Living With the COVID 19 Blues

Note: I began this post on April 12, 2020. That was before we had lost some 220,000 Americans to this pandemic. Now, it is October 23rd, new cases in the U.S. are at 60,000 per day and the President is still insisting this virus is just "going away".

It has not gone anywhere. For most of 2020, we, the people of this country, have not gone anywhere!

So here you go, for what it's worth-my take on how it was and how it is!

(April 12, 2020)

Today, we are on about our third week of "stay at home". We gradually worked into it. At first, we were allowing our thirteen year old son's friends to come over. Now, no one but family and one next door neighbor comes in. We also do not go out, save for a daily walk. Only one person is allowed in the store, so if the kids go, they have to wait outside.
In America, this is very difficult. We are so accustomed to going where we want, when we want and with whom we want, I have to confess, I am feeling put out!
My energy level is in the tank, as well. I think it's mostly boredom, though I cringe at every dry cough I emit! No fever, so I'm good, I tell myself.
But mentally good? That's another story!
I don't know how to "have a pandemic". None of us know this stuff! Well, except for "Donald, the Greatest Genius Ever to Walk the Earth". Right?!
Yes, I know. I am dripping with sarcasm, but somebody has to say these things!

So, COVID 19 is proving to be more of a mental challenge for me than anything. I wake up early, see if the sun is shining and depending on how gloomy it looks outside, I may have coffee then or go back to sleep a while.
Soon, though I must have that hot, slightly bitter, black liquid washing over my tongue or I am not happy...

And that is where I left off in April.

Now, here is the rest...in October 2020...

After that, all bets are off what I may do. I might burst out in song, or in tears, either one. It makes it hard for others to predict whether walking on eggshells is a good activity or a waste of time. I can honestly tell them it doesn't matter. Eggshells or not, my mental state "is what it is", to borrow a recent "Trumpism" Run along! Nothing to see here! And I head back to bed.
I tried hot baths. They made me more tired. I don't drink anymore-not for ten years now. I do, however,  thoroughly enjoy my evening "herbal remedy", the only thing that really soothes my jangled nerves!

As for any sense of normalcy, it may be to my advantage that my adult life has never had much of that. I am not sure what people with "normal" lives do, but I suspect they don't have conversations with cats, as though they are humans(who speak English, no less!). I have to imagine they do not have a grown autistic son camped on their living room floor for months due to a major change in group home arrangements. Did I mention his favorite cat appears to be wanting to "check out"? I doubt many "normies" are dealing with all this today! I am also pretty sure that normal people don't have blogs they rarely write on-and that they don't use writing to avoid washing the dishes! It doesn't really make for good blog posts!

See? This is probably my worst post ever. So, chances are I will never publish it. But it kept me awake a while and kept the housework at bay!

In closing, let me say that when all else fails to cheer me, often I can come up with a song about how things are. Not 

The COVID 19 Blues:

I got up to go to work
Then on my radio some jerk
Said "Stay at home! Don't ya roam!"
And I lost my spunk and perk.

I need a reason to smile

So in just a little while

I'll watch Trump try to grin

As he polishes his spin...

I'm sorry, Donny. No, it's not funny.

It's the Covid 19 Blues!

That's it. The COVID 19 Blues is a crummy little song for a crummy little time in Murika!

The America of My Upbringing

 I realized today that I have not written anything about the current presidential election. One would think that as often as my head has nearly exploded from it all, I would have put down some notes, at least!

When I watched the first debate, what I saw was depressing, at best. Here were two supposedly grown men, acting like children on a playground engaged in name calling, and talking over one another, as an ill and tired nation shook its collective head. 

Now that we have heard Trump once again publicly disrespect a veteran-this time, Biden's now deceased son, Beau-and we have heard Biden call Trump "this clown", let's take a deep breath. Now, take another. Take as many as you need! And then listen to this liberal, 50+ year old, life long Democrat mom from Iowa. I am about to just say it the way I see it.

No white supremacist or nationalist group should ever have the ear, let alone the blessing, of the President of the United States. To those who would give these bad actors the benefit of the doubt, I say perhaps you should "go back where you came from". I don't know what vision of America was painted for you, but the one I loved and believed in is the one where we all count equally regardless of race, religion or national origin. Maybe that was only a dream, but it was a good one. It was nothing resembling the vile hatred we have seen and heard in the past four years under Donald Trump.

       I grew up in a small rural county and never laid eyes on a black person, in person, until the age of ten. The student pastor of our church brought a van load of African American boys to our farm. They were close to my age, maybe a couple years older than I. They had never been outside their impoverished neighborhood, and definitely  had never seen farm land!

      Did we look down on them? Ridicule them? Tell them to "go back where they came from"? My God, NO! There was no way our family would have dreamed of being anything but welcoming! The boys had a great time, as did we, all of us huddling around our kitchen woodstove to warm up, while Mom cooked lunch in the gas oven.

It was a  very good experience for all of us.

THAT is the America of my upbringing, and the country that we will be again. THAT is the true "Make America Great Again" campaign and we will make it inclusive for all people. 

Where anyone gets the idea that one group of people is  not the same, not like us,  not to be trusted is just beyond me. Taken to the extreme, it costs lives. I see no room for that in our America.

That's  really all I can say right now. The Presidential election is upon us and I hope everyone votes. I think we have seen that complacency favors tyrants. Let's  not be  asleep at the wheel my friends! The future of our democracy is  at stake, and I don't  take this lightly and hope you too see the handwriting on the wall.

 

 

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