But recall the panic, if you will. Get tested if you can find a place. (And what a fun experience that was. I just know that first swab poked straight into my medulla oblongata!)
Wipe everything with sanitizer… groceries, mail, car keys. Wash your hands, dozens of times. Wear a mask.
Then, nope, a mask won’t help. Then, yeah, sorry, get them masks on, people. Stay inside, no hugging, then 6-feet apart, then no kissing, then this, then that, until our heads were spinning in anticipation of the newest tactic to stop the spread.
And still, it spread.
Old and ill people got hit hardest, and in some places, were virtually slaughtered. We were told kids can’t get it. But then they did. Businesses were closed, then reopened, then closed again. Some shut down for good. One governmental entity said A, the other said B, and still another, all in the same region, said something else.
Who were we to believe? Who are we to believe, now?
Not sure. Are you as frustrated as I feel?
I wrote a silly poem back when it all began. Called it ‘The Ballad of COVID.’ Said I was ‘not getting’ sick from the COVID, so I’m keepin’ myself locked up. Well, Jill and I did just that. Over time, we have ventured out, masked and distanced. But not overly out there, if you know what I mean. Just to a store now and then and Sunday Mass, sitting way in the corner.
We have been able to see our family, somewhat. The ability to be outside has helped, distancing and masking like demons.
That was one thing we hoped we could make happen. Those first months of no family were so painful.
Even at that, it was weeks before we got to hold our newest granddaughter, born on March 25. And that was unheard of. Some of the immediate family still haven’t been able to snuggle that little gremlin, and she is nearly 6 months old! Unheard of, I say.
But, so it goes. Will this end, like other coronavirus’s have, in two years? Is it a new and more resistant strain? Will a vaccine be the answer? I don’t recall a vaccine for MERS or SARS in the past. But then, this ‘19’ dude doesn’t seem to be following the rules, ya know? So there’s that.
In the meantime, I and The Lovely Jill are taking it very seriously. We are ‘of that certain age,’ after all. And recent complications have made it even more imperative that we keep on the down-low.
So here’s to your health and safety. Evaluate what you need to do to take care of yourself. Please don’t take this lightly.
Recently, I heard a song by a group called The Tragically Hip. The tune is “Ahead By A Century.’”
There is this line… “no dress rehearsal, this is our life.”If that ain’t the truth, when it comes to hitchhiking through the uncharted territory in which we find ourselves today.

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