As is the case for many of you, I have spent the past week preparing for the pandemic. I have bought more groceries in the past week than I have in the past six months (I’m not much of a cook). I didn’t go nuts buying toilet paper of cleaning supplies, but I have a bunch of canned and shelf-stable food so that I shouldn’t have to leave the house for a good while.
I’ve also spent sleepless nights scrolling through Twitter. Seeing what’s happening in places like Italy and France. I’ve gotten angry over Facebook posts from people not taking the threat seriously. I’ve washed my hands with greater care and precision than ever before. I’ve practiced social distancing.
And I know what is coming. What may already be here, but we just haven’t started feeling its effects. I’m stocked up on Tylenol and Advil for a fever that may or may not come. I have Mucinex for a cough I may not get. I’m mentally prepared to spend the next three weeks in my house because I don’t want to get anyone else sick.
But, the problem I keep coming up against is that everything seems so normal. I’m sitting at my writing desk, looking out of my front windows. Cars are still going by. Fewer than normal? I’m not sure, I’ve never had much cause to notice how many drive by on average. Not as many kids out playing? Maybe, but it’s rainy and cold.
It’s the calm that’s making me more anxious than the storm. The waiting that makes my blood pressure go up. In some ways, I wish it would just hit already. Get it over with. But I realize that’s selfish. The more time people have to prepare themselves, their families, and the more time hospitals have to gather supplies, the better. We need as much time as we can get.
And maybe it won’t hit my small town as hard as other places. Perhaps we won’t ever face a “Shelter In Place” order. Life may go on with some level of normalcy here. Sure, the kids aren’t in school, and you can’t dine in at a restaurant, but maybe that will be the worst of it. One can hope, right?
So, I’m stuck here, at my window, watching life go on outside. And wondering, and worrying, about what’s to come.
Stay safe out there!
