Friday, November 20, 2020

Coronavirus19 Diary - Bumps in the Road

Mid week it was announced, Chicago would have a stay at home advisory in place for 30 days starting the following Monday. On Friday evening I got the call, I was, once again, on furlough. I had expected it might happen. Now working for a small, family owned company, considering the circumstances, I probably would have made a similar decision as they. Once foot traffic was back to an acceptable level I was assured I would be called back.

As I've stated before, during these difficult times we are more fortunate than many. Overcoming boredom would be my greatest challenge. Saturday I eased into my situation, I watched movies and a 1961 BBC Canada production of Macbeth, starring Sean Connery in the title role, that I been interested in for several years which had become available on YouTube. I considered it a homage to the recently deceased actor. 

There is football, although my home team seems to be fumbling about in the dark this season, and my gym is still open. With obsessive attention to sanitation, mandatory mask wearing, temperature checks, occupancy controls and the members self enforcing social distancing I feel relatively safe there. 

My holiday decorating will be toned down this year but we will have a tree. That is a project I can spread out over a couple of days. I'll straighten closets and clean and organize cabinets, once again, as  during the first lock down, taking on the responsibilities of the traditional homemaker of olden days. 

One bright spot was being home to see our President Elect speak and answer questions from reporters. He was informed and statesmanlike. I had almost forgotten what that sounded like. Also, several vaccines show promise.

Once again I repeat to myself a mantra I have repeated often during these benighted times, patience.

Thursday, November 12, 2020

Coronavirus19 Diary - Despair, A Moment of Joy and Hope

 Finally on election night I forced myself to bed, depressed, watching Trump lead in several states needed for Biden to win an electoral college majority. My mind refused to rest. Over and over in my head I considered how I, and the country, would survive another 4 years of leadership by a man who was just short of, if not fully deranged. I would wake up and turn on the t.v. to see the latest counts. At 4 a.m. I saw that Wisconsin had been called for Biden and hope began to return.

The next day I felt as if I was jet lagged despite my feet never having left the ground. Over the next few days I watched as Trump's lead in key states began to shrink, disappear and eventually be surpassed by Biden. 

Saturday morning I stepped off the bus on Michigan Ave. enroute to work and encountered a group of people jumping up and down on the sidewalk holding their phones aloft. Horns began to honk. Two young guys came down a side street yelling. I pulled out my phone to see a text message from my husband, two words, "Biden wins". I let out a yell. It was a wild, unintelligible noise. A bubble of anxiety bursting and manifesting itself in a sound which was a mixture of relief and joy.

As I left work later that evening Michigan Ave. was packed with cars, their horns honking, flags flying from their windows. Networks showed people across the country and the world dancing in the streets. It was a moment of near unanimous global euphoria. 

But, as happens after many joyous celebrations, afterward we find our challenges remain. The pandemic worsens and administration officials refuse to acknowledge Biden's victory and assist with a transition, even with Biden receiving a clear majority of both the popular and electoral college votes. There is the question of control of the Senate. Poverty and mass unemployment still run rampant. 

But I still hold hope that we will come through this dark time a stronger union. There will always be extremists on both sides of issues but I have hope that a national leader that promises to bring us together, not attempt daily to drive us apart, will be the beginning a country that I dream of. Even if it is the first small step in a long road, a country where we begin to care and support fellow citizens of both the country and the world.

I have hope.


Monday, November 2, 2020

Coronavirus19 Diary - Future Hopes

 Election eve. I wanted to write this down, today, when I, nor anyone else, knows what the future holds.

I hope that tomorrow, or the next day, or the next, that I find myself living in a country that cares for it's citizens and where it's citizens will begin to care for one another. I find myself living in a country where the chaotic waters of the past few years begin to calm. That I find myself living in a country where we can begin to heal, to unite. A country where we realize that no one group, or ideology, owns it, but that we all share it. Where honesty and decency and respect begin to flourish once more.

I, nor anyone else, knows what the future holds.

I hope