Every time I turn on the tv, which is usually a mistake, I hear someone say the words, “The ‘New Normal’ “. I don’t think that is a very apt phrase at all. It is pithy. This is not normal at all. I don’t think labeling it as new + normal is going to make it any better.
Instead, I am concentrating, or trying to, on any little sparks of light that provide evidence of when this long, dark period of pandemic might be over.
I understand that it may not be totally over for years. If the virus mutates we will have to have scientists that are faster than the mutations themselves, re-design the vaccines as we go. That is a very tall order.
What I am waiting for is decent testing and good, life saving treatment. A vaccine would be the real icing on the cake.
For me, personally, that is what it will take in order for me to resume the life I once took for granted. Otherwise I will need to continue as I do now: I live life in the shadows and in perpetual stress over exposure: And you know what?
IT SUCKS! AND I AM TIRED OF IT.
But I think everyone out there is tired of this too. Some folks are so tired of it they have decided to pretend it isn’t there anymore. We can call this attitude one of assumed ignorance or we can call these people by the moniker: covidiots.
I understand why they want to act like it is all over! I get it! I also understand why they want to get back to work. But as I have said before, it is a bad idea. The death toll and infection rates continue to climb.
So, I don’t get to play pretend with them and neither does my family.
There is no “New Normal.” There is just the same damn thing. At least that is how I feel. I am struggling to feel normal at all.
This is getting old. It hasn’t been fun or exciting in some time.
I am fortunate. I can work from home and so can my husband. I can face time my kids. My husband and I are even getting away to a house in the remote countryside for a few days of renewal. It will just be us and a pool and nothing else. I can’t wait.
But in the meantime, as we move through another week of quarantine, all I can do is pray for patience and pray for those on the front lines and pray for those in the labs trying to stop this beast.
As to those I have labeled covidiots, I will pray for them too.