The Beauty of Isolation, War Time Reporting, Giving of Your Life for Others

"Two people in love, alone, isolated from the world, that's beautiful."

— Milan Kundera

Thursday morning, day 17 or 18 of self-isolation, I think in time this recounting of this unusual situation will be valuable to some, I'm not sure who. I'm like a reporter in wartime, spinning the tales that happen before my eyes.  If you have not done so yet, get a journal, your grandkids will want to read about these times.

It's dark and quiet here; the family is asleep, I've got my coffee, the fireplace is producing some gentle heat, I'm sitting on a purple bean bag, the sun will rise in 43 minutes.

I'm checking in with my nurse friends, sounds like some are holding the line, but other areas are getting worse. I am thankful my family is not in hot spots, for now, all are safe, all are healthy.  These are the blessings I hold dear.

We have taken another level of precaution; we got groceries yesterday, the kids now wear latex gloves and masks when going down the hill. They pick up our stuff, bring it home, put it on the porch, my Queen, and I then use bleach water to wipe everything down. The kids immediately strip down, throw their clothes in the washer, and jump in the shower. Another thing we are doing is picking one pair of shoes to go out; those shoes are not brought into our home; they are left in the garage.

I listened to Joe Rogan's latest podcast; it's not too long, it features a specialist on SARS2 aka Covid19, I strongly encourage you to take the time and listen to this interview, it will provide a glimpse into our future.  Click HERE to hear the hour-long interview with Dr. Peter Hotez.

We have another two days of snow coming in, then the weekend looks like a beauty, but our walks these next two days will have an extra degree of difficulty.  I hope we can get out, it's a little hazardous, on the roads with the few cars and trucks that are still running around.

Not to be morbid, but the most recent expectation of our loss of fellow humans has a low end of 100,000 up to a top end of 2,000,000. Those are the numbers; I hope we are closer to 100,000. We are at war with an invisible enemy; it's not attacking our country; it is attacking our world. The numbers above are for the U.S. only; the world death count will be much higher.

As we were walking yesterday, I had a thought. If I'm in a hospital, and there is a 25-year-old next to me, and they only have on ventilator left, I would ask them to let me go. At 50 I've lived a beautiful life, I'll sacrifice myself for the hope that a younger, healthier person could live to see another day. I would ask that they make my exit peaceful, no reason to suffer. I don't know how much of a reality that might become, but we need to think about such things, we might be forced to weigh our personal future impact on society.

Think about how life has changed in the last thirty days. How we took so much for granted, never fathoming, we could be asked to lock ourselves in our homes and virtually connect with the outside world. A simple gathering at a local pub, church, or business meeting seemed like the gift of socks at Christmas. But now we know the value of that human interaction, that human connection that one day will return with like a loud lion roar.

We had our agency check-in meeting yesterday, our team is still strong, still working, fighting through this new reality. We will make it, adjustments might have to be made to weather this storm, but we are built for this, God willing we will survive and become stronger. One of our team members didn't make the meeting; he was delivering three calves on his family farm. I stated he might be shoulder-deep in a cow's "who- who." Little did I know that was his exact situation. One of our team members at the end of the call stated, "if you had a cow who- who on your card in virtual office call bingo, you are a winner!"

I'm missing the richness of life.  The ability to move around freely, it gave me fodder for these little word soups I cook, but now I've got to be creative and mull my small closed world to pull ideas and stories to share, I'm sure my soup will get thinner as these days pass, but I will commit to you, I'll keep cooking as long as I have breaths to take. The cupboard will soon begin to thin, I'm already low on supplies, but have some freeze-dried ideas if things go bad.

For those folks that were looking forward to retirement, I hope you can see that this thing, this forced retirement is not that it is cracked up to be. Work gives value and personal accomplishment; will we witness the importance of retirement diminish after this? We will see.

I'm praying for our health care workers, also those now filing for unemployment, it's going to get worse, as I wrote last week, the flood is coming, it is just now starting to rain. Please practice social distancing, wash your hands, take extra precautions, we have no idea where that little bug is hiding, make sure you wipe down anything coming into your home, everything could be contaminated.

Sorry for the darkness, I'm trying to give hope, joy, and love, but somedays are harder than others. Be thankful for your health, be grateful for this time with family, and enjoy the ebb and flow of life. I'll be back tomorrow.

"Two people in love, alone, isolated from the world, that's beautiful."

— Milan Kundera